Diving in Hurghada, Egypt

Hello friends! Well, as promised, I am trying to keep up with my travel posts better than I have over the past couple of weeks in Cairo. 

Although, not going to lie, I'm already a bit behind ;) 

We decided to go diving in Hurghada with some of the teachers from my Momsters school to avoid the weekend in Cairo - there were rumours of big things happening to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Mubarak on January 25th. 

So Emily and I packed our bathing suits and took the long van ride to the Red Sea. The ride actually only took us 5 hours - we had good luck with all of the check points along the way. 

The van coming from the American school didn't have our luck, unfortunately. They got in just after midnight after a gruelling 7 hour ride after getting stuck in traffic in Cairo - 'the jam'. 

Sunset on the Red Sea 

We got up bright and early on Friday to set out on the boat for 3 dives. We saw tons of moray eels, really nice reefs and tons of fish. We saw a HUGE Napoleon fish - about 4 feet long, for reals. 

After diving, the whole group went out for dinner at a Thai place - I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but it was near the marina beside the spa where you put your feet in tanks and little fish nibble the dead skin off your feet. For reals. I don't make this stuff up! 

It was a great group of people, so we hung out for a bit and got totally ripped off on our shisha - they charged 30le instead of the regular 10le (a little over $4 instead of $1 - I know, poor us) and then a small group of us went to the bar near our diving apartments before calling it a night pretty early since we had another 7am wake up call. 

After grabbing our morning jolt of caffeine at Costa Coffee, a chain here that makes a mean cappuccino - none of that instant Nescafé stuff - we went back for another full day of diving. 

You guys...I think I might be addicted. Diving is amazing. 

I can't get enough of it, floating around in an underwater world that only the certified are able to see and enjoy ;) I'm thinking of doing my advanced course soon so that I can do more advanced dives like deep ones in underwater caves and wreck dives...sounds so cool!! 

We were all pretty pooped by the end of the day, but still had the drive back to Cairo to do that night so it was no nonsense - we packed up all the scuba gear and packed ourselves back into the vans. 

That's another thing that I love about diving: everyone needs to set up their own gear and switch their tanks. Makes me feel like I know what I'm doing ;) 

We heard news about a couple of bombs that had gone off the day before, and the American teachers heard about shots being fired where they live in Cairo so we were a bit nervous, but we all arrived home safe and sound. Our drivers knew what areas to avoid, thankfully. 

We made a pit stop along the way and watched the news, which showed huge demonstrations in different areas of Cairo - there were seriously thousands of people in Tahrir square - and other towns around Egypt. One of our guides turned to me and said "today, I am proud to be Egyptian. Even though people are bombing each other, my people still go out in the streets to celebrate this day. Makes me too happy"

Well said, my friend. 

Unfortunately, there were many deaths in the aftermath of these celebrations, but people were still able to celebrate. I am happy that everyone I know in Egypt stayed safe, el ham del Allah, thanks be to God. Hopefully all will stay safe for everyone in Egypt with the upcoming elections, insha'Allah - God willing. 

My Arabic is picking up, little by little ;) 

Diving at the Underwater Canyon and the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt

Hi friends! 

It's been another couple of days since I posted an update. We are still in Dahab, Egypt and are just packing up our stuff and getting ready to move to another hotel in Dahab on the north shore where there are legit white sand beaches and kite surfing galore - so excited to get my tan on! I already have the craziest tan lines from wearing random shirts during our many (many) activities, so I have to even it out a bit ;) 

Diving the Underwater Canyon and the Blue Hole 

On January 3, we decided to go for another dive. 

Because we're addicted ;)

We went to the underwater canyon, which I did as my first check dive way back when (how many days ago was that?! Haha the days are kind of getting away with me...).  It was super cool diving here again, although we weren't able to go down into the canyon this time, but we saw the bubbles that floated up through the ground from all of the divers in the canyon below. 

We then went over to the blue hole, obviously riding in the back of the trucks. I've literally neve had so many rides in the back of a pickup truck before in my life. Loves it! 

I think that the blue hole was my fav dive so far - it's this large 'hole' in the middle if the ocean. We went down the 'chimney', which is a big tunnel - I went down the second part as well with another guy that we were diving with, which took us down to about 35 meters below the surface. Crazy cray. 

It's weird because you can actually feel your mind processes slowing down a bit when you're that far under water. 

We then met up with the rest of the group and went along the side of the blue hole and saw some of the most beautiful coral that I've ever seen. 

Another successful diving day!

Boat Diving in Dahab, Egypt

Hi friends! 

I can't believe it is almost 2014 - I was just starting to get used to saying 2013! Hehe. But in all honesty (and yes, I realize it is a major faux-pas to begin a sentence with 'but') it has been a year full of big changes, both exciting and difficult ones, yet I am excited to continue my vagabond journey into the new year, and can't wait to see what is in store for me :)

Boat Diving in Dahab, Egypt

Since we are all certified divers now, we decided to go out for a day-long boat diving excursion today to make the most of the last day of 2013! 

We headed out bright and early so that we could get three dives in during the daylight. 

I was expecting a tiny motorboat type of thing, but it was a huge boat that kind of made me feel like I was on set for the movie Blue Crush ;)

Once the boat was loaded up with all of our gear, we chilled and drank some Bedouin tea for a bit and then started prepping our gear. 

We obvi had to recreate our power rangers pic ;)

It was so cool to be able to go out all together. 

My 'buddy' was my little sister Emily for the first two dives and then Katie. 

Emily, as my moms friend Brian puts it, is like a little puppy underwater - she just wants to go check everything out. It's so cute, but makes for a tiresome buddy to keep track of ;)

I'm hovering on water. 

All-in-all, it was a great day full of beautiful dives. We saw a ton of fish, gorgeous coral, alligator fish, blue speckled rays, an octopus and a lot of puffer fish. 

The boat ride back was super wavy - the wind really picked up! Made for a bit of a chilly transition from our wet suits into 'real' clothes. 

We are all having some re-coop time now, and then reconvening for a big family dinner and then heading out to a club to bring in the new year Dahab-style ;) 

Hope you all have a fabulously fun New Year's Eve, and talk to you all in 2014!!!