Dahab--day three

We went to the dive shop, Desert Divers, right after breakfast and signed up for our dives. Because we have not been diving for a few years, we needed to do a scuba tune-up starting with a several-page quiz to ensure that we remembered what we needed to know. We did a great job remembering almost everything except our dive tables. After a quick review, we remembered and were able to do our multiple-dive calculations. We met our instructor, Ineka, a young Australian woman who has stopped in Dahab for two months on a solo one-year around-the-world trip after graduation from her university. She has been an instructor for 2 1/2 years and was very competent.

The first dive was mostly practicing skills: removing, replacing and clearing regulator and mask, etc. We did explore the reef called Lighthouse, which was fantastic. It is so great to be able to hover right in front of fish or other critters without worrying about having to surface to breathe in case of a problem.

We had a light lunch, then headed back for our afternoon dive, which was at a place called Islands. It is a series of coral islands and pools all interconnected. We had to swim through a short cave to get started. We saw great coral and life here also, including a crocodile fish, a large octopus, several dozen medium-size barracuda, and lots of assorted colorful reef fish. Joe had equipment difficulties (a leaking buoyancy control device), so he had trouble with buoyancy control and his air ran out early and he finished the dive sharing the air with the dive leader, Nimby, an Egyptian. Fortunately, it didn't interfere with the enjoyment of the dive for Joe or anyone else. We actually had 3 dive masters with us, Nimby who knew the area well, Ineka who hadn't been diving there before and Tor, a British girl who dove with Ineka in Australia and was visiting her for 2 weeks--we were well covered and they were a fun group

We really like the Desert Divers shop and recommend it to anyone else who comes here. It is one of the several shops recommended in our guide book: Lonely Planet.

Now we're trying to decide whether to climb Mt. Sinai tonight instead of sleeping (which probably means no more diving), or skipping it and doing a couple more dives tomorrow... We walked around town a bit and went to dinner at a really good Italian restaurant then browsed the shops, dodging the hassles from the guys in front of the restaurants wanting us to eat there. Weird job they have, but they seem in good humor and laugh a lot as they talk to the tourists.