Red Sea Adventure!

 

I anxiously stood under the Starbucks sing in the Dubai airport waiting for Audrey and Marlow hoping that there would be no hitch to the directions given.  My excitement was barely containable.

 

I see them . . . . .Here they come. . . . They made it!

 

How wonderful it is to see such loved friends.  And they came to Dubai to see me (well in a round about way).

 

We were able to meet up outside of the airport.  Hugs and smiles were the norm.  I whisked them away in my little Nissan Tilda and quickly made my way down the 311 to my apartment in Motor City.

 

Presents galore!  It was like Christmas!  Peanut M&Ms, my Brighton purse, green tea, and canned chicken.  I was in heaven.  (I still have not found canned chicken here and I look for it all of the time.)

 

It was a wonderful feeling spending the evening with them.  They got the blow up bed, and I slept in my bed.  I let them sleep.

 

For the next couple of days they toured around Dubai.  They really enjoyed their taxi driver tour and Audrey enjoyed her Cold Stone ice cream.

 

We left for Egypt early Friday morning.  Making the connection to our domestic flight in Egypt was a letting frustrating.  We quickly learned that everyone in Egypt will give you a different story when you ask questions.  We got the visa figured out, and stamped, and went on way to catch our flight to Huggard, that is after Marlow figured out to pay a bribe.

 

We survived the 3 hour bus ride to the boat; got all of our dive stuff set up; got settled in our rooms.  Thankfully I had my own room.  It was wonderful!

 

The diving was great.  So much life and pretty fishes were nice to see.  But I really enjoyed the big stuff.  I was able to watch some moray eels swim free on the reef - beautiful!  I spotted many cleaning stations and just watched the action taking place.

 

Then for the big stuff!  Sharks, sharks, sharks, and more sharks.  Yuppers we saw many sharks on this trip.  They are such magnificent animals to watch under water.  We saw grey reef sharks, thresher sharks with their amazing curved tail, a hammer head shark, and White Tip Oceanic Sharks.  Incredible sightings. The White Tip Oceanic Sharks are very curious and come close to you it can be a little unnerving, but cool at the same time.

 

My  birthday was great.  Hey I was diving in the Red Sea - it can't get much better than that!  They only other exciting aspect of my birthday was that I was almost shark bait.  I was finishing my dive doing my safety stop.  I was working on deploying my SMB (surface maker buoy) and paying attention.  All of a sudden my arm is grabbed and I got shaked by the dive guide.  He then points out this Oceanic White Tip Shark that had been circling me.  Can we say dumb blond!  The dive guide had me stay put until the shark moved away.

 

During dinner the crew sang me Happy Birthday and we all had cake for dinner.  Later we played cards.  A great day for a birthday.

 

On our last day on the boat we had a fantastic experience.  Near the end of breakfast we noticed a pod of dolphins swimming near the boat.  A group of us got our snorkeling gear and jumped into the zodiac.  Off we went in search of the dolphins.  For 90 minutes we swam and played with the dolphins.  I was inches away from a group of 3 for a long time.  It was magical.  We also got to see a pair mating right in front of our eyes.  I learned that male dolphins have small penises.  O the things that you learn!

 

Back home to Dubai and one more day.  We explored the spice and gold souks.  I was able to pick up a couple of material wall hangings for my apartment and they are beautiful.

 

I sent Marlow and Audrey on their way home.  I was sad to see them go.  I was lonely when they left.

 

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