Red Sea Diving

Enjoying a French-style cafe



I officially recorded my twenty-sixth dive in my dive log book yesterday. Wow, over 25 dives now! I can say I'm gaining confidence and having an easier time descending from the surface once I make the "giant step" entry into the water. The most stressful part of diving, for me, has got to be at the beginning. I am focusing on pre-entry calm behavior: breathing normally, trying to ignore my rapid heart rate, getting my fins on, mask on, regulator in my mouth... Then I hold the mask in place and step off the boat deck into the water. The first thing that happens of course, is submersion (with this, more focus on calmness as I reassure myself my mask is secure), and then I begin to float among the waves, thanks to the inflated BC. Being buffeted around in the waves is a little bit stressful too, so descending actually minimizes the buffeting around business. Then I concentrate on the dive master, letting air out of my BC and clearing my ears.

Red Sea Dive
Photo by Gary Taylor

We had two very enjoyable dives again on Friday (Again, that's our second day of the weekend. Like Sunday). The boat trip out to the dive site was pretty rough. I'm not sure exactly the threshold for seasickness for me personally, but that wasn't quite enough. Bill and I both still felt fine even after a lot of dips and rolls. The day was probably 85-90 degrees, with a little breeze. Very pleasant. The first dive was very cool, with a lot of swimming among coral formations. It reminded me of the rock formations in the desert, but with colorful coral growing all over the rocks. There is so much to see, and you can concentrate on just one cluster of coral in spiky purple shapes, or a more round-shaped growth in blue, or fan corals with white veins... There are sea anemones and fish standing by that look like Nemo's inspiration. I can't identify all of the fish yet, but I have seen some familiar ones: yellow grunts with blue stripes, parrot fish. Mostly I call them "blue schooling fish," or "the big black fish with the blue outlines with some orange spots." We see a lot of tiny gold fish in schools in certain spots, and then other schools of small fish that are half black, half white--front and back. I have seen red fish with blue and white spots, giant clams that have amazingly glowing blue interiors, and lots of other colorful ones.

The second dive focused more on the wreck of a cement ship from 25 or so years ago. Coral is beginning to grow all over the ruined ship, and we swam all around the outside of the large vessel, through the propeller housing, and then over the ship's deck. We saw a giant pulley lying on the sea floor and lots of other pipes and other components that are now the home for fish and other sea creatures. We saw a 6 ft. nurse shark near the beginning of the dive (this is a non-man-eater, Mom.) Upon our return, everyone was really impressed that we had seen a shark. I think it was just trying to have a nap because it never moved from its spot. Underneath an overhang we saw a sting ray, also resting with its blue markings and yellow eyes glowing. There are some really beautiful and unusual creatures living under the water, and it's really amazing to have a chance to see them.

We went to the beach over the weekend too. We relaxed under a palapa and listened to some bad American music. After an hour or so, some people asked us to join them for a volleyball game, and even though Bill and I both told them that I'm really not very skilled at volleyball, they were so short on players that I agreed to give it my pathetic best. We did have a fun time, though I really did prove that I am indeed terrible at volleyball. My most redeeming moments were two: serving (I'm not as bad at that) and running to get the ball when the wind blew it far out of bounds. My hand-eye coordination has always been an issue with games involving balls, but I like to say I'm good at other things so I don't get too worked up over it. Anyway, it was fun and everyone was a good sport.

As we prepared to move to KAUST, I noticed a phenomenon associated with belonging or maybe with responsibility, and that is associated with keys. As we approached the move date, I kept giving up more and more keys. Keys to the cars, keys to the garage and to our house, keys to my friends' houses disappeared one by one. When I arrived at KAUST, I received one key: the key to the villa. Now I have two keys because I now have an office on campus. I started a job today doing some work for the HR department in their Learning Development department. It will be afternoons on weekdays, and that is the time of day that I have had the most free time. I have been very busy, for the most part. I think the part-time job will be a great way to stay busy, meet more people, feel validated and make a little money. I have to have Bill sign my employment contract that I will take in to the office tomorrow. As a dependent, I have to have his permission. 

Tomorrow I am teaching my first English class on my own. Last Sunday I taught about half of the class at the community library. The class consists of all women. There are a couple of women from China, one from Sudan, several Saudi, one from Egypt and one woman from Uruguay. I mentioned in class that I am studying Spanish, "so I know what it is like to study another language," was what I was saying. I didn't realize I had a Spanish speaker in the group, but it has turned out to be a great discovery. My new friend and I have met twice for coffee and to help teach each other our respective languages. I'm thrilled to have met someone I can practice with! I have been studying a lot and am making good progress.