1000th POST! And diving the Red Sea again

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Gillian's first boat dive

[More pics of the diving can be found in my Egypt Flickr set]

Wow. I just spotted this as I was editing my drafts before posting and this is the thousandth post on this blog, after starting way back in January 2006! Thanks to everyone for reading what I’ve put up and – even more appreciated – the comments and responses I’ve had. I know the blog’s a little stale these days since I’ve come back to the UK but I will keep updating it with every holiday!

Anyway.

Another early start, but not as bad as the day before. We dropped the kids over with my folks at 7:00 and hopped on the transfer bus back to Emperor Divers where we kitted up and I went through some of the paperwork for my Nitrox course. I’d just about managed to stay awake the night before to get through the DVD and reading, so just the knowledge review to finish off before we headed to the boat.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Diving in Egypt

We’d opted for the local dive sites as these would be Gillian’s first as a qualified diver. Up to this point, she’d only been in open water six times and all near to the shore for skills tests. Her main concern was her buoyancy, as she’s apt to get excited when she sees something new and ascend rather rapidly as a result! It turned out her main concern should have been checking her kit before leaving the dive shop as it seemed someone else has borrowed the wetsuit that was meant to be in her basket. Fortunately one of the crew had a spare which just fitted her.

In two dives, the only time her buoyancy didn’t look so good was when another diver unexpectedly swam under her. This happens from time to time and it is something that can freak you out at first! Otherwise, she did really well.

They were a great couple of dives with some excellent sightings including a “crown of thorns”, a very large spiky starfish which actually eats coral. Gillian completed her Boat Dive cert and I passed my Nitrox with flying colours despite the exam having some ridiculously vague questions on it.

Upon return, we found that the kids had been great all day (of course) and we had a nice relaxing evening. More food, more drinks, chilling out. You know – what holidays are about.

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4 thoughts on “1000th POST! And diving the Red Sea again

  1. just in case you are unaware – i cannot link to your flikr pics from here – the link appears to be broken – i was trying to get a better look at the piccies 🙁

  2. Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets
    I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
    I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

    • Ms Cruise – there are plenty of plug-ins out there but they depend on the blogging platform you’re using. I would recommend heading to the relevant support fora and looking there as I’m sure they will be able to give you more specific information than I.

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