SCUBA – Self-Contained Underwater BAD ASS!

(by Miller) The power of persuasion in usually something I can resist, especially when it involves spending my own money. Annie and I planned on snorkeling and budgeted it in but once we got here, scuba instructor Mohamed and the fantastically hospitable owner Samir convinced us to take an intro course, or a “discovery dive”. I’ve always wanted to scuba dive and learning on the Red Sea rather than Lake Erie has a definite appeal. Also, the price of the course was great compared to back in the states. We decided to take a dive and as Annie said, before we knew it, we were signing our lives away and squeezing into wetsuits that, according to the laws of physics, should not have fit. Mohamed already had a diver for the day so another instructor was called out. This scrappy South African guy in a rugby shirt shows up and introduces himself as Harvey. I don’t things could have gotten much better at this point. After a brief chat about breathing underwater and not freaking out, we geared up and headed down to a launch point called the Lighthouse. Since this strip is just one big dive site, there are divers of all levels everywhere, which was nice and made us feel less self-conscious about not knowing what we were doing and wearing lycra while not knowing it.

We took some time to practice with our masks and using the regulator, which is hard to trust at first. Breathing underwater is not a mammalian reflex! The dry, compressed air is also really harsh on the lungs, and you loose about a liter of water an hour from breathing it. Annie and I had different goals for the day so Harvey took me out for a toot around the reef first and that was it. I was practically screaming through my regulator at all the amazing sites; which made Harvey laugh and then I laughed and our masks flooded. We got to the turn around point and he gave me the “SLOW DOWN!” sign as I’d just been motoring along, I felt like I couldn’t possibly take it all in. Said “what’s up” to a few barracuda and headed back. In all, I think it was about half an hour long and we saw so much! Lionfish, clown fish, a stone fish and something lying on the bottom called the crocodile fish, which looks exactly like its namesake. We surfaced and all I could say was “oh my gawd!” It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done and truly was surreal. The colors are 100x brighter and even if there are other divers around it’s still your experience as everyone’s perception is different and since you can’t talk, it eliminates all the tourist chatter.

We headed back and spent the afternoon at the dive shop, which is right by our room, talking with people and looking at pictures. I couldn’t get it out of my head that this was something I needed to pursue and after looking at our schedule for a while and re-arranging we decided there was ample time for me to get my PADI (professional assoc of diving instructors) open water certification. Sunday through Tuesday I’ll be getting one on one certified with Harvey, who has really proven to be a great guy who knows his stuff (like the cheap eats in town). This is going to take until Tuesday when I take the final exam and “graduation dive”.

Annie has been such a good sport, blogging for us and she’s going to snorkel and bike around Dahab today in search of bus tickets. No luck with an elevator operator internship as of now. Tuesday night we’re heading to St. Catharine’s monastery to hike up Mt. Sinai, the place where Moses allegedly received those good ‘ol 10 commandments and heading back here to get a 4pm bus to Luxor where we can end Egypt right with our homies, the Pharaohs. As a nice surprise, our Peace Corps friend is in country so we’re going to meet up for a bit before we fly out on the 29th. Off to dive, life is good. Miss everyone at home but the comments are hilarious! Are these paragraphs working for you Lyle?

(Annie's Note: I would just like to tell everyone that I am posting this message from a sea side restaurant's wifi connection. Development here we come.)