Sharm El-Sheikh, Red Sea and Sinai, Egypt
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Another early start and it was a hard one, was really tough getting up so early, I guess because I hadn't had the chance to sleep in for quite a while now. But there was still work to do, so no way to lazy around and it’s kinda sad when you have to say this about your holiday :-P This time it was Stefan picking me up with the bus and I was lucky again to be the last one. We had to wait for quite a while at the College though, as there were 20 people on our boat and it took some time to organise everything. Once on the boat and on the way to the dive site I had a 30 min nap which helped a lot ;) We did the first dive in an area called Temple – there are two massive coral formations rising from around 20 metres depth almost up to the surface, they look a bit like pillars and there was tons of stuff around them :) The dive itself wasn’t too complicated, just a couple of skills to show and then we had 40 min to explore the area and this time we went down to 18 metres, the maximum I’m allowed. It was truly amazing, because this time it was three dimensional in a way – there were things also above me :) So wherever I looked and turned there was so much to see, it was just full of life
! And being in the middle of it is really indescribable, so again – go dive! :) Along many of the things we saw the previous day, there was also a starfish, so cute! :) This time we came out after a safety stop and after the hassle of so many people taking off their equipment in a very limited space we enjoyed some tea on the sun deck while discussing the next dive. The boat moved a bit for it – to Ras Umm Sid, a small cape, which means current, which in turn means a drift dive :) The small plateau on which the Temple is ends at Ras Umm Sid, so there is a vertical drop off and basically a wall of corals, along which we were drifting. The good thing is that whoever is allowed to, can go deeper (we still stayed at 18 metres max) and also that there is a chance to see something bigger than the regular fish close to the surface, like barracudas or sharks. I wasn’t that lucky, the only big thing we saw was a Napoleon wrasse, which fair enough, was maybe as big as me :-D So not complaining and there has to be some excitement for next time :) There were only the last three skills I needed to show at this dive, so pretty easy really and the rest was just for fun :) As we had all drifted away we had to signal to the boat where we were so they can pick us up, during which time we did our safety stop again. Back on the boat there was a nice lunch and in order to prove my adventure spirit I even had some sea food and veggies stew :-D By the time we finished eating we were almost back at Naama bay and from the quay we went straight to the College for all the paperwork
. I got my temporary PADI Open Water diver card, so the major objective of the whole trip is now completed :)
Afterwards I went back to the hotel for a short nap with the idea to go to the beach later, but I ended up sleeping for two hours, guess I really needed it. So I went directly to Stefan’s place, he was organising a small get together for some people from work and had cooked amazing food! :) We were three Bulgarians (one of the receptionists at the College is also from BG), three French girls and an Egyptian, it was a great evening :) But not too long again, we were all tired, some of them had to work on the next day and Stefan was getting sick. This unfortunately also meant we’re not going to the Ras Mohammed National Park the next day as we had planned, but I really hope he recovers fast, as the one bad thing about diving is you can’t do it when you’re ill. So there came the standard haggling with the taxi driver and a funny chat with the two guys from the night shift at the hotel, they’re the only ones I’ve seen here anyway :) And I’m still pretty sure I’m the only one they’re seeing right now too, so I still get that VIP treatment ;-)Before going to bed I went out on the balcony to take some night pictures, and in those couple of minutes two mosquitoes had managed to come into the room :-P By the time I got them it was too late though, but this at least brought me back to my most faithful travel companions – the DEET spray and the hydrocortisone cream :-) Now it all feels proper again :)
