The Eternal City

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Diving.  What I came to Dahab for.  Haven't done it for almost 2 years and what a gap.  (See the pictures).  Met a great group of people which added to the fun (mostly English and a couple of very funny Germans).  Our dive guide was shivering after coming out of yesterday's dive: "Summer's over", he declared.  The temperature hit 43 yesterday.
Did the infamous Blue Hole - many people have thrown a seven here including a Russian diver last week.  The surrounding area is littered with gravestones of dead divers.  We didn't "do" the Blue Hole in that sense - don't be absurd - just bobbed at 10 metres while someone else tried to kill themselves.  Great fun with an ghostly eeriness attached to it (like a night at Chingle Hall).
Also 'did' the SS Thistlegorm.  It is a wreck of a British cargo ship laden with military supplies for the army in WW2.  A German bomber sank it in 1941 and it now lies at 35 metres in the middle of the Red Sea.  The Germans, Jens and Uta, were getting a bit cocky about this so I suggested, with a jingoistic tongue in my cheek, that they descend down on the dive to the vessel in attack formation.
Supermarket music.  It doesn't offend anyone, which has the converse affect of not particularly inspiring or entertaining anyone.  So it is in resort land.  Every laid-back "backpacker" hangout with aspirations to a post-hippie feel cannot escape the risk-free soundtrack which consists of Bob Marley, David Gray, Dido, Moby and the soundtrack to 'The Beach'.  From the near-horizontal cushioned restaurant to the nightclub where a "famous"(my arse) DJ plays 'Mc-Beats' at 120bpm and nothing else.  Everyone dances to it because there is no other choice, but I was bored shitless.  I will be hugely impressed when I find a place that breaks the mold, goes off on a limb, does something slighly different.
The 'post' arrived the other day after a particularly nice meal in a nice restaurant and I was pissing out of my arse for a full 24 hours.

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Photos

Larking about
In between dives, there is plenty of time to use up, so why not scare the fish?

Family shot
Just about everyone on the boat except the Ozzie cameraman who filmed our dives - he had a bit of trouble using my camera.

The furry cup.
Just about the best bar name - ever.

Stray cats
These bastards scratch you to death as soon as you are passed the menu. Here they are helping themselves to the milk from my coffee.

Mount Sinai
5:30 am - trying to look half awake and a bit Charlton Heston on the top of the mount as the sun rises.

Sunrise from mount Sinai
Okay I think you know what a sunrise looks like by now. I do.

Where's my toothbrush?
We were the first up the mountain without a guide and with only moonlight. It was difficult to get lost, the trail is paved with camel shit so you just follow your nose.

St Katherine's Monastery
At the foot of the mount, catching a few zeds before the monastery opened.

Diver porn
Turtle money shot

Thistlegorm
I took loads if pics of this ship, but hardly any came out.

Thistlegorm
Foredeck - where is Kate Winslett and Wassisname?

Bikes
The Thistlegorm was a cargo ship carrying supplies - trucks, trains, and motorbikes.

Comments

[Ali]

Blue Hole - well I thought there was just one.
I dived the "Blue Hole" in Belize - didn't realise there was one in Egypt also. I guess it isn't a particularly imaginative name though ;) How would you rate the dive? Much flora/fauna?

[Honisetts]

L-O
just started reading your blogs, back dated - your a funny Fucker! You remind me a bit of my younger brother - he is also fuelled and ready to go! happy safe travelling!