Scuba Diving in the Red Sea as experienced by Milica

Our Liveaboard - ObsessionI’m in Cape Town and I’m freezing! Rain is pouring as we’re getting ready to enter the ocean for second Open Water dive. One instructor, one student and me - a DM on a fun dive& experience building mission. We were having our surface interval in the car, heater turned onto the max. A little later, as I descended, a thought crossed my mind- if only I could have some of that heat from the car with me, if only the water was couple of degrees warmer…

This reminded me ofthe last warm water dives that I did. It was nearly a year ago, cruising on a liveaboard across Northern Red Sea in Egypt. The memories are so radiant that I almost can feel the Egyptian sun and light warm breeze on my face while relaxing on one of the spacious boat decks. I almost can feel that crystal clear warm water around me, welcoming me into the most colorful out-of-this-world landscapes.  I close my eyes and there I am, taking a giant stride from the diving deck, falling slowly into the deep of Ras Mohammed. I’m sliding through the water next to a wall and coral reefs full of tropical fish. I’m amazed by numbers of different and unusual fish I see, many of whom I see for the first time. I’m trying to remember their stripes, dots, unusual fins and patterns, funny faces and colors so I can describe them to my fellow divers and identify them in one of the many books we have on board. I’m amazed by diversity of shapes, textures and colors. It looks like it’s an underwater carnival season and all these creatures are performing in perfectly synchronized flamboyant show. Everywhere I look I see magnificent beauty, nature at its best. The scenery is jaw-dropping, and I have to constantly remind myself to keep on breathing and keep my mouth closed.Time flies. Just over an hour later, I see the dive leader showing that it’s time to go up. But I’m delaying it for as long as I can, I don’t want to leave!I’m determined to engrave all of this beauty in my memory and I decide there and then that I will come back!

Up on the boat our crew is waiting for us with freshly made smoothies.  I’m taking a sip and looking around.  I see smiling faces all around me and bathe in an atmosphere of serene excitement… I realize that all of these people feel the same wonderful joy! No wonder.  We’ve been treated as kings and queens on our boat and we’ve had days of amazing diving behind and ahead of us. As we are finishing our smoothies, the smell of delicious food is reaching us on the upper decks. We’re all rushing to the dining area hungry after our last dive, hungry for great food and hungry for more dives to come.

Suddenly a cold water flush wakes me up from my daydreaming. Back in Cape Town, we’re surfacing slowly. It’s still raining and the wind has picked up. Driving back to the dive school I still can’t stop thinking about last years’ Red Sea trip and how awesome it will be to do it again this year. I feel like an excited child, pulling on its mothers’ arm constantly repeating “Are we there yet, are we there yet…?”

I just can’t wait for July to come! I just can’t wait to dive in the Red Sea again!