No further earthquake action since yesterday which is good, and the day started nice and sunny and with very smooth calm water. After breakfast we headed to the dive centre and were there in good time, and met today's guide who is called Pete. He is a bit like James Bond.
Today I am wearing my bravely purchased marks and spencer's bikini, which is the first one I have worn since I was about 8 apart from a brief moment in Thailand when I was a lot skinnier. Paul assures me it looks acceptable :-)
We stopped off for out first dive at Ras Peter - apparently hardly anyone goes to this site but actually it was quite interesting. The coral and fish aren't as beautiful as elsewhere but at one end of the dive site there are lots of israeli army personnel carriers which they just dumped in the sea when they left. So we all pottered across and then looked around the cars, seeing how the coral had started growing in them and turning then into the reef, but you can still see wheels, steering wheels etc and it's still clear what they are. Apparently there is a moray eel who lives in one of them, wrapped right round a wheel, but we didn't find him.
Pete told us to buddy up and explore so we did. In fact at that point he went up to the surface with another guy who was getting low on air, but we didn't realise that and when I needed to tell him I only had 60 bars, he was nowhere to be seen. I told someone else by mistake who turned out to be Dave (divemaster on our first afternoon on the boat) - initially he looked confused, then told us to do our 3 min 5m safety stop so we did, it was the first time we have done that by ourselves. Paul has a waterproof watch so we could time the 3 mins and we have depth gauges on our equipment to tell we were at the right depth.
It was decided to do 3 dives rather than just the 2 but we opted out of the 2nd one which was at Temple. Lots of the others are using nitrox not air to dive with and it allows you to do more time diving, but we aren't qualified to use it. Nobody said we couldn't do all 3 dives but we decided to save ourselves for the third one anyway, also because you also get quite cold and it's nice to warm up, and although you are just floating about it is quite tiring. We lounged about for a bit (me in the sun and Paul in the safety of the shade), but then went snorkelling instead, which was actually just as lovely.
There was great visibility and a head of coral about 2m below the surface only about 10m from the boat so we swam over. It was quite nice not to have all the gear on, although Paul got bitten by one of the fish on the shoulder so there is something to be said for rubber covering.
After the snorkel we dried off and I had a little sunbathe on the sun deck and chatted to a dutch guy. I thought his dive buddy was his girlfriend/wife but in fact he advertised for someone to dive with for the week on the internet.
While we were moored up at Temple the wind got up and the boats started pitching a bit. We were moored alongside one boat already (there's one mooring line so the boats all attach themselves in a little clump) and a third one came along, but misjudged the wind and impaled itself on the neighbouring boat, smashing its own saloon window on the metal bit that sticks out off the prow, which then scraped along the whole length of the boat. Much excitement for everyone on all three boats but the boat guys cleared it up quickly, the boat got moored and nobody was hurt.
Our second dive of the day was at Ras Umm Sid (in memory of a mother (umm) who lost her son (probably sid) there and then became silent and sold fish there). This is Isa's favourite site so was really looking forward to it. It was a nice site, with load of fish and beautiful corals but both of us found the dive quite difficult and frustrating. There was a fairly strong current which meant it was a bit tricky to control your body and Pete was drifting along so incredibly slowly that even when I was motionless I kept going too fast and starting to pass him. I didn't look as much as normal at the marine life because I was concentrating on not running in to his fins and getting my mask kicked off. I kept having to scull with my hands to stop moving forwards and Paul ended up going in little circles.
Pete went up early with another guy (the same one as in the as 1st dive). We understood what was going in second time round so we took ourselves up and did our 3 min stop at 5m by ourselves. Paul had borrowed a dive computer (like a super complicated and chunky wristwatch) from one of the other divers and although we did the stop fine it said we did the last 5m too quickly. The guy who lent the computer is a German PADI Rescue diver called Frank. He is here with his girlfriend Saskia who apparently had a bit of a scare the other day when she ascended suddenly from about 15m so they are taking it easy and have booked a private guide for all their dives (so they are diving with us each day but not with the main group).
When we came out of the sea the wind had changed direction and was coming from the sahara, and blowing like a hairdryer. The air was a bit hazy with the sand and you couldn't see the mountains clearly any more, but out was excellent for drying off. When we got back we had a beer / shandy in the dive bar with Frank and Saskia and then went back to the hotel for a shower.
The evening was really hot so I went out in a very revealing halterneck white dress that I bought off ebay once but never wore because it would look so ridiculous in England (or Canada or Germany, or on the motorbike in Turkey etc etc). We went to the beach bar with our (now 40%) discount card, had a happy hour mojito, made on request using just white rum which was a great improvement, and then had dinner - a burger for Paul and an enormous mixed grill for me.
The next table ordered a massive sea bass which they selected in its raw form, then photographed themselves posing with and kissing before having it cooked. We enjoyed some cheesy tunes courtesy of a man with a pony tail singing on the beach bar stage then headed up to bed. Apparently you get less tired if you use nitrox - we have really noticed how knackered we are each evening, ready to drop by 9.30 or 10 when really we haven't actually done very much, so it must be at least partly to do with the air.
Today I am wearing my bravely purchased marks and spencer's bikini, which is the first one I have worn since I was about 8 apart from a brief moment in Thailand when I was a lot skinnier. Paul assures me it looks acceptable :-)
Pete told us to buddy up and explore so we did. In fact at that point he went up to the surface with another guy who was getting low on air, but we didn't realise that and when I needed to tell him I only had 60 bars, he was nowhere to be seen. I told someone else by mistake who turned out to be Dave (divemaster on our first afternoon on the boat) - initially he looked confused, then told us to do our 3 min 5m safety stop so we did, it was the first time we have done that by ourselves. Paul has a waterproof watch so we could time the 3 mins and we have depth gauges on our equipment to tell we were at the right depth.
It was decided to do 3 dives rather than just the 2 but we opted out of the 2nd one which was at Temple. Lots of the others are using nitrox not air to dive with and it allows you to do more time diving, but we aren't qualified to use it. Nobody said we couldn't do all 3 dives but we decided to save ourselves for the third one anyway, also because you also get quite cold and it's nice to warm up, and although you are just floating about it is quite tiring. We lounged about for a bit (me in the sun and Paul in the safety of the shade), but then went snorkelling instead, which was actually just as lovely.
There was great visibility and a head of coral about 2m below the surface only about 10m from the boat so we swam over. It was quite nice not to have all the gear on, although Paul got bitten by one of the fish on the shoulder so there is something to be said for rubber covering.
After the snorkel we dried off and I had a little sunbathe on the sun deck and chatted to a dutch guy. I thought his dive buddy was his girlfriend/wife but in fact he advertised for someone to dive with for the week on the internet.
While we were moored up at Temple the wind got up and the boats started pitching a bit. We were moored alongside one boat already (there's one mooring line so the boats all attach themselves in a little clump) and a third one came along, but misjudged the wind and impaled itself on the neighbouring boat, smashing its own saloon window on the metal bit that sticks out off the prow, which then scraped along the whole length of the boat. Much excitement for everyone on all three boats but the boat guys cleared it up quickly, the boat got moored and nobody was hurt.
Our second dive of the day was at Ras Umm Sid (in memory of a mother (umm) who lost her son (probably sid) there and then became silent and sold fish there). This is Isa's favourite site so was really looking forward to it. It was a nice site, with load of fish and beautiful corals but both of us found the dive quite difficult and frustrating. There was a fairly strong current which meant it was a bit tricky to control your body and Pete was drifting along so incredibly slowly that even when I was motionless I kept going too fast and starting to pass him. I didn't look as much as normal at the marine life because I was concentrating on not running in to his fins and getting my mask kicked off. I kept having to scull with my hands to stop moving forwards and Paul ended up going in little circles.
Pete went up early with another guy (the same one as in the as 1st dive). We understood what was going in second time round so we took ourselves up and did our 3 min stop at 5m by ourselves. Paul had borrowed a dive computer (like a super complicated and chunky wristwatch) from one of the other divers and although we did the stop fine it said we did the last 5m too quickly. The guy who lent the computer is a German PADI Rescue diver called Frank. He is here with his girlfriend Saskia who apparently had a bit of a scare the other day when she ascended suddenly from about 15m so they are taking it easy and have booked a private guide for all their dives (so they are diving with us each day but not with the main group).
When we came out of the sea the wind had changed direction and was coming from the sahara, and blowing like a hairdryer. The air was a bit hazy with the sand and you couldn't see the mountains clearly any more, but out was excellent for drying off. When we got back we had a beer / shandy in the dive bar with Frank and Saskia and then went back to the hotel for a shower.
The evening was really hot so I went out in a very revealing halterneck white dress that I bought off ebay once but never wore because it would look so ridiculous in England (or Canada or Germany, or on the motorbike in Turkey etc etc). We went to the beach bar with our (now 40%) discount card, had a happy hour mojito, made on request using just white rum which was a great improvement, and then had dinner - a burger for Paul and an enormous mixed grill for me.
The next table ordered a massive sea bass which they selected in its raw form, then photographed themselves posing with and kissing before having it cooked. We enjoyed some cheesy tunes courtesy of a man with a pony tail singing on the beach bar stage then headed up to bed. Apparently you get less tired if you use nitrox - we have really noticed how knackered we are each evening, ready to drop by 9.30 or 10 when really we haven't actually done very much, so it must be at least partly to do with the air.
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