Friday, 22 November
I had my best night of sleep yet. Did not awaken until after sunrise. The birds did not wake me today. Plan was to relax in the morning, dive around noon, more rest and relaxation and then our second night dive with completes our Night Dive certification.
The wind this morning was as calmer than it has been all trip. That meant the chance for better visibility. Nicole and I decided on an early breakfast and an early dive on the south reef. The south reef has better light in the morning, the north reef in the afternoon. I tried to eat light.
We geared up and were in the water at eight forty five. The dive plan was to follow the south reef out to a spot where there is a wall with a bit of a ledge. It gives a little feeling of swimming in a cave while still having the sky above you. We stayed at about thirty feet with a short bit as deep as forty five feet. The visibility was great and gave the chance to see some new fish. It seems a bit worthless to try to identify them all since you see some that you have seen before and a lot of new fish on each dive. Nicole used my camera to take some photos and videos so now you can see me underwater! On the way back we stopped at a rock where Nicole and Eva had seen an octopus. We did not find him but there were some interesting new fish, some tiny ones and a sort of small orange with white spots eel that entertained me for a while.
Had a cheeseburger for lunch. Probably will not have another. The cheeseburger had tomato and cucumber on it. After lunch, I spoke to Greg on his drive into work. Today’s before dinner coffee was planned for four. While waiting for our coffee, Aiman came over and gave us our Night Diver quiz to complete for certification. We both passed. Our night dive was scheduled to start around six. It was a little nicer than last night’s dive. The water was calmer and Aiman did not carry his large floodlight. We saw a squid that swam around us for a bit.
After a shower to warm up it was time for dinner. The resort is much less crowded than it was when I arrived. It looks like the dinner menu is a repeat of last week. Nothing wrong with that. There is plenty of food and it is always tasty.
I had my first Egyptian beer tonight, a Sakara Gold. It was pretty good. Then off to update the journal and sleep….
It seems a little unusual to me but the power goes off every night at ten o’clock for a minute. I assume they are switching power sources. There are some solar cells around and the switch may be to a generator.