Destination known and looking for jobs!: Dahab, Egypt

The experience in the minibus from St. Katherine’s monastery was way different from the cramped ride into Cairo from the oasis. We had the whole thing to ourselves which was both good and bad. Good because we were each able to stretch out on a bench seat to sleep and bad because we weren’t able to split the cost with anyone else. Dahab is a sleepy little beach town that caters to the dive tourists. We check into our very clean hostel and take a much need nap. We’re wakened by the afternoon call to prayer and are famished. We find an ocean side restaurant (which isn’t hard in Dahab, in fact finding a restaurant not ocean side might be the challenge) and both order a delicious calamari curry dish. After our early dinner, we talk to several dive companies in the area and decide to book with Desert Divers. We’re told to arrive back around 9am for our check-off dive which is just to review basic skills and for them to ensure we’re not complete idiots.

We wake up the next morning and Jeff is stuffed up. For those of you who aren’t divers, if you can’t clear your ears or are congested, diving can be very painful. We go and check in and ask if its okay to postpone until the next day. We’re told by David, the English guy who was more or less the counter boy, says no problem. We spend the rest of the relaxing on the beach, soaking in the sun, and reading. It was very relaxing.

So the next day, we report back to Desert Divers, get outfitted in our wet suits, masks, fins, weight belts, BC’s, and regulators. Our guide(you have to dive with a guide in the area because it is protected national park) for our check off dive is a Bedouin who goes by the name Barracuda. A family of three (mom and two older sons) are joining our group as well. We are soon to realize that this British family begs the classic SNL question ‘Are you British or are you retard?’ The mom couldn’t figure out how to breath through her regulator that was in her mouth and not through her nose, one of the sons had trouble putting his equipment together and it was just a circus getting them into the water. I’m a new diver, only have been certified last April and Jeff has made around 20 open water dives. Jeff and I breeze through our skills and spend the rest of our time exploring the sea grass ,as the circus continued without us. We see several lion fish.

That afternoon we go out diving with another guide, Frank. Frank is a no nonsense kind of guy and might have been a fish or a navy seal in a former life. We take a Jeep out to the dive site called the Islands. The wind is blowing and the waves are crashing and no one else is on the beach. Frank tells us that usually this is a very popular dive site, but because of the conditions the rest of the dive operators are “pussies.” Um… I’m already nervous enough and hearing this come out of the guide’s mouth is not very comforting. But we climb in the water, get our fins and masks on and drop down. I freak out within a couple of minutes and have to signal to Frank I need to go to the surface and he follows me. We get to the top and we’re bobbing like corks. I’m having a hard time to catch my breath, but Frank tells me “Never fear when Frank is near.” He coaches me through taking a couple of deep breaths, ensures me he’ll be close by, and we drop down again. Frank was true to his word, staying very close to me, even holding hand a times when he sensed I was nervous. I was able to relax and enjoy the coral formations and the assortment of fish. It really was an amazing dive site.

The next morning we dive again with Frank again at a different area just a hop, skip, and jump from the dive shop. After Frank put my fears of diving in his mind vice and crushed them yesterday, it was a much more relaxing dive. Diving in this area is like diving in an aquarium or a National Geographic film. We see all sorts of fish living in the coral, more lion fish, and a giant octopus. We dive in the afternoon with Barracuda as our guide in a area called the Golden Rocks. There are coral formations with a sandy bottom and lots of multi-colored fish.

We spend our last two dives the next day with Barracuda. In the morning, he took us to the Eel Gardens. The water was choppy and the current was a bit strong as we put our fins and masks on, but we drop down into some wonderful coral formations. About half through the dive we come to a completely sandy bottom with what looks like long grass swaying in the current. As we swim closer, the grass starts to recede into the sand. It’s the eel garden! We end the dive by battling our way against the current. I actually had to hang onto some dead coral to keep from losing ground, but we made it out safe and sound. Our last dive was back to the Islands. It was definitely much calmer then when we were there with Frank. We have a waterproof Canon camera that is approved up to 10 meters by the company. Jeff did a quick internet search and read that people were taking it up to 20 meters without problems. As we all know, Jeff loves to push limits so he brings the camera. As always, Jeff’s luck holds out, the camera survives, and we get some great photos.

We head out on a night bus tonight back to Cairo to hopefully pick up our Indian visas. Our plan is to come back to Dahab on the next night bus and be here for Christmas. En’shallah!