The Red Sea is one of the most unique bodies of water on this planet. Its high salinity, low nutrient concentration, and high temperatures makes it one of the most biologically diverse oceans. With an average temperature that is 2 to 3 degrees celsius higher than any other ocean, the Red Sea serves as an ecological model for global warming and the effects upon flora and fauna.
And it is in this over-sized lake that I go scuba diving in. Since KAUST is located on the coast of the Red Sea, we have our own marina and diving center on campus. Upon figuring that out, I immediately signed up for the Advanced Open Water Diving course. Three weeks later, I am an Advanced Open Water Diver. This course was probably one of the most instructive recreational course I have ever taken. With a large emphasis on hands-on practice, I did an assortment of dives that taught me underwater navigation with compass and distance measurements, peak buoyancy control, deep diving limits, enriched oxygen (NITROX) diving, computer diving, and night diving.
After all that, I'm pretty confidant off my diving skills.
But lets leave all that learning behind us. The real reason I learned to dive is so that I could explore untouched reefs in Saudi Arabia. And that is exactly what I did last weekend, near a quaint town called Al Lith.
A group of us, 23 people in total, rented a houseboat specialized for diving over the weekend. The boat had beds, an open deck, a crew that drove us around and cooked for us, as well as unlimited number of air tanks for diving. A diving safari would be the correct name for that trip.
And it was magnificent!! We did 6 dives in two days, one of which was a night dive. I will just present a number of pictures without too many words, in order to accurately portray the silent activity that is embodied by diving. (Click on the pictures to make them larger...)
Above: Pre-Dive briefing showing the boat location, the reef, and the depths.
Left: Friendly White Tip Shark at 34 meters, dropped by to say hello.
First rule of Diving: Always dive with a buddy.
Left: Friendly White Tip Shark at 34 meters, dropped by to say hello.
Above: Beautiful coral with random fish.
It's like a zoo... only better! And I'm in it!
Part of our group at the dive location called "Hanging Gardens". Can you find me? (I'm wearing blue fins with black vertical stripes and have a palm tree on my trunks.)
As you can tell, I don't even have the right words to describe this trip. It's like flying underwater, or like living on the International Space Station, while looking at odd, quirky, colorful, and even dangerous animals.
Cheers,
Teilo
:)
