Just wanted to send you some updates of our break this past week at a camp site outside of Dahab, called Abu Galum, along the Red Sea (Sinai side).
Camping was quite fun, however, I slept SO horribly. Amanda and I cuddled into the freezing night on both Wed and Thursday while listening to the Red Sea 8 feet in front of us. We also slept with seven or so hard rocks under our mat and a bug of some sorts eating at my skin (then I was told its because I am sweet like honey, but that didnt make it any better...)
We woke up each morning to a bedouin man serving flat bread with white cheese and jam with the choice of bedouin tea or nescafe before our first dive. A larger breakfast followed Dive 1 and around 1pm we prepared for our second dive of the day. The diving was FANTASTIC at this site (Abu Galum). My favorite was early Friday morning. We had our regular pre-dive meal and headed to the dive spot around 6:30 am so we could catch the high tide. Sameh, our dive master, decided he didn't want to brief us on this dive as he was going to leave it all a surprise and it was incredible. I felt like I was floating around the world of Avatar in 3-D, like the blue warrior princess protecting mother willow. :) Both the coral and fish were extremely diverse in species, shades and shapes. I was blown away with the vividness of all the colors; diving in and out of pathways while dipping over and under different obstacles.
I am very glad I stuck with this adventure- third times the charm, right? I feel like I have overcome a large fear I once had with open water and have learned to control my body in ways I was not aware. In the beginning, I was so cautious of my ears and scared to death to lose my mask or regulator but now I know I have the skills to get through if any of those things did happen under water.
Also, we rode some camels up and down a mountain along the sea AT NIGHT. Very scary! Did you know camels have night vision? Well, at least that is what they told us... Needless to say, during our journey home, I decided to leave my camping pack on the camel and run my way back to town to wait for everyone else... a good hour and a half. But worth it, you can't beat running a trail in-between a mountain and the gorgeous Red Sea.
Wow, some job you've got yourself Lauren! I asked IBM if they'd give me a few days off and send me to the red sea to do some diving, but no dice so far.
ReplyDeleteAll is well back here, and I'll likely rotate out of my current job into a new org early next year, so exciting times. Can't wait to come visit you.