03.13.06
Under Da Sea
Darling, it’s better,
Down where it’s wetter,
Under da sea!
Today we went on our Scuba diving course. Because it was such a beautiful day and we had a fairly small group, after a briefing on the various hand signals and a runthrough of the equipment the instructors took us straight on to the beach and in to the sea. We spent the first 20 minutes in shallow water, getting used to breathing pressurised air (a very strange sensation at first), and practicing a few techniques like what to do if the regulator comes out while we’re down under. Unfortunately Hanne couldn’t get used to the whole thing, so she decided to retire to the beach and not hold us back. The rest of us then proceeded into deeper water, to swim around the reef a few meters futher down. We got down to around 9m under and had a good swim around the rocks, but the sealife was nowhere near as abundant nor varied as at Ras Mohamed, nor even as at the reef next to our hotel. But it was still a great experience. I definitely want to get scuba certification before the next time I come here, in order to be able to “dive straight in” (nyuck nyuck nyuck).
In the evening Hanne and I took a taxi over to Naama Bay, which is the centre of all nightlife in the area now. Western influence is more apparent than ever here. Recently opened in the area is a KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and even a Hard Rock Cafe. The point was driven home as we were perusing a local gift shop, which had some arabic music playing out of speakers placed around the building, when all of a sudden the song stopped and Trick Daddy - Let’s Go (a rather raucous rap song) started blaring out at full volume. lol. So we continued down the beachfront, stopping at a restaurant for some dessert and to watch a belly-dancing show, before heading back to the hotel.
