New Start

So we moved last weekend... It is like being in heaven. More like the heaven you live in everyday but to us it pretty damn exciting. We have air conditioning. We have real furniture. We have curtains, bookshelves, a real bed. We have counter tops and cabinets in the kitchen. But most exciting of all ... we have tv!!! Yes it's only a 13 incher... we do have 2 satellites and only get about 4 english channels but who's complaining??? It's been great. We also took 2 days off from work to get settled... aka watch an enormous amount of tv. I haven't had tv in a year and Cam hasnt had it in way longer than that. On our second day off we decided to take the bus to Sharm and do a little shopping and exploring. Sharm el Sheik is about 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride south from Dahab and is a much bigger city. We spent the day walking around getting sun burnt and bought a few books, ate at Mc Donalds and then TGIFridays and then proceeded to drink enough beers to convince ourselves to wait and take the 1am bus back home. All in all we had a few good days off and now it's back to reality... well our reality at least.
I am enjoying having a real kitchen and have been cooking almost every night to Cameron's surprise. He's been under the impression that he needed to teach me how to cook... now he thinks I was keeping it a secret so I wasn't expected to do any cooking. He has promised me to teach me how to make some things like chocolate cake & pancakes which I don't know how to make from scratch. Sorry mom, I know it's my fault, I wasn't interested.
So things have been going along fine here. We had a really fun group of divers just leave, they were from Slovenia, somewhere we've promised to visit... I went snorkeling/free diving (although I'm not good) today and saw a turtle. Yesterday we tried a little free diving, Cam made a personal record of 15meters/50ft and I just bobbed around on the surface and went to my cute little 4 or 5 meters. I think I need more practice at the breatholding thing.
Anyways, looking forward to going home... only a few weeks to go. Will def. be hitting the shops as I have absolutely no clothes. Well, enough to keep myself covered but will be excited to get a few new things. Cam is on his way out diving so I will catch up later.

random

We're Moving!!!

No, not to another country... at least not yet! We have found another house and are planning on moving at the end of this month. It is closer to work, is fully furnished and has air-con and tv!
I can't wait, it will be like living in a real house... After I went and looked at it I came back and told Cameron, like it was filled with $100 bills, that it had a real bed and chairs and a wardrobe and real sofas!!! Its funny the things that impress me now.
Everything out here is going great with the exception of the mild sickness that we seem to just pass between us but thankfully it only lasts for a few (rough) hours and then it's recovery time.
We have been keeping ourselves busy diving, I have been doing some freelance work with another dive shop as well so it's great for some extra money and good to meet new people as well. The weather here has actually been alright so far, as long as there is a breeze we seem to be managing fine. There has been something going on under water though... seems the wind may be stirring up some food and bringing it in because there have been some exciting sightings lately. The other day Cam was at the shop and everyone in the water started yelling shark! So he grabbed his fins and mask and jumped in! Swam a ways out from the reef, not knowing what he was looking for and out from the blue 2 3meter manta rays came flying towards him and then swooped underneath him... Also a few people saw some reef sharks at Lighthouse and a couple thresher sharks at the blue hole. Normally sharks are rarely seen in Dahab so things are getting a little interesting around here!!!
I am sorting out my flights to go home in the middle of June and am really excited about being home for a bit and seeing everyone. I can't believe it's already been 6 months. Better go do some work... See everyone soon!!!

Pics

This is Bonnie...she thinks she's a queen or something
My favorite little fishies

Come for a visit

Just wanted to throw an invitation out there to anyone interested in coming for a visit...
Havent said it before because I assumed it was a given but anyone that wants to make the trek out is welcome.
Also just thought I would tell you how much we have come to appreciate fresh water... I know I've said it before but yesterday I pulled a tick off the dog and put it in the toilet and flushed it. Then Cameron said as serious as can be 'now sarah, does that really justify a fresh water flush?' We had a good laugh at that one...

The heat has arrived

Well, sadly Cameron's brother has left and I think he's taken the nice cool breezy weather with him. Last night out house was so hot that speaking was kept to a minimum and moving was almost completely out of the question. We had all the windows and 2 fans going but was only blowing extremely hot air around. Cam and I just sat and stared at each other and thinking that we aren't going to survive this summer without air-conditioning. I think it was about 35C which is about 95F... and will be about 10-15 degrees warmer soon enough. During the day hasn't been too bad as long as you can stay out of the sun you are fine and the heat is very dry unlike home which is an advantage. Supposedly things sow down here quite a bit during the summer as no one wants to visit because of the heat and are already thinking of sneaking away to somewhere cool, probably Scotland, for a few weeks in July.
We have been pretty busy at work lately, Cameron has 4 courses in a row that he just started and I am holding down the fort and doing some guided dives during his breaks, it's so nice to have the dives sites literally at your doorstep.The water is warming up and is 23C now and I've already given up on my vest and hood. I definitely miss the warm 29C waters of good old Roatan but think it will get up to 26C here and guess that will have to been good enough.
We have also managed to acquire a dog. Our neighbor had to go back to England to sort out some business and we said we could dog sit. Later we found out he will be gone for 2-3months! So we have a Dahab dog named Bonnie. She is a really sweet and well behaved dog, most of the time, and it will be nice to have here around. She kind of looks like a collie I think, those dogs that chase the sheep, anyways that's what most of the dogs around here look like. She loves to jump fences and sit up high to look down on everything. Most of the houses in Assalah are separated by 8ft high cider block fences. Jimmy's yard has shorter fences so Bonnie can jump over and rough around with the neighborhood dogs. We decided Bonnie could just stay with is and stay in our yard which has no foreseeable way for her to get out but I think we may have underestimated her... Her first night with us was obviously very confusing for her and at about 3am I heard her barking and looked outside to find her in Jimmy's yard barking at his door. She's a very sneaky girl.
We've really started to sort our house out and I am extremely happy right now because we have fresh water in our tank. Water has proven to be a problem lately and you wouldn't believe how exciting is was when Cameron called yesterday and said the water was on and we could fill our tank... It seems silly but I feel so lucky to go home and have fresh water coming out our faucets!
I can't believe how fast the time is going it's been almost 5 months since I left home this last time and only have about 7 weeks until I'm home again. Christopher sent me some pics of the garden and it made me miss Solomons in the spring. I can't wait to have a little time there soon. Hope everyone is doing great at home. See you guys soon.

I feel a little silly

Ok, so I found out why no one was bothered with our little 'earthquakes'...
They aren't earthquakes.
Saudi Arabia is bombing somewhere close to here to make roads or something. I heard one 25m underwater yesterday and it not only scared me but def sounded like a bomb.
So that's that.

Pics

My road home, I live about 4 more blocks down

Erin & Aunt Cathy- this one's for you.

There are bead & jewelry shops on almost every corner here.

Trying to get everything out of the rain

Hail in Egypt...

My view from work

Another view from dive shop

Earthquakes in Dahab

Two days ago I went on a day dive trip to Sharm el Sheik, which is south of here, and got to dive on a fairly famous wreck called the Thistlegorm. We did 2 dives there and 1 dive in a place called Ras Mohamad. A diver from our shop was going so I went with her. The wreck was shot down in WWII by the Germans and was transporting military equipment including rubber boots, jeeps, tanks, boxes of ammunition, sections of trains and many many motorbikes. It was amazing. The boat is huge 130m/430ft long with big guns and we got to go inside and there are like rows and rows of motorbikes and old trucks and jeeps just lined up one after another. It has to be one best dives I've ever done. In the afternoon was went to Ras Mohamad and had an amazing dive there as well. There are the contents of a boat transporting bathtubs, sinks and toilets... It was so cool there were like stacks of bathtubs and a huge pile of toilets with awesome purple and pink corals growing on them. On our way home we saw a pod of maybe 30 dolphins as well, it was a great day.
While I was diving in Sharm there were 2 small earthquakes in Dahab. Cam said no one really seemed bothered and supposedly it's fairly common. Cameron's brother, Murray and his friend arrived here on Sunday and they all went diving yesterday just at Lighthouse in the morning and while they were diving I was in the office and the windows started to rattle but only lasted for a few seconds and I walked out onto the street and no one really seemed to startled so I figured it was just the wind. Later I heard someone say that it was an earthquake and when Cameron came out of the water they said they heard a loud boom but didn't know what it was. Later the boys went on another dive and we had another sm. earthquake and they also heard that one from underwater. It's kind of weird cause the people here don't really even talk about it, guess it's not news worthy.
Cameron is diving with his brother again today so I am here at the dive shop. Tonight the 4 of us are going to do a night dive at the Canyon which is a pretty popular dive site but a ways out of town. At about 20 meters the reef has a crack that starts at about 25m and if you followed it all the way out it comes out at like 54m. Anyways it just this small canyon that turns into a small cave in the shallow end and you can come out a small hole. It is supposed to be a really good night dive so I'm excited.
Not much else going on here... I will try to post pics soon.

Day in the Life

Anyone interested in what I did today?
We had no divers scheduled today so I woke up at about 8:15 when Cameron was leaving for work. We checked to see if we had fresh water. We have a water tank that we have to fill from a spicket in the yard. The fresh water is only turned on (sometimes) on Tues, Wed, and Thursdays if you are lucky and last week supposedly a pipe burst and we had no fresh water and our tank only last at most 5 days so we have been on well (sea) water for almost a week. Anyways the water of course wasn't on yet so I went to the kitchen to make some cheese and tomato toast and sat down and watched the end of the dvd we didn't finish last night. I had planned on doing some laundry and mopping (seems there is a thin film of dust and sand on everything in our house at all times and there isn't much you can do about it but mop everyday) but since we didn't get the ever so exciting fresh water I decided to get ready and head into work. I caught a taxi in since one of the bikes has a flat tire, then sat around with Cameron discussing signs for the shop and did a few small things while one of the local guys that works here got kitted up for his very first dive. He has been working here a while but has never tried diving. So we stood around teasing and watching him and took photos. Then I bought some food from a street vendor guy for $.60 who pushes this cart around yelling all sorts of things just to get attention. He's asked me before if I want a taxi ride on his cart and he yells that he has juice and drugs and things just for the reaction. Then I went to the internet place to get a book and read about 80 pages in it. I've chatted with Pfeltz on gmail, she's stuck in an Atlanta airport awaiting a flight to Bermuda. I've watched dogs wrestle, kids play soccer and cats beg for food. I called home and found out the water is on now, guess I will get clean clothes for tomorrow. I've sat and stared blankly at the sea, watched people get in and out of the water and chatted with a family that just finished diving with us. Just watched a horse and her pony (I think he's about 3 weeks old, the owner of this shop owns horses) run by and a dog was trying to chasing
them. While writing this, a couple came in to sign up for some diving tomorrow which means work for me, yipee. It's 6:15pm and is about to get dark and I think I'm about to head home for the night.
Just thought I would add to my lack of work for the day by writing this entry.
Hope everyone had a great day.

Hail in Egypt

As I was leaving the house yesterday morning, it started to rain which is really rare here especially this time of year. I think I heard it only rains about 2-3 days a year here... Anyways by the time I got to work it had turned in to a huge thunderstorm and torrential downpour which could be devastating for a place surrounded by mountains and with no drainage system. The rain continued for a few hours and actually dumped us with nickel size hail as well. We were all running around trying to cover things up, blockade doors and remove everything of value from the shop to a dry place. We have a classroom, an equipment room and an office all of which have wooden slats as ceilings and everything here got wet, luckily we got the computer out in time. The water was running like a river from the street through the dive shop and then into the sea. Watching down the boardwalk you could see loads of people running back and forth trying to get all the cushions and things from the cafes along the beach. It was the first day since I've been here that the boardwalk wasn't covered with mats, equipment and divers. As soon as the rain subsided, people went to work like little worker bees clearing out the water and soon after the divers started to pour in... I had a morning dive that was canceled so I sat around drinking hot chocolate, trying to stay out of the wind and watched the shivering divers get in and out of the sea. A few people we know were stopping by telling of their flooded apartments but we weren't really bothered since we are on the 2nd floor and it is a new construction. I wandered home late in the afternoon to find that water leaked in every window and door bringing with it piles of sand. We don't have much stuff but all the clothes, books on the floor, all the rugs and our cushions in the living room were soaking wet. I spent the next 2 hours or so doing laundry and sweeping and mopping the floors. Good Times... Thankfully it shouldn't rain for another 7 months.

Diving in the Red Sea

I have a job!!! Yippee... It's about time (at least I know that's what you all are thinking!)
So much has happened since my last post but the short version is that Cameron got a job as a manager of a dive shop and has been begging me to come and work for him:) No really, I will be working there, it's called Sea Pioneer and is right on the main strip about 10 yrds from the Lighthouse Dive Site. The owners of the dives shop also own a technical diving school right next store. I have guided a few dives and Cameron just finished an Advanced Course and left me in the shop to do some organizing. I guess you could say I am helping him out with the managing aspect as well.
Our house is finally feeling like a home. We have gotten big rugs and big pillows as a couch and have been eating at home a lot. Seems people here eat a lot of feta cheese, if you ask for a cheese sandwich it will be made with feta and both of us have become slightly addicted. The produce here is really good and have been eating a lot of vegetables and fruits. My daily lunch consists of tomato and cheese sandwiches and black olives (with the pits which I never really ate at home but they are amazing). The other day I bought a bunch of apples and as I was peeling the sticker off to eat it I noticed that it was made in the USA in Washington State. Kind of amazing that the apples I'm eating here came all the way from home (they are delicious by the way).
We had bought 2 crappy bikes to get to town on and Cameron managed to rip both pairs of handle bars off so the bikes have been out of commission for a bit but one of the boys that helps out at the dive shop took them to a welder and got both of them fixed for about $.75ea!
There are lots of dogs here but all have been really friendly so far. At about 7pm every night our neighborhood turns into a barking competition. We are surrounded by 4 mosques and at about that time they start their prayers over the loud speakers and directly following this the dogs start up and continue for about 30 min. We found out that the goats and sheep do belong to the Bedouins and are let out every morning to clean the streets and then find their way back home just before dark. I also found out that they eat them sometimes as well, but the ones they are going to eat get fed regular food(whatever that is) and stay locked up.
The weather has been off and on recently and is either chilly with crazy winds blowing(which is brutal when you get out of the water and have to strip off your wetsuit) or no wind and really hot although I know we haven't seen the worst of the heat yet. We might try to get an air conditioner if we want to be able to sleep in the summer.
Oh, our landlord got us a washing machine which is really exciting. It is this round contraption that is about a foot wide and 2 feet tall and you can wheel it around and fill it with water and then plug it in and there is a wheel thing on the inside that spins the clothes around. Pretty impressive.
Not much else is going on here... just happy to be making money and diving.
Happy late Easter. We just realized we missed it yesterday! Hope everyone is well and happy.

Pictures

Diving in the Red Sea

View from our living room (Saudi Arabia in the background)
More views from our apartment, those are the mountians

we climbed in the next pic in the background

Cameron and I enjoying the view
Cameron's idea of walking
View of Assalah, my neighborhood, the top end of the picture on the water is the main strip where all the shops and resturants are... If you look to the right of the picture halfway up there is a white 2 story building with a small yellow one in front of it, the second floor apartment is where we live.

I'm 28 and still want my mom when I'm sick

Since the last post Cameron and I have moved into our apartment and I managed to spend the first 3 days there in bed. Cameron had a stomach bug a few days before and I must of caught it from him or some people say it's just getting used to the food and water here. Anyways, it wasn't fun but Cameron took care of me and I have managed to survive and am back outside with the living.
Our apartment is great, a little empty at the moment but that will soon change. We have great views of the sun setting behind the mountains and a great view of the sea as well. We had a few cloudy days that brought strong winds and we could even hear the waves crashing on the beach about 3 blocks away. It has been nice to have a refrigerator and be able to make your own food which should save us some money as well. We have met one of our neighbors, an English guy who does underwater videography and has had us over for tea already. We have little Egyptian children running up and down our street playing all day and love say hello to us. We have also figured out what the deal with all the goats is... we figured out that they are here as street cleaners. I knew that goats eat almost everything but they really do eat everything... except plastic and glass. I'm not kidding, they eat cardboard boxes, paper and just about everything you throw away. I decided we would save our food scraps and dump them outside our gate for them to munch on . There are loads of baby ones and they are so cute. Although we can't really communicate with some of our other neighbors they seem really kind and helpful.
Cameron and I decided to take a "walk in the hills" as he would call it... I call it mountain climbing, but he is from Scotland. Anyways, we took a walk in the mountains by our house and I have to say it wasn't very safe in flip flops since the mountains are made of rubble and loose rocks but once we got to the top it was worth it. From one side you had an amazing view of Dahab and the Red Sea with the mountains of Saudi Arabia in the background and from the other was an endless set of red mountains. It was amazing.
We plan to get back on the diving track tomorrow since we havent been diving since we moved. Maybe checking out some of the dive sites in the south. We have a few prospects for work... I'll let you know as soon as something is definite.
Will post pictures soon.

Camels

View on the drive back to town from the dive sites

Pictures

View from the entrance to the Lighthouse dive site and the end of the main strip in Dahab
The beginning of the main strip
This is what I see from the side of the road on the way to our apartment
Goats and Sheep are everywhere!

Life

Cameron and I went to check on our apartment the other day, it is just being finished and so we were checking on the progression. Anyways, our landlord invited us for tea at his home which is right down the street. We went over for tea and sat and chatted with him and his family (even though he was the only one who spoke english), his daughters name is Sarah as well, the name seems pretty popular over here. They live in a basic building with a stone wall around an open ceiling area used as their living room with pebbles on the ground... makes us feel silly when we are asking for luxuries in our apartment.
Last night we went to eat at a restaurant on the water. Alot of the restaurants and cafes have rugs spread out over gravel. They are draped over dead palm tree trunks to rest your back on and have pillows piled against them. Anyways we were sitting right next to the ocean and the restaurant had a spotlight shining on the water and a little black and white spotted sea snake came up and swam around for a little while and then a bit later a sting ray swam up and sat for a bit, it was big, about 3ft across and we watched him until he swam away.
Today we went back to the Blue Hole and Cameron did a tech-dive while I read my book and I got to see a bunch of dolphins jumping in and our of the water about 100 yrds from where I was sitting. I also had a bunch of camels resting nearby and a dog sleeping under my chair while I drank hot chocolate. When I leave the internet place we are planning on going to check on some bikes to buy and then off for dinner. Hope everyone is well.

Life in Egypt

This is the beginning of our 5th day (I think) in Dahab and there are a few things I've learned since coming here... One is to always always check weather before assuming that just because you are traveling to the desert does not mean it will be hot. I know that it gets up to 40 C- about 104 F... but didn't bother to check what the weather was like at the moment. In an effort to keep my luggage under 30 kilos I gave away almost all the warm weather gear I had-which consisted of a pair of jeans. I replaced them in KL with very thin linen pants which I'm sure will keep me cool in the heat but does nothing for me at night here with the temp being around 15C-59F (it is cold when you have been in 90 degree heat for the past 2 mths) with the wind blowing like crazy. The wind is even brutal during the day if you are out of the sun and have been wearing my jacket everyday.
Cameron and I have been diving the past few days. Yesterday we paid a taxi driver to take us to a few dive sites and made a day of it. I bought a 3mm vest and hood to wear under my 3mm wetsuit to help with the chill of the 21C-69F water, I have been diving in 29C which is a huge difference. I was talking to a guy the other night and said that I bought a vest and he said he wears a 3mm vest and hood and a 7mm wetsuit-so you can get an idea of how cold you can get after being underwater for 45 minutes. The water for me actually isn't the most painful part-getting out of the water and out of your wetsuit in the wind causes enough pain for me to want to stay in it all day. We dove the Blue Hole yesterday, it's the most dangerous dive site in the world... it is kind of like a circle cut out of the reef that goes down 100's of meters and has a tunnel/arch through to the open water at 60 meters (200ft). I think over 100 people have died trying to go through the arch on one tank of air. It's meant to be done by technical divers with all the appropriate precautions taken. Many people have done it safely and dont worry it is not something I will be trying ever.
We might be moving in the morning, we found an apartment that is brand new and the owner is finishing putting in the appliances and things and hopefully we will be moving in soon. It's about a 25 minute walk out of the main strip so we will both be getting bikes as well, which by the way will be good for me since the food here is incredible and have been eating lots:). We have a view of the Red Sea from our reception (that's what they call the living room) and have a small sunset deck on the other side and can see the sunset behind the mountains. It's amazing. Also have a few Camels as neighbors and loads of goats wandering around.
Another thing that excites me about having our own place other than having more than just a bed in our room is having fresh water to shower and brush our teeth with. The well water here is salty. Not as salty as the sea but you can taste the salt when you brush your teeth. The first time Cam showered he came back with a wax film on him and in his hair like he rubbed a warm candle all over his body... We thought it was just cheap soap but realized that it was the water. My legs and body is so dry from it but rarely put lotion on because there is so much sand that it would stick to me which I consider worse than having dry legs.
I am really enjoying being here... I think it's going to be a great place to live.

More pics

View from the cafe at 'The Blue Hole' dive site.

Blue Hole again... Everyone takes Jeeps to the dive sites and then lays mats for their equipment.

Getting our gear together at 'The Canyon' dive site... the jeep we rented (w/driver) in the background and a very sleepy dog that found a warm spot on our rug and didn't move until we finished the dive.

Cameron and I after dinner.

Dahab

We finally arrived safely in Dahab last night after about 24 hours of traveling and it is beautiful here. We flew into Cairo and got a taxi for the 5 1/2 hour journey to Dahab... the entire trip here was just us on a road in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As far as you could see was sand and mountians and a few clumps of palm trees here and there. 100's of different shades of brown, it is amazing. We passed a camel and her baby walking along the road, it was pretty cool. The closer we got to the sea the more mountians there were and we ended up driving through them and I mean through them just weaving in and out of these massive mountians. It felt almost un real like something you would see on tv where they pan out from the car driving through the desert and there is nothing else around except that little car and the different shades of brown. The town of Dahab is mostly a long strip going right along with the Red Sea and is lined with little shops and cafes on the beach with piles and piles of pillows. If you are facing the water you can turn 1/2 way around and not far from the town is a massive strip of mountians.
We just spent the morning walking around and found a place we can rent tanks from and plan on going for a dive this afternoon, there is a dive site we can swim to... There were divers everywhere along the main walkway getting their gear together this morning. Most of the dive sites are along the coast so instead of a boat taking you to the dives sites and jeep or camel takes you.
We are already trying to ask around about an apartment and seems like it will be really easy to find a place with everything we need and close to town. I think it will be fairly cheap as well, I just bought a 20oz bottle of water for .20 cents!! Well, think we are going to go find a good spot along the sea, play some cards and get some food. Hope everyone is well.