last post of the night ... probably

Well, I'd have to say, overall Sharm ain't a bad place. It's certainly not Egypt - its very similar to Cancun in Mexico in terms of it's western centre in the middle of a foreign country.

But is does it better than Cancun. Perhaps because of the lack of americans, there isn't the chain mentality of cancun (no Outback, no Hooters, etc). There is still a genuine blend of egyptian with 'english' and it sort of works I think.

If yer a bit of a 'sit at the bar and watch the folk go by' kind of person, then it is hard to beat. Everything from yer working class family from 'oop north' struggling to cope with the singular choice of mcDonalds, KFC or Rock Cafe... to the middle ground folk for holiday.. perhaps the first time in egypt, trying some new things, to the russians - still wearing mickey mouse t-shirts and clothes that wouldn't look out of place on liberachy. (it is a constant mystery to me, how they can invert the globe and not notice that the rest of earth's population has moveed on from gold tops and leg warmers...)

last camel bar post

it is good to see that the camel bar is still full of the same hardcore dive folk (i.e. blokes and fat munters) that is was 8 years ago... some things never change.

time to move to somewhere else now that I've done the 'reminiscing' blog...

the music ain't changed either... commitments has just finished, and we nw have love shack... it's like frecking Chicagos!!!! (sorry ipswich in-joke).

Bugger me, I was in the right place afterall

Tings ave go a big bigger in the last 9 years....

but the old camel bar is still in the middle of it like an old kernel.

I am sitting in the same spot as I was 8 years ago. Sort of rubbishly, 8 years ago I was also sitting at the bar with a laptop around the same size as the one I am writing this one now ( now: acer aspire one, then: sony vaio picturebook). So.. not a lot of progress in some ways tech wise either!

Last time I was here with 3 mates from Pixelpark where I was working at the time: 1 diver, and the 3 of us learning. It was a good week.

I'm looking at the wall, covered in notes from around the world and flags, wishing I contributed something that I could see now, but I didn't unfortunately.

Here.s a piccie of how it is today

Mother and Daughter week ?

I dunno if this is unusual or sharm is always like this, but there is a weird high number of mother and daughter combos wandering about... I mean 20% or so...

I never even knew 'holidays for yer mother and daughter' was even a thing.. but apparently it is.

Christ Knows what they do all week, 'cause they don't seem to be divers.

The Camel Bar

How things change!!!

9 years ago, the camel bar was the place to be for all the divers.

It was upstairs off the main street, sort of englishy with postcards from round the world posted on the walls.

All the dive instructors and students hung out there at the end of the day - mainly cause it was one of the few bars that existed.

Now we move on 10 years.... it's now like freckin vegas... more pubs, clubs and restuarants than you can shake a stick at.

I'd been warned it was very 'seedy' with russian hookers everywhere and folk offering you drugs every 10 yards.

That I have to say, is mince!!! it's a family place - lots of families wandering around. It's changed from being a dive only resort to a family resort, and I have to say I reckon it's done a pretty good job of it (ian if yer listening - wtf is the problem with sharm??)

Anyhoo, the upstairs corner bar, is now one of the biggest bars on the front.. so much so that I missed it when I tried to find it after 10 years...oops actually i've just realised that Im still sitting in some other bar and not the camel.. so will move on my next drink!!

All in all quite pleasant.

relaxin'

Just relaxing the last few days by the pool.

Might go down to central sharm tomorrow (last day)... or might not :-)

Still about 100 degrees here, so easier to just bum around.

Reading 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre. Can recommend it - good read if only to confirm all I knew (and hopefully u did too!!)

Worth a read if only for some ammo to fling back at folk who think that the latest pomegranate juice or whatever fad is current has any scientific basis... (hint: it doesn't)

Another drift dive

Another drift dive in the afternoon - basically you jump off the back of the boat and let the current take you around the reef. When you ave used all your air, you wave the ship to come and pick you back up.



This is a sandfish. It sort of sits on top of bits of corral, not moving. If you are careful, you can sneak up to it like this. It spends most of the time burrowing in the sand for stuff.



Trumpet fish... dunno why on earth they are called that...



more of the brass section.



Some nice corral formation around 15m. Usually look a bit green./blue at this depth, but the light rays just caught it nice.

Ras Mohammed

Earlier start today as we were going to Ras Mahammed - one of the national parks. About 1 1/2 hours away in the boat.

Morning dive was one I did 9 years ago over the wreck of a ship which scattered its cargo of bog seats all over the reef.

There are also some pretty strong currents around here, so you can really find yourself fighting against getting dragged into the reef on one hand, and on the other you get to a bit where the current sucks through the reef to the ocean floor... 300m deep...so you need to keep yer wits about you!



Ideal if you forgot to go on the surface.



These look cool the way the light catches then ad they sort of move as one mass.




kind of flourescent fish, dunno what its called.




A few of your intrepid camera man.

Manta

On the way back from the last dive, the captain spotted a manta ray. First time I've seen one of these so dived in with scuba gear to swim with it. It was around 15-20 feet deep though, so I had to dive down to get the video - hence not very much of it.



Here's a piccy of another fish.

Tuesday - first big dives at Raz El Sid

First day on board ship tuesday. 2 dives over a Ras El Sid. Saw some cool stuff including a big moray eel about 7 feet long, with a mouth big enough to bit yer head off in one gulp.

I'm a bit heavy on my air... out of practice. So my dives are lasting about 10 mins less than some others on the boat.



A big puffer fish. These seem to be under the impression that they are invisible. You can more or less poke yer camera up there arse and they'll just sit there looking at you with a sort of 'silly man... he hasn't even seen me here' kind of look to their face.



About 20m deep this one. Just following the coral.



more from the brass section.



These are called trigger fish. Dunno why. They crunch through coral a bit like parrot fish (sometimes you can hear the crunching). They are about 2-3 feet long.



Jumping in off the boat to start a drift dive.

Gooper and Angel Fish

Here's a couple more pics. One of a big grooper (about 3 feet) with some teeth showing, and some angel fish swimming about a rope that looked pretty cool.

jars and relaxing

Finished off the dive with some jars (??) and some relaxing at the pool.

40 degrees (>100 F) today. very nice. :-)

First Dive

It's been 5 years since I last dived, so I had to do a sort of min exam before I could go out on the boat again.

started with a trip to the beach, and some paper quiz questions...

1) why does a duck float

2) do little stones float

3) why does a witch weigh the same as a duck.

Next... practical so into the water!

Day 1: On the beach for a scuba review

Well.. it's 8.15am... on holiday !!!!! and I'm waiting for the bus to take us down to the beach for a scuba review.

Since it has been 6 years since I dived last, I need to do a written test, and also a practical review to check I can still breath in and out at the right times... so no boat today.

Kinda glad, as it is a more relaxed way to start the holiday.

Doubt I'll get any underwater pictures today, but I'll post some of sharm later.

in egypt!!!

here we go.. first blog entry... sunday night - just arrived. bloody hot. met some folk at the bar and chatting to em. It's gonna be a good week.