Well, there was me trying to be all technical by starting my own blogsite - editing Html pages (with no clue what I was doing at all), changing templates to improve the aesthetics (now it looks rubbish) and changing font styles and colours (so that now the blue print on the green background is pretty much illegible). Sorry guys! So, I have decided to start again with a new site and leave it to the basics - I have chosen a template that I will stick with, the same with font and colour.... let's see how that goes eh?

So, welcome to Beyond Bubbles.... thought that was rather an apt name for my new site as it's not all just about bubbling around under water, but my new life in Dahab.... or wherever my new life takes me.

News to date.
Well, it's been a while. Mainly because I've been faffing around on the computer trying to get my old site sorted and failing miserably. I ought to know when to quit. Thankfully internet is pretty cheap here - something like 4LE per hour, the equivalent of 40p! Anyway... as you all know, PADI let me into their professional fold and I am now teaching courses - I already have my first certifications under my weight-belt! Thank you to my unsuspecting first students who I managed to get through their courses unscathed and smiling.

I've also been doing some great guiding work. I have had some really nice customers - not that any of you aren't nice.... erm, let's try that one again...

I've also been doing some great guiding work. I've had some really nice dives the last few weeks. First of all there was Keith & Linzi (old UK friends from Lagoon Games days) who came to Dahab for 2 weeks. I was doing my IDC when they first arrived but I managed to get out for a few fun dives with Keith and then took them both for a camel safari to Ras Abu Gallum. Shortly after that Liam and Jane arrived for a 2 week diving holiday and I guided them pretty much the entire time. They were my first students... Enriched Air Speciality. Liam and Jane also arrived with Scubear (a scuba bear!) and beanie friends Crab and Lobster... oh, and I musn't forget Marty Mouse - who all came diving with us at some time or another. We were lucky enough to see 3 turtles during the 2 weeks that they were here, plus my/our very first MANTA!!

It was during our second week, the day had gotten off to a pretty bad start. My cheeky taxi driver decided to start hassling me from the word go, then the lazy checkpoint guy gave me grief over the fact that I had forgotten to bring a copy of my licence and refused to let us go 'down south' - something which cheeky taxi driver took great delight in! My powers of persuasion managed to get me through the checkpoint after about half an hour of pure arrogance and sarcasm (not mine!). Cheeky taxi driver then decided to lift the mood by playing the Koran whilst driving at approx 5 miles an hour! We arrived at Um Sid for our first dive, carefully unpacked all the gear, and began to set up our equipment which is when I realised I had 2 tank valve inserts for 3 people. The maths doesn't work. Our spares box was with another group down south, a short drive back to Moray Garden which would have taken our driver a good hour or more! The other alternative was to head back to Moray Garden and do 2 dives there, but they wanted to do something new, and I think Um Sid is a very nice dive. Luckily another driver had some spare tanks, with inserts, sitting in the back of his pick-up and after scwaya Arabi and some more gentle English persuasion he decided to loan me an insert for the dive - humdoolah!!

So. All ready to go. Um Sid, usually beautiful visibilty and the chance of seeing quite a variety of marine life. Not today. The visibility was the worst I've seen and there was little of interest apart from the usual suspects. Still, we saw the gorgonian fan, the beautiful tale corals, and I managed to find a blue-spotted ray sulking under one of the table corals so it wasn't all bad. Liam, Jane and Luke seemed to be happy pootling along behind me while I continued to berate myself for this morning's problems. On the return along the reef wall I turned briefly to check all was OK and saw Liam waving at me liked a crazed thing and pointing back over his shoulder (apparently he had been rapping on his tank with his fist for the last 2 minutes, but none of us had heard a thing!). I looked and saw a shadow approaching, coming up alongside us, flying gracefully through the water. It couldn't be, could it? It was. It swam past us, ghost-like, while we all hovered in amazement. There was another group coming the other way just a few metres below us so I signalled to them and they rose to meet it as it swam belly-up in front of them and curved around the outside of the group to continue on it's way. One of the other group extended his arms - it must've been about 3m wide.
It was a first time for us all - manta virgins.

Liam signalled that we might as well end the dive :)
Jane signalled her upset that her camera had flooded 2 days previously :(
Luke signalled something that I am not able to repeat :O

I was assured that had it not been for the problematic delays that morning we would not have seen him at all. Nothing could phase us for the rest of that day, as we sang out little manta mantras, smiling all the way back to the club! Hurray for Mantaday!!