Monday, April 2nd to Friday April 6th, 2012
One of the things I decided I need to do while in Saudi Arabia was get my PADI dive certificate. You have all seen many a picture of me snorkeling my way through various countries over the past few years and it has quickly become apparent to me that it was time to take my underwater exploration to the next level. So with the help of Jeff and Desert Sea Divers (http://www.desertseadivers.com/) I made all the arrangements and excitably made my first trip out of Riyadh to the Red Sea city of Jeddah. My trip was almost derailed by a technicality at work (my leave was approved but I was 2 days short of the end of my 90 day probation period so it was taken back) but luckily I was still able to get enough days off to complete my course and more.
Not knowing Jeddah very well I had a hard time choosing a hotel to stay at so I picked an old favourite that I knew well but was not sure was very convenient to where I needed to be each day. I was correct on both counts. The hotel was great and it wasn't very convenient. I stayed at the Marriott down town for a couple nights and then moved the rest of the nights. Catharine and Jeff came to join me for the weekend (on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) so I moved places the other nights, but enjoyed it while I was there.
The living room to my hotel room. Yes I had a living room......and 1.5 bathrooms.
The bedroom in my hotel room. I love king sized beds all to myself.
My view of part of Jeddah. Seriously I have no idea which part. I know Jeddah even less than I know Riyadh. One of the down falls of not being able to drive.
On arrival at my hotel ( very early but they nicely let me check-in) I called the dive shop to try to make arrangements to get there. Since I didn't know where I was or where I was going, they sent me a cab driver (Taj) who would transport me the next couple days back and forth to the dive site. It was great. Like a private driver. It meant I could sleep while he drove.
It was a quick stop at the dive shop to meet my instructor and then we rushed down the road to the beach where I would be doing my course. My instructor's name was Marlon and I was very happy to find out that I would be the only one in the class. That meant one-on-one instruction which would be really nice.
A look at the view from the Sheraton Beach Resort. Connected to the hotel in name but it is a private resort so you cannot book into it without knowing someone on the inside (remember that whole knowing people thing). I couldn't get booked in here although that would have been much easier. The water looked so pretty and it really was.
If you are not familiar with PADI they are the internationally recognised body that teaches, trains and certifies diving. So basically if you take a PADI course, you get a card and then you can dive pretty much everywhere in the world. I'm just starting with my Basic Open Water course but there are many more levels you can achieve from there. The course involves some book learning, some confined dives learning skills in a pool and then of course applying those skills to open water dives. I did most of the classroom stuff before I arrived so was able to literally start in the water as soon as I arrived (once I finished all the exams).
I was a little surprised with my confined water dives as they were not done in a swimming pool but in a "pool" portion off the resort. The water was probably about 3 meters (10 feet deep) maybe a little deeper with waves and little colourful fish and no edge of the pool to grab onto. It took me a few minutes to get comfortable with the whole breathing under water thing but once I got comfortable with the regulator I was all good. Marlon has a great underwater camera so captured my lessons and dives for me....as well as some of the wild life we managed to see. The course was 3 days long and here are some pictures.
In the "shallow end", learning how to breath properly.
Heading out towards the open water. I'm still learning how to stay neutrally buoyant while in the water and use my arms a little too much but it will come with more dives.
Checking out the many clown fish. They are so cute.
I almost look like I know what I'm doing here.
Moray eel. There were more than a few of those around. They really do look a little scary.
Jelly fish of all shapes and sizes were also around. These big ones are at least easy to avoid. The small ones...not so much. I certainly felt a few little stings on my face.
There's a octopus in there....you just have to look very closely.
Demonstrating how I would remove a cramp from my leg if I needed to.
Getting better with the whole buoyancy/swimming thing.
Checking out more clown fish.....well ok maybe this one is checking me out. It was apparently clown fish breeding season because every little anemone we found had a clown fish couple with little baby clown fish. They are very protective. We've all seen Finding Nemo.....very accurate in that respect.
Heading through a tight little spot. Again, using my arms to help me out a bit too much but I'm just learning so it's ok.
Not sure what this one is but it sure did look neat.
Checking out some more little fish and other underwater life. Marlon took some very good pictures.
Puffer fish!!!!!!! I couldn't make him puff up though.
Lion fish. They are so pretty.
Another lion fish. I'm told they are pretty venomous too.
Big puffer fish. Seriously this guy was a good 2.5 or 3 feet (1 metre or so) long and pretty wide. Imagine how big he would be all puffed up.
That's me entering the water on the first dive on my final day.
This is Pete. He came down with Marlon and I on that first dive. He is just finishing up his Rescue diver and is on his way to becoming a Dive Master. He is very good with his neutral buoyancy.
Me trying to pull off the "Buddha" pose. I didn't float as well as Pete but Marlon did manage to get one picture.
Pete and I practicing some of the required skills. In this case we are practising a situation where Pete has run out of air and is using my second regulator to breath. If this was a real situation we would then slowly ascend to the surface together. Since this was just practise we just swam around in a little circle.
"Ok". One of the most important under water signals to know. "Thumbs up" means going up to the surface so you don't want to mix up the 2.
Heading through a tunnel. Just after this one of my hoses got caught on a plant so I had to practice the very important rule of "don't panic". I wasn't caught for long but you can see how people could panic and entangle themselves even more.
Pete and I sitting on a structure being built underwater. Sitting while underwater is harder than it looks.
This time I got to help Pete with some of the skills he needed to demonstrate by playing the "unconscious diver" . Pete then had to bring me back to the surface, pull me toward the shore while providing rescue breaths, then remove his and my equipment, remove me from the water and fireman carry me up a flight of stairs to safety. Pete is British and very cute so I assure you I had no problem with that. He can rescue me any day.
Another clown fish family. I will never get enough of them.
That's Marlon and I during my last dive. This dive was my first fun dive (I was officially certified after my previous dive) and lasted 73 minutes (my longest dive to date). I almost ran out of air but that's ok, made it to shore with 10 bar still in the tank.
I'm smiling because all though it looks like it, I do not have black eyes. This is what happens when you get mask squeeze. Divers will know that there are a few compartments in the body where the pressure needs to be equalized while diving, the ears, the lungs and the mask. You equalize your lungs by breathing (slow and steady) and never holding your breath. You equalise your ears by holding your nose and breathing out. I didn't learn how to equalise my mask (breathing out through your nose) until after this happened.
On Thursday Jeff and I did 3 more dives off the beach. I think it is safe to say that I'm officially hooked but I guess diving can't be the worst hobby to pick-up. I'm already planning my next dive trip......and some dive equipment related shopping!!!!
Eventually I had to come home from Jeddah and go back to work. 4 days of diving totally wiped me out though and I came back pretty sick. Good thing I get sick leave.
In summary though.......it was a fantastic week and I cannot wait until I can dive again.
Julie
Underwater photography by Marlon Espina.
No comments:
Post a Comment