So Close to Saudi Arabia

All done here in Dahab, Egypt.  I've spent our four days here diving with the nice people from Fantasea.  Here's a site if you're interested that lists some of the dives around here.  The best dive for me was the dive from "The Bells" to the "Blue Hole".  After going under water, you drop down a crack about 2-3 persons wide and descend to 30 meters or so.  Around there is a little arch you swim under.  Then it's around a corner to the right and you're along a huge 90 meter vertical wall of reef.  The deepest I'm able to go is 30 meters though, but we passed over a few technical divers quite a bit lower down.  I also dove "The Canyon" twice, once really early in the morning before any one else was even near the site as well as another dive near there simply called "Canyon Right."  "Um Sid" is also mentioned on that page above, and we did the "Golden Blocks" near that location as well.

I spent 3 dives on the training reef "Lighthouse" to get my advanced certification.  It's a little boring there, but one was a night dive.  Being down there when it's completely dark is amazing!  There are little plankton in the sea that glow in the dark when you wave your hands back and forth very much like a special effect.  It's really something to see when you shut off your flashlight and hard to believe it's not a cartoon.

Otherwise it was pretty crowded at the really popular sites, but the less well-known spots were nearly empty.  Of course, they're not as spectacular but neither are the popular sites when you can barely swim for fear of running into another diver.  Oh, and I also have to mention the "Canyon Right" dive...  After swimming out in water about 15 meters deep or so, you come to a reef cliff that you more or less launch yourself over and free descend to 30 meters.  That is definitely the closest thing to flying I've experienced.

And of course, we end each day watching the sun cast a red glow on the shore of Saudi Arabia, just 20 or so kilometers away.