Seven Days of Sun, Sea and Scuba

I have been an avid Scuba Diver for the past 15 years. The sea and its mysteries have always fascinated me. When I was about 10 years old, my father took me to Taba, Sinai, and sent me out with an instructor for an intro-dive. It was an amazing experience, and I was hooked for life. The minute I stepped out of the water I knew - I wanna do THIS!

I waited impatiently until I was 15 and was allowed to undergo a diving course. Got my 2 stars and started diving like a dehydrated fish. I enjoyed almost every dive, no matter the conditions or the amount of fish and corals visible.

Lately I haven't been diving nearly enough. Work, life and excuses - you know the drill. That's why I have decided on a week-long vacation of nothing BUT diving. Courtesy of Mr. Ilan Vered and the lovely SeaQueen 1, I had one of the best weeks of my life - Seven days of Sun, Sea and Scuba in the southern parts of Egypt.

The dives were nothing short than amazing. We managed 3-4 dives per day, including some very cool night dives. My two personal favorites were Panorama Reef and Jackfish Alley. Panorama is wonderfully rich and full of life. The reef is very healthy, the visibility was very good and it felt like swimming inside a dream.

Elphinstone presented very interesting and challenging dives. Some of the people saw sharks, but I didn't manage a glance at these amazing creatures. I saw one shark, White-Tip, small and sleeping, in a cave in Abu-Dabab reef. That was actually good enough for me... I suppose that the fact that I have never dived in Egypt or Sinai before (except for that intro, 20 years ago), added a lot to the fun element. Everything was new to me.

Jackfish Alley was the last dive on the last day, and it was truly the best way to end this fantastic journey. I officially declare it the sweetest dive I have ever experienced. Thanks to Amir Gur, our wonderful and super-professional Instructor, we got to dive through a special cave, which was a very unique experience.

This little post doesn't do any justice to this cool vacation. Some of my amateurish pictures in flickr might help to convey my impressions better, but nothing can REALLY describe the glorious feeling of freedom, nature, beauty and peacefulness.

To add to the fun, the people that were on board the ship were very cool and fun to be with. The instructors were very good and friendly, and the crew gave us 5-star service.

I hope to do this again soon. To top everything else, I got to seriously practice my underwater photography skills (Thanks again, Amir, for the tips and advice) - and I finally managed to get some reasonable pictures:

Well, I guess it's back to work now. It ain't easy getting back to the day-to-day routine, let me tell you. I really miss the sun, the diving and the company. Until next time - the sea will remain in my dreams.