Diving in Dahab

Dahab is dangerously attractive. The centre lies imbedded in a sheltered sunny bay with a newly constructed natural stone boulevard full of shops, restaurants and diving-schools.
One of the things we want to do during this journey is, sometime and somewhere, learn how to dive. We've heard that Dahab is THE place to do so, because the Red Sea is one of the most beautiful diving-sites in the world and diving is very cheap here compared to other places and countries.
Walking along the boulevard we stop at a lot of the schools to inform about their courses and prices. The consumer-test we perform this way ultimately leads us to Aqua Mundi, with the Dutch owner Raymond Hermans. We haven't been standing there for ten minutes when we hear shouting and cheering and suddenly we're embraced by Nigel and Elijah, who we meet unexpectedly for the fourth time already, since Syria. It turns out that the very day Peter had his acute appendicitis in Wadi Rum, Elijah broke her ankle almost on the same moment a few kilometres away. They moved to Dahab to recover, and so we meet again! After talking for some time Elijah leaves for her temporary job at a diving school and Nigel shows us everything there is to see in Dahab.

We decide to take the PADI Open Water Diver-course at Aqua Mundi. This means four days of learning the technique and theory of diving. The theory is a thick book and a number of video-tapes. Diving is an extraordinary experience, mainly once we control some of the techniques. From day one all lessons take place in the sea, not in a swimming pool. We become one with the fish and admire the beautiful coral and aquarium-life of the Red Sea. Raymond is an excellent instructor and Aqua Mundi a qualitative good diving school with a good atmosphere. (www.aquamundi.com)

We eat a lot at restaurant Shark, owned by one of Aqua Mundi's dive masters. Even the smallest portions are a complete dinner. Apart from the delicious food, the way you have to pay is very special: when you've finished your meal, you walk to the cash-desk, look on the menu what you drank and ate and put the money in the cash-desk, you take the right amount of change out of it. It's an amazing system, Hesham tells us that nobody takes disadvantage of it. The system calls upon your honesty and responsibility and is based on trust.

The combination Dahab, diving, nice people (Elijah and Nigel) and the relaxed atmosphere makes that we stay longer than intended. After the certificate ' Open Water Diver' the underwaterworld has such a grip on us that we decide to do the advanced-course as well. During this course we learn to dive at greater depths (thirty metres), go trough canyons and chasms, navigate with an underwater compass and recognise flora and fauna. With this course we dive in several places around Dahab we haven't been before. Diving at night is very special as well, because the coral opens it's flowers (that resemble feathers) at night and we see at a lot of different animals again. This course we dive together with Erik and Sofia, two experienced divers form Eindhoven in the Netherlands who spend their holiday here. Sometimes we really have to watch out when we turn out to swim near a moraine or poisonous stonefish. Although the danger never comes from the fish but from human behaviour. You don't need to be afraid if you behave yourself in the right manner, with respect for flora and fauna. The Eel Garden is fascinating, a sloping sandclearing on the bottom of the sea where thousands of eels stick their heads and bodies out of the sand and sway to and fro with the water. When we come to close they hide themselves in their sandy holes.

Our last day in Dahab we take part in a camel-dive-safari to Gabr el Bint; a virtually unknown dive-spot of an amazing beauty and virtually undisturbed coral-reef where our Bedouin escorts pamper us with a delicious meal and lots of tea. Gabr el Bint literally means 'Head of the girl'. The story goes that a long time ago a Bedouin girl and a Arab boy fell in (a forbidden) love. The well-to-do parents of the boy didn't like this at all, the class distinction was to big. The boy and girl refused to listen and married in secret. When the boy's family discovered this they undid the marriage by decapitating the girl and throwing her head in the sea…
Riding on a camel turns out to be a special experience. We do have a lot of respect for these self-willed and gracious animals that can carry enormous loads over great distances and narrow rock paths. Still we feel more at home on our own bicycle-saddles, that feel a lot more comfortable.

After two great weeks of sun, sea, diving, tropical fish, coral and old friends we feel somewhat reluctant getting on our bicycles again. We feel that if we don't leave now, we might never leave again. Hesham and Raymond try to keep us here by offering free meals and dives.
The bicycle wins.