Un-escorted Females



Bill astride our motorized transportation vehicle



I was looking forward to diving, and our first outing was on Friday. We went out on the dive boat snorkeling the day before that too, so afterwards I thought I was pretty warmed up for diving. The water sports operation is really well set up. Nice catamaran-style boat with a captain, first mate, three or four divemasters, and five sailors/servers who wear the full-on sailor suits (very cute). "Welcome aboard, Mom. Welcome aboard, Sir." Everyone says "Ma'am" and "Sir" here but Ma'am sounds more like "Mom."

After a stop at the coast guard station, we made our way to the snorkeling site. A couple of women on the trip got seasick on our way to "Sand Island," but neither Bill nor I had any problems with the little bit of roughness. We wore shortie wet suits which kept us afloat while snorkeling, and after about an hour and a half of checking out the little reef around the small island, we were satisfied with the sea urchins, giant clams, parrot fish and other colorful fish we saw. The water was a little turbulent, so it wasn't the most ideal of conditions, and I ended up with blue and numb pinkie fingers, so we called it and relaxed the rest of the afternoon on the boat deck.
 Friday's scuba trip started out none too auspiciously with Bill waking up with a terrible pain in his big toe. I wasn't even sure we should go because he was having so much trouble walking, and it was obvious that it really hurt, but Bill said he had been looking forward to going, so he pulled it together and got us and our gear to the marina. That took 2 trips on the motorcycle: one with one pack filled with gear and one trip with me AND a pack filled with gear. 

Shot of the campus outside Bill's office

Our friend whose dogs we watched was going along on the trip too for her 2nd dive day at KAUST. We knew there could be trouble because her husband was out of town on a business trip for KAUST and therefore she was an "unescorted female." The rules are something like this: women can go out of the house in pairs or groups (but there is still the hazard of potentially not being served at some establishments if a group comes without a male guardian). Females may not go out alone; they must have either another woman with them, or a male member of their family. They may not be escorted by any other male. The rules apply more strictly to Saudi women than to foreigners.



The beach at KAUST

Wally, the International Dog of Travel

According to my dive log, I have not been on a dive since 2003. Yikes, that's a long time. I can swim an ok breast stroke, back stroke, or doggy-paddle but I'm not much of an underwater swimmer. Silly as it seems, I am really fearful of getting water up my nose, swallowing sea water or choking on water unexpectedly. In my head I know I can breathe through the regulator while underwater, but in practice it was a little difficult to warm up to being so out of my element. It took 3 tries to get down underwater and on to the swimming around, enjoyment-focused part of the dive. Luckily Bill was right there, and I had the help of the dive master who made me stay focused on him. It really was an accomplishment for me to do the dive at all, given how frightened I was at the beginning. In this sport, it is really important to stay calm and focused, and for me that means pushing down the tendency to panic and thinking calm thoughts. I can't say I saw very much during the dive since I was so focused on simply breathing, staying calm and trying to equalize my ears, but I did have the presence of mind to at least notice how cool it was to swim around the reef as though I was floating along the side of a cliff. It really is a great experience. Now if I can just get to the point where I am comfortable with being in such a foreign environment. I did go today to register and pay for this weekend's dive. I tried to see the dive master to talk about how to improve and want to practice s that I can dive with confidence. He was out, but I will go back tomorrow.