New and exciting news!!

I am off on Monday (short notice, I know) to the Philippines! I have been given the amazing opportunity of working with Coral Cay Conservation: http://www.coralcay.org/expeditions/marine/ph1/



I'll be their Scuba Instructor for the next 4-6 months, teaching volunteers, staff and locals to dive and/or further diving education. It's a voluntary position.... a working holiday, but WOW! What a fantastic experience. I think it's just what I need right now.

Unfortunately the dreadful English summer and on-going problems with the club RIB meant that the job at Gulfstream SCUBA was not meant to last. I left at the beginning of August... unfortunately they have now been forced to close due to lack of business. It gave me the chance to try out UK diving (and my new drysuit!) and I was able to meet and work with some really amazing people. If I hadn't had the few months in Cornwall I don't think I'd be where I am now.... with a few more qualifications under my belt and a great addition to my CV!

I am now going to have a very selfish few months to head off into the sun again in search of new adventures, before coming back to the UK and making the next big decision.... where next?

The resort in the Philippines will be very remote. I will try and get a SIM card for my phone, but I think internet access is VERY limited so I won't be doing very many updates. But I will try and keep a diary so that I can do a detailed write-up when I get back. I can also now take underwater photos so will make sure I include a picture or two! Also check out my 'facebook' page as I find it easier to stay in touch on that and update with photos etc as often as I can.

Tx

Welcome to the world lickle Christopher.... my beautiful new nephew.



Last Tuesday I became a very proud Auntie. I got the news at the dive centre and had to sneak off into the corner of the compressor room to hide my emotions - I blame it on the exhaustion of having lugged tanks and weight belts up and down harbour steps in my drysuit - if only it weren't for the pasties I'm sure I would be an envied size 00 by now!! Anyway... I managed to get a couple of days off last week to go and see the tiny (9.5lbs!) fella and have a cuddle. Adorable. Can't wait to get back up to Devon for more of the same. See you soon little one.

Auntie Tx

You would think that I would learn from my mistakes and save my blogs as I go, having lost so many 'unpublished' in Dahab... but most of you will know me better than that, so when I lost one again just a week or so ago it came as no surprise, just left me banging my head on the desk once more! I think the wonderful little techie-bods behind Blogger are aware of numpties like me and have thoughtfully and thankfully now created an autosave, phew! So here goes again.

It's been a week of technical tradegy... first was my new phone. The phone itself is lurvely but I am now on O2 and although I have international roaming and can text all my old buddies in Dahab, I can't receive any back from them (it took me a few weeks of feeling really unpopular before discovering this!). So now I have to swap SIM cards when I want to send or receive abroad! The next to go was my iPod - nasty one that. I was getting all ready to start regular jogging sessions with my house-mate Clare and on the very first day we were due to go it decided to wipe my entire memory and refuse to re-charge - it has been sent away in the hope I can fix it affordably and retrieve my music. So then it was my lovingly typed blog which I had spent about an hour on. Typical.

I have actually been jogging - the intention was to go 'running' but at our speed it can only really ever be classed as 'jogging'! We were trying to make it out every other day for 30 mins or so, but recent diving has left me too exhausted for the last few days... will be back into it soon though!

Hayle - what a wonderful and welcoming place. I'm really starting to settle here. It helps having a nice place to live, a good job with friendly colleagues, a fab house-mate, beautiful scenery etc. On my days off I'm trying to see as much of the area as I can - Clare (fab house-mate) took me to Godrevy to see the seals on the beach and walk along the cliffs by the lighthouse there, we've been to St Ives for a spot of lunch and people-watching, to Marazion for a Sunday evening carvery looking out over St Michael's Mount, I've been for lunch over-looking the estuary at Malpas (nr Truro), walked from Gwithian to Gothian and sat and watched the seals and surfers.

As for the diving, well, this weekend is really the first time I've been out properly. I've had an Open Water Course running but it's all been in the swimming pool so far, but a really good experience all the same. On Sunday I started an Advanced Course and had a Guided Dive too, we went out on the club boat 'Mytilus' and did two wreck dives - Primrose (Low Lee Ledges) and then Conqueror (hilarious accompanying story involving hungover sailors sticking the newly and expensively equipped boat on auto pilot but not accounting for the fact that Land's End stands in the way of Penzance and Ireland). Today we dived on the Alice Marie and Conqeuror again - also my first go at driving the RIB... 30+ mph bouncing around on the waves, what a buzz. My new drysuit is keping me nice and dry and warm - hurray! Problem is that the wrist seals are still a little tight so I end the day with puffy hands - lucky for me that Clare is qualified in massage and last night not only had a beautiful veggie spag bol waiting for me but also gave me a hand massage to get rid of the balloons I had on the end of my arms! (Ever blown up a rubber glove....?)

Talking of which.... my leftovers are calling me, and then I'm going to crawl into bed. Another day's diving tomorrow - this time Lamorna Cove.

G'Night!
Tx

OK, so things haven't quite worked out as planned. But hey, every cloud has a silver, no, make that 'scuba' lining! I was ready to turn my back on what had been a fabulous year of diving education and experience... in fact friends and family were shocked at my decision because I had been so happy - I think many of my blogs proved that... so here I go again......

The guys at Gulf Stream Scuba http://gulfstreamscuba.co.uk/ have offered me a job! (A big Thank You to Emma for pointing me in their direction!) After a brief training session in a couple of weeks I should hopefully be starting with them beginning of May - I can't wait. So.... I expect all of you divers will be coming down to dive with me at some point, and all of you non-divers will be coming down to learn to dive with me at some point! No excuses!!

I'll leave you all on that positive note.... with a massive smile on my face and the thought of a beautiful summer in the UK.... you're stuck with me here a while longer!

Tx

Hi all,

been a while huh?
I'm back in the UK now. Been a busy girl since I got back so I haven't been very good at keeping in touch. I'll send an email round to everyone soon - just have a few more addresses to add so that I can keep the Dahabians in the loop!

I've sorted myself a new car - seeing as I stupidly got Mum and Dad to sell the Yaris because I didn't think I would be coming back for a while! I now have a little blue VW Polo which I call Minty... Polo.. Minty... anyway... and I have a flat in Tavistock which is lurvely. I've got myself a part-time bar job at Bearslake Inn, a lovely 13th century thatched building, run by a lovely family. It's odd hours at the moment but it's helping pay the bills and allowing me to spend some time getting back into painting and drawing. I've actually made some cards that are on sale in Mum & Dad's tearooms - sold my first one yesterday!

Now I'm just waiting for Harry to come back! He's finishing some courses off in Dahab and Sharm at the moment - typical, you wait ages for decent work to come along and then when it does...! He's already landed himself a diving job in the UK, but unfortunately it's down in Falmouth so he'll have to stay down there when he's working and then spend his days off with me in Tavistock.

I'm finding it hard settling back in. I really miss Dahab and I really miss the diving.
Hopefully the weather will start to get a bit better and I'll brave UK waters, but I can't see me doing that for a little while yet. Maybe I'll be able to go down to Falmouth and dive with Harry... we'll see. Got to invest in a drysuit first!

HAPPY NEW ERA....

Well, Christmas was a quiet affair. I was working right up until Christmas Day and then back in the water again on Boxing Day. I enjoyed a lovely Christmas with just a few friends... lots of red wine and a beautiful turkey dinner.

Unfortunately on 27th I started to feel ill. I made it into the dive centre but cancelled and made my apologies before heading straight back to bed for a couple of days. Nothing really came of it, but I knew I was on the verge of something... I made it back in for a day guiding at Eel Garden and Islands but sorry to say that for the first time I couldn't wait to get out of the water! It was a beautiful dive at Islands and I was guiding 1:1 so it was very relaxed, but every twist and turn of the coral maze was incredibly uncomfortable. I again headed straight home for bed... a week later I visited the doctor and found out I had a case of Amoebic Dysentry... lovely. New Year's Eve was a little lame as I certainly wasn't in the mood for getting drunk and partying, and at 11pm when Harry knocked a pint of beer over me I realised that sitting at the bar cold & wet and watching everyne else having a good time was not my idea of fun so I was in bed by 11.50pm! Shocking. Will have to make up for it next year!

I've finally gotten over that and now just have a nasty cold so I haven't been in the water for a couple of weeks..... and now it doesn't look like I will be back in the water in Dahab again for a while. Harry and I have decided to move back to the UK, settling in either Devon or Cornwall. We've been talking about moving on for a while now. It doesn't mean that either of us will give up our diving... we hope to carry on in the UK (after I have bought a drysuit and plenty of thermal layers!!) both teaching and fun diving. I have never dived in the UK before and I feel like I'm due for a change... I don't want to start taking Dahab for granted, I want to leave with all the happy memories that I have. A few of our Dahabian friends have already returned so I am sure we will catch up regularly, whether for diving or drinking or both!

I'll be back in the UK in a week, spending a while getting pampered by Mum & Dad and eating lots of pork before looking for a 'real job' and a flat. Harry will be following shortly after. It's a quiet time of year work-wise here so there's no point in me hanging around... so I hopefully will be able to catch up with you all in person very, very soon. As soon as I have my UK mobile back in operation I'll let you all know.

Here's to a Happy New Era!!!

Warning - this is going to be a long one! Make yourselves comfortable....

THISTLEGORM
I have guided the Thistlegorm!! It was a few weeks before Xmas and I was doing a week's guiding work. Some of the guests wanted to take a day trip to dive the Thistlegorm... now bearing in mind that I have only ever dived it twice on a one-day trip I was a little nervous... thoughts of losing the shot line, surfacing at the wrong boat, getting caught by a current and going in the wrong direction (i.e. away from the wreck), poor visibility, losing a diver etc... oh my over-active imagination had a field day!! Anyway, I had paid for the first trip so that I would be able to guide, if I didn't give it a go now then who knows when the next time might be? Best to do it sooner rather than later. So I studied the maps and photos in the Sinai Dive Guide and spoke to a few of the other instructors... piece of cake apparently, just watch out for currents and boat motors! I was reassured by the fact that Jan, Phil and Petra were all very experienced divers and I couldn't be going with a better first group... of course I didn't tell them they were my Thistlegorm virgins!!

The day before the trip I made sure we had all we needed... and for safety's sake I took an SMB from the club and Harry gave me a crash course in how to use it! You don't ever need Surface Marker Buoys when diving from the shore in Dahab, unless you are doing a technical dive, so I have never been shown how to use one - crazy huh? I will be getting some practice in asap though!

It was an early start - meeting at the club at 5am - then in the bus down to Sharm El Sheikh, straight onto the boat 'Wind K', and headed towards the wreck. The boat manager called all the guides for a briefing and when he learned it was my first time he offered for me to follow his group. Very sweet of him, but I decided to take the bull by the horns and give it a go.... I couldn't have hoped for a better day, better conditions, or better group of divers! There were very few boats when we arrived (ours was about the sixth), the shot line was in a good position and easy to find, there was practically no current, the visibility was suberb and we spent the first dive pretty much on our own with just the company of the house turtle! A fantastic first dive. Humdoolelah!!
A one hour break and then straight back in for the penetration dive. Armed with torches we watched the turtle on the surface for a while before following him down to the wreck again and making our way into the holds to look at the Bedford trucks, the motorbikes, the wellington boots etc. There was one small heart-stopping moment when it got busy with divers in the hold and after a few twists and turns I had managed to lose sight of two of my group -out of the corner of my eye Jan was ascending to the next level whilst Petra had failed to appear around the corner.. yikes... luckily Phil was easy to spot in his twinset right behind me & peering into the dark recesses of the hold. I headed for the fins disappearing up to the next level, tugged on a fin and signalled Jan to come back down then I went back to the junction at the corner and waited.... moments later Petra shot from around the corner with camera extended, chasing a beautiful giant moray! Phew. Another successful and wonderful dive.

We dried off and stuffed ourselves with food whilst heading for Ras Mohammed. Phil and Petra wanted to do the third dive on Shark & Yolanda Reef. Just as we were climbing into our wetsuits the boat's horn sounded, followed by lots of banging on the railings and whistling. Then I heard the shout "Dolphins!". We were being followed by a large pod of dolphins, jumping and playing in the wake of the boat. This is the second time that I have had the opportunity to experience this sight (the first on my birthday on the way back from a day's fun-diving with Harry at Gabr El Bint) - I can't find words enough to describe it.... it made my heart skip and my tummy turn.... something about seeing them dancing in the waves makes you feel so amazing that it leaves a smile on your face for the rest of the day. Unfortunately we were forced to turn away and get ready to jump as we were nearing the reef. A short swim from the boat and we were at the wall. I had enjoyed the Thistlegorm, but there's something about reef diving that wreck diving will never be able to match. It's like floating weightless around the most beautiful garden, surrounded by shapes and colours that are unimaginable, and in the company of incredible marine life - it's almost liking being on another planet.... except for the Yolanda wreck which has left a large amount of toilets littered on the sea floor!! Still, the swim between Shark and Yolanda showed us blue-spotted rays, barracuda, free-swimming giant morays, stationary giant morays, napolean wrasse, large groupers... to name a few.
It was a long and relaxed dive... forced only to ascend as it was getting cold. On reaching the surface we signalled the boat and floated on the calm sea watching the sun set behing the Sinai mountains as we waited to be picked up. I dried and changed and then made my way onto the upper deck to grab a hot drink and watch the last of the sun descend, leaving the clouds and mountains aglow with reds and oranges and purples.....

It is a day that I will never forget.

N. B. If any diving buddies have Thistlegorm photos please email them to me so I can insert them in.... until I get my camera housing I'm reliant on other people, sorry!!

For now - please visit Keith's fab website which has pics and details of his own Thistlegorm adventure! http://www.diveportal.eu/Thistlegorm.htm

What a couple of weeks!
Mum and Dad came to visit 2 weeks ago. A fab surprise that they were both able to come together - they chose to close the tearooms for a week and enjoy a well-earned break. It was touch and go whether Dad would be able to make it, right up to the last minute.... unfortunately he had a kidney stone and had been told not to fly, but nature ran it's painful course and just in the nick of time Dad made it!

It was quite an eventful week that followed too. I tend to lose track of days and dates here, as you know (sorry for all those forgotten birthdays!) so I can't guarantee they are in the right order! I was working for the first few days, back-to-back courses, but had the rest of the week off as a result which was perfect.
They arrived on the Monday (13/11) and spent a day or two relaxing at the Lighthouse. It was Dad's birthday on the Thursday, I was working in the morning but joined them for a lazy afternoon and a quick dip. I sat and helped identify some of the fish they had seen, including a torpedo ray! Along with the very rare 'Grass Green Lemony' anemone, eh Ma? A very long story.... and you kinda had to be there. Dad and I were in hysterics. The conversation went a little like this:

M: I saw something with long green wavy fingers.
T: Anemone.
M: No, grass green.
T: Yes. Anemone.
M: A grass green lemony?
T: No!
M: Let me write that one down....
T: Grass...
M: Grass...
T: Green...
M: Green...
T: Lemony....

and so hysterics followed. We got there eventually!
(Sorry Mum, had to tell that one..... one more to go!)

I had booked a table at Carm Inn and arranged for a surprise birthday cake too. We had a yummy meal accompanied by an even yummier bottle of wine that Dad had picked up en route. The next day I joined them for breakfast and then we headed off down to the Southern Oasis for a relaxed day of sun and snorkelling. We spent the day at 3 Pools. Saw lots snorkelling, including a blue triggerfish, a giant puffer and some reef squid... oh, and a black plastic bag that Mum was trying to identify until a diver grabbed it and stuck in the pocket of his BCD! (Told you!) Unfortunately there was a bit of a rip current out of the second pool so it was a bit of a struggle swimming back in. Well done to Mum and Dad on that one!

The following day Mum and Dad headed off to St Catherine's Monastery - a bit of a let-down as they had removed the majority of the icons etc from the gallery for some exhibition in the USA. Typical huh? Still, there Bedouin driver pointed out a few sights that I wasn't aware of, including a rock formation camel!

Sunday. The last full day. Unfortunately there had been a lot of sewage overflow from the drains the night before so Mum and Dad didn't really feel like snorkelling that day, can't blame them really. I went for a lovely walk down to Islands with Dad late afternoon, watched what we think was a pod of Pilot Whales up the coast, and then some crazy lone snorkeller at Islands in the dusk and trying to decide whether he was in trouble or not - he was fine - doing a bit of skin-diving which is why he kept dispappearing amongst the waves! We were just about to head back when I received a call from Harry to say that one of our friends hadn't surfaced from a deep dive.

The week ended on a very tragic note. We lost a very good friend and colleague that day, and we are still all trying to come to terms with it here in Dahab. A memorial service was held Sunday just gone, at Islands (ironically), a lovely event that paid our due respects to an excellent guy that was taken from this world far sooner than he or any of us would have liked. A few drinks at Blue Beach followed. It turned into the kind of event that I am sure he will be devastated that he missed.

Harry and I are both keeping busy with work - he's doing a Tech course at the moment, and I start another Open Water tomorrow. Winter is here, although I know it's nothing in comparison to UK temperatures. I felt daft snorkelling in a neoprene vest and wetsuit while Mum and Dad were in swimsuit and trunks only... but y'know, acclimatisation!! Silly that I am now thinking of investing in a drysuit for water that is 22 C!