Here are a few random pics from a friends going away party and then one of my friend Flip and I doing her equipment exchange for her Divemaster Training. Basically you have to swap all your equipment including fins, BCD, mask and do it while buddy breathing... not the most fun thing and Im not sure how her husband talked me into doing it but I think we did well (not that I was being tested plus Ive done it before) All here is good. Braving the heat and drinking loads of water. I have been working quite often, in the dive shop and diving as well so that's awesome. I saw a seahorse yesterday and did a early morning dive at the Canyon, my favorite divesite and we were the only people in the water it was GREAT! So I did 2 dives today and was finished by 1pm... Cant get any better than that plus I only had one diver and he was great so it felt like fun dives to me.
Cameron has been working solid, actually I can't remember when the last day he had off was and supposedly Sept and Oct will be REALLY busy.
A few days ago a couple of girls and I rented a mini bus and drove to Sharm to a proper grocery store and let me tell you that was what I call exciting... We all walked in and I didn't know where to look it was great. I got some avacados and we had tacos and guacamole... Oh it was excellent. Made me miss Central America.
I was walking to work yesterday and saw a goat standing on top of a jeep and one trying to climb inside the passenger side... not sure but they may have been trying to eat it. Too bad I didnt have my camera which by the way may be donzo. I dropped it and ever since I havent been able to work it... will have to steal Camerons. I am so used to having that thing with me, especially in the past year it has always been there for those special moments like when the goats are trying to climb trees just to get to the leaves or when the camels are trying to scare the cats out of the rubbish pile... guess camels dont like sharing, by the way they cant get rid of the cats. Well if it is halas (arabic for finished, almost said sp? but there really isnt a proper way to spell in our letters anyways), it has lasted longer than I thought after all the abuse it's gone through esp in Roatan.
Been trying to learn some Arabic, the boys at work are teaching me but I just chose the words that are easy to say and just say them in any situation. Like the word yanni, they use it quite alot usually at the end of sentences, it sort of means maybe... so that's how I answer them in the morning when they say good morning or how are you... They get a good laugh.
The wind has started to pick up and has taken some of the scorch off which has been nice. But we thank our lucky stars to have air-con everyday! Most of our friends dont have it and I really dont know how they deal. A few nights ago we lost power for a few hours and I was sleeping with a frozen water bottle like it was a teddy bear. Thank goodness it came back on at about 1am.
Hopefully we will be quite busy in Sept and Oct and not sure how long we'll stay here but told Cam that we have to do some of the touristy stuff before we go... Like Cairo, Luxor and Petra in Jordan. We are also expecting Kat and Anna (the girls I met up with in Amsterdam) to come for a visit sometime in October and I cant wait!!!
Offer is still open to anyone else that wants to come for a visit!!! I swear it will cool down in a few months:)
We have a badminton court out back of the dive shop, where the boys play almost every evening, and here are some Bedouins trying to learn. Pretty funny to watch until I tried to play... I definitely need more practice.
Samir and Ahmed retrieving the clumps of dates from the trees.
These are the boys I have to deal with! Our boat captain, our driver, the boy who fill tanks, one that cleans the shop (and fixes my bike) and Hany who fixes equipment and also make really good cheeseburgers along with the 2 full time instructors. Something is wrong with this male to female ratio!
Not much to report from here... Im sure you are sick of hearing about diving and that's pretty much all Ive been up to lately. Cam and I are planning for Kat and Anna to come out in a bit and may have another visit from Cameron's brother as well. Slowly slowly the heat is coming down and pretty soon should be cool in the evenings, which will be nice for walks or bike riding or beach bars. We went to the beach bar last night and a camel came past to snack on the plants they have surrounding it. It was quickly shooed away and then just went on it's way down the beach. Tis the season for puppies... there have been a few dogs recently having them and have been checking up on a few but have somehow resisted bringing any home. Sorry I dont have more exciting stories... Hope all is well at home, can't believe the summer is almost over!
