SCUBA DIVING RED SEA

Julie and I ventured down to the southern port town of Aqaba this past weekend. We decided to attempt scuba diving even though we both hadn't been in over ten years. My long hiatus was due to a scary dive with a shady outfit in Mexico in 2000. But I decided to give it another go due to the Red Sea's reputation as a world class dive destination. If you have intuition, and it has guided you well through this life, you should always listen to it. The dive company in Aqaba never asked to see our dusty PADI cards. My intuition said, "don't go with these guys friendo," and I turned a deaf inner ear.

Before our dive, during our refresher course, I noticed my BCD (buoyancy control device) was leaking air. Our guide told me it was just sand in the connector. Then I remembered back to my original training course and how vehemently my instructor warned us about getting sand in the connectors because it could cause dangerous leaks. My intuition shrugged smugly. Our guide tried several times without success to clear the sand, then finally told me it would take a month for the tiny leak to empty the tank. We proceed to the dive. I couldn't achieve neutral buoyancy because my BCD air release valve was sticking. So as I sank to the bottom, I pushed the button to add some air to my vest. When I realized I added too much and began to float up, the release wouldn't let the air out, and I went all the way to the surface (this can be very dangerous). I went down and up three times during the dive, and our guide never noticed. By the end of the experience my tank was almost completely out of air, so the instructor had to hold me at the bottom because my tank was acting like a giant floaty. That scared the shit out of me. The pictures above do a poor job of telling this story. The reality is that the Japanese Garden reef where we dove was quite beautiful. The shots were taken with a Canon S90 encased in a Canon waterproof case (a great little combo). I'm shooting in full auto mode on the underwater setting. The last thing I needed to be doing down there was adjusting my aperture! The company we went with was called Aqaba International Dive Center.