After seven months of excruciating job hunting, I finally had a new contract in my pocket with Konica Minolta. With one month free before I would start working again, I decided to grab the moment and treat myself to some serious scuba-diving in southern Egypt. Since it was still off season, prices were incredibly low, so I ended up in one of those mega tourist ghettos in the middle of the desert.

Marsa Alam? It basically does not exist… Just an ultra modern airport, surrounded by resorts in the middle of the desert, about 200 kilometers from the Sudanese borders! “No risk” of getting in touch with the local population. There is a kind of settlement 30 minutes from the resort to accommodate the employees. During this week, I actually never touch the local currency: everything there is paid in Euros.

There were a few other troubling observations. More and more of those half empty resorts are being built every single day, along the shores of the Red Sea, in the middle of nowhere. Nothing is big enough: “smaller” resorts count no less than 200 rooms (!), bigger ones have 500 to 800 rooms. Since everything soon seems to be too small, extensions are permanently added. Sustainability? Water is brought in by trucks. Sewage water is “roughly cleaned” if at all, quote by a dive master, and then sent into the sea.

So why go there? Well, it is the best scuba-diving within easy reach from Europe, prices are low and there are and now many direct flights to those places (Sharm El Shekh, Urghada, Marsa Alam…). There are quite a few kite surfers, but otherwise there is no reason to travel there!

As always, the German run Extra Divers diving center was extremely professional, its staff very friendly, highly motivated, extremely safety orientated and good fun as well. And even though the diving center is huge, with a capacity for catering to 250 divers, I never had the feeling of being just part of a big crowd.

So I just did what I came here for: scuba-diving, scuba-diving, scuba-diving! Not less than 14 dives in one week, half of which were part of a course that awarded me with three new certificates: SSI Advance Adventure Diver, SSI Specialty Underwater Digital Photography and Nitrox Diving. Does it sound weird if I say I came back exhausted and partly broke from one week vacation?

Scuba-diving in Marsa Alam is good, the typical underwater scenery of the Red Sea: a lot of small, colorful fish, many corals and a few wrecks. But forget about “the big ones”! Manta rays and other Hammerhead sharks are not to be seen. So, all in all a great place to get a few extra qualifications, or refresh your diving skills.

Before we would take off touring the world, Gilles had to get his diving license and Heidi had to refresh her knowledge. The most pleasant and quickest way to do this is surely the Red Sea, because it is rather close, not that expensive and offers great diving spots.

We decided against the ever growing resort town of Sharm el Cheikh and chose Dahab, one hour to the north. When arriving and leaving from Sharm el Cheikh we discovered that ten out of 12 check-in counters were for Russian tourists, the immigration officials greeted us in Russian! Even the shop owners knew the basics, it was an amazing sight.

Dahab was the perfect place: the city itself is small and quiet with great restaurants and shops. The staff at the Diving Center, Extra Divers, was helpful, competent and familiar with local affairs. Dues to the season we dove in groups of two with a Dive Masters, guaranteeing high safety standards and excellent service. Once we went down the “Blue Hole” with flashlights and a camera, fascinating experience. It can be a bit chilly diving at that time of the year though.