On the 7th October 16 stalwarts displaying all the
signs of sleep deprivation assembled at Gatwick
South with the usual mountain of scuba gear and,
in the case of one individual, the kitchen sink
as well. Several hours later we flew into Hurghada
for another dose of the chaos that all airports
are so good at.
We settled into the nicely upmarket Marriott Hotel
and started thinking about the five days diving
that we were going to do. The following morning
we were at the jetty to meet up with the dive boat
and crew from Diving World. This crew turned out
to be the nicest, kindest, most hardworking crew
that the Scuba Trust has come across and by the
end of the week we were all sorry to say goodbye
and there was much talk about when we’d be
back.
Our first dive was a shakedown and those of us who
haven’t got many diving miles under our belt
quickly found that most of our skills needed honing.
During the five days Lydia and Ann were able to
do a Fish Aware dive, a Boat Dive, a Drift Dive,
a Deep Dive, a Navigation Dive, and as an extra
bonus, a Wreck Dive for their Advanced Course. Paul,
who was doing a Speciality Course completed all
the dive work for this and everyone else enjoyed
a wide variety of scuba experiences, lots of snorkelling
and much hard work on getting tans topped up before
the winter sets in.
By the end of the week my most vivid memories were
of the beauty and variety of the undersea world
and a series of vignettes of my companions. For
your entertainment these were:
Alan
— for leading several uncontrollable fits
of the giggles. Astrid
— for not minding that Frank was either in
the water and/or being asked innumerable questions. Carole
— who developed an extra appendage during
the week and who was barely able to walk one morning.
(Whether these two observations were linked is open
to question.) Frank —
for being either in the water instructing or answering
the same questions he’s been asked a zillion
times before. A holiday to get over this holiday
should be awarded to him ASAP before we wear him
out. Gill —
whose organisational skills and attention to detail
gave us a wonderful and memorable holiday. Jackie
— who took on the hotel’s engineering
staff to get a bath-board sorted out. Not an easy
thing to do across a language barrier. James
— who has now completed 205 dives and is still
happy to help novices sort out their problems. Lydia
— our own pink mermaid with the flowing locks
and the flashing fins who would like the fish to
give back the tartan hairband that got lost. Mac
— whose broad grin and OK sign were a feature
of any underwater meeting. Paul —
whose yoga knowledge was put to good use in helping
a lot of us stay stretched and supple and whose
Speciality Diving remains a mystery to me. Pippa
— who went from being a scuba virgin to a
scuba babe in just a couple of days. Stephen
— whose determination to light a cigarette
no matter how strongly the breeze blew showed the
sort of willpower that he’ll find very useful
when he gives up the weed. Suzie
— who sadly couldn’t dive on this holiday
but who made up for this deprivation by snorkelling
and, I believe, persuading the dive-crew to let
her steer the boat! Tony
— whose staccato delivery of jokes, with added
exaggeration as time went on, was a feature of many
evening sessions
The Tomato — for dying at 30 metres so that
we could appreciate how colours change at depth.
The person who is not mentioned in the list is the
person writing this article but you’ll get
a good idea of her holiday if you look at the happy
grin on her face and the fact that she has been
declared Yo-Yo Diver of 2005. One day she’ll
learn not to get in such a tizz about getting in
the water, sorting out her gear and equalising efficiently.
