Diving into Dahab...
Post-dive in Dahab.
The coast of Dahab.
May 20, 2006
On my dive, we went to the Lighthouse along the beach in Dahab. These are shallower waters (since it was our refresher course)
and you basically go along the shelf/table of a reef. There we found corals in colors of blue and purple. There were schools of fish,
some extremely colorful fish and a big turtle (our main highlight). The turtle was absolutely adorable just chowing down in the
bottom of the sea.
This was the first real dive that I’ve done since I got certified last year. Let me first start by saying that this does not come very
natural for me. I nearly panicked when we were doing our skills before starting the dive. I hate flooding my mask and I also
freak myself out about it. Our dive master, Mohammed, and my diving buddy (Olivia) both could not have been more patient. I
was able to calm down, complete the skills and then go cruisin’ down into the sea.
Only one more snag for me. Even though it felt as if I was just breathing normally, I was actually using up much more air than
the other two people. I let Mohammed know when I had half my tank left (we were still moving away from where we started).
Then I let him know as I got to 80…70…60. Once your gauge hits 50, it’s red. We were heading back but I was nervous that I
was going to run out by the time we got to shallower waters and had to do the 3-minute safety stop.
Even though I wanted to go up, he wouldn’t let me. He gave me his alternate regulator (turns out that skill of switching
regulators underneath the water is very useful) and I shared his air for the rest of the dive. Then I was able to chill as I moved
through the sea hand-in-hand with Mohammed.
By the time our dive was over, I had become completely comfortable with the idea of being under the water for that long.
Mohammed gave me some tips so that I would use less air the next time around (floating horizontally, for one) and I feel pretty
confident that I won’t run into the same problems. I’m hoping to get one more dive in while I’m here.
On my dive, we went to the Lighthouse along the beach in Dahab. These are shallower waters (since it was our refresher course)
and you basically go along the shelf/table of a reef. There we found corals in colors of blue and purple. There were schools of fish,
some extremely colorful fish and a big turtle (our main highlight). The turtle was absolutely adorable just chowing down in the
bottom of the sea.
This was the first real dive that I’ve done since I got certified last year. Let me first start by saying that this does not come very
natural for me. I nearly panicked when we were doing our skills before starting the dive. I hate flooding my mask and I also
freak myself out about it. Our dive master, Mohammed, and my diving buddy (Olivia) both could not have been more patient. I
was able to calm down, complete the skills and then go cruisin’ down into the sea.
Only one more snag for me. Even though it felt as if I was just breathing normally, I was actually using up much more air than
the other two people. I let Mohammed know when I had half my tank left (we were still moving away from where we started).
Then I let him know as I got to 80…70…60. Once your gauge hits 50, it’s red. We were heading back but I was nervous that I
was going to run out by the time we got to shallower waters and had to do the 3-minute safety stop.
Even though I wanted to go up, he wouldn’t let me. He gave me his alternate regulator (turns out that skill of switching
regulators underneath the water is very useful) and I shared his air for the rest of the dive. Then I was able to chill as I moved
through the sea hand-in-hand with Mohammed.
By the time our dive was over, I had become completely comfortable with the idea of being under the water for that long.
Mohammed gave me some tips so that I would use less air the next time around (floating horizontally, for one) and I feel pretty
confident that I won’t run into the same problems. I’m hoping to get one more dive in while I’m here.
