Egypt – Wadi Lahami Village
I went to Egypt for the second time in 2011 for a diving vacation. Once again I had chosen a Red Sea Diving Safari diving location. Sadly this time without the good friend that gave me the idea to start diving and who I accompanied last time. He died in Egypt after a horrible diving accident that occurred the previous year. I want to express my gratitude, because I would never have gone diving without him. We experienced many adventures together and I miss his comfortable presence and his always hilarious banter, sadly we never had the opportunity to dive together again… R.I.P brother!!!
Egypt – Marsa Nakari
A good friend of mine gave me the idea to dive. At the end of October 2009 it was finally time!
I started my first diving adventure with the divers of Red Sea Diving Safari’s in Egypt. In this professionally equipped diving camp, I slept in a comfortable spacious tent from where I could hear the sea! It was here where together with a group and an instructor I made my first few dives and received my first diving certificate. It was not as expected; Carrying around that heavy equipment, diving down to the right depth, learning how to breathe underwater using a rebreather and how to use the other equipment. Jeez, even back then I knew it was going to take a long time before I had ample experience. Usually we dived near the camp, but once however, we went to another diving location. Over sandy and abandoned roads an old army truck brought us to a remote location, from time to time a truck drove by packed with camels or an old white Peugeot 504 driven by an Arab wearing a large turban. The gorgeous Red sea filled with awe-inspiring rock formations and coral reefs filled with fascinating sea creatures, Egypt, back then, was unfamiliar to me. I am so glad that there I could make my first steps towards being a good diver.
I traveled to the beautiful Wadi Lahami where I stayed at one of the camping locations provided by Red Sea Diving Safari. The camp was located in the south of Egypt not far from the sudanian border at the last military checkpoint for tourists. What a gorgeous diving location! The area is known as ‘The Fury Shoals’; a vast coral reef with diving locations bearing names such as ‘Stairways To Heaven’, it looks like a staircase made of black rock surrounded by coral walls, caves and remains of sunken ships. The waters were unbelievably clear, it was here where I made my first deep dive of 42.5 meters deep. I had to gasp for air another time when I looked up! It was also here where I learned to dive backwards from the zodiac into the water and received my Advanced Diving diploma.
South Africa
In December 2010, together with my father, I made a beautiful hike in Tsitsikamma National Park. Tsitsikamma translates directly to ‘place of much water’. In this majestic park are many short and long hiking routes through dense forests, over cliffs and through high mountains that border the Indian Ocean. One of the most visited trails goes over a 77M long suspension bridge over the biggest river of the park, the ‘Storms River’. On that bridge you have a crazy view, on one side the park and on the other the gorgeous Indian ocean. During one of these hikes, me and my father stumbled upon a diving school in a small bay. What a surprise! One hour later, dived together with the instructor into the water. At first sight, it didn’t look like it would be a spectacular dive, I didn’t see much more than sand and rocks, but a shark changes everything! The instructor told me it was a Ragged Tooth shark, with the name Raggie. It probably received that name because of its enormous mouth with crooked teeth sticking out. This species of shark is not aggressive, a male can easily become 3 meters long and lives along the coast of South Africa, sadly due to overfishing it’s now on the list of endangered species. It is the first worldwide protected shark (1984). That same afternoon I made a second dive. The weather turned, big waves crashed on the rocks. Because I really wanted to learn how to dive in bad weather conditions, we went out on the water anyway. The instructor had to regularly correct me underwater, but I learned a lot, diving in such troubled water.
The driving instructor was a good humored brazilian. He had once dived on Antarctica and since then he only dives in the suit he wore then. It took a while before we could enter the water. The last dive was the best dive, The Yellow Canyon. We Started at 34 meter deep, along the edges of a huge rock with yellow contours we let ourselves slowly glide up. On the way we stopped at a cave where small groups entered. Amazing!
Brazil
Brazil is not really known as a diving country, although the country borders the Atlantic Ocean and has a coastline of about 8000 km, you won’t find many places with vast coral reefs.
I went to Recife, this place is popular with divers because of the option of wreck diving. Some of these shipwrecks date back to the colonial age! The amazing volcanic island rich Fernando de Noronha that lies 400 km in front of the coast of Recife, is the dream destination for every diver in Brazil, though sadly this wonderful place is not easy to travel to and comes with a hefty price tag. The prices were far beyond my travel budget. So I kept it low profile, simple and adventurous; thus at the central station in Rio de Janeiro I took an enormous bus heading for Arraial do Cabo, which lies 150 km above Rio. I had found myself a quaint little hotel owned by a very nice hostess, I later discovered. She invited me, one sunday afternoon, to go with her and her kids to one of their beautiful beaches. At night, we also went to a fun party together, they sure know how to party in Brazil! Diving was also great in Brazil, every morning I was picked up by a dune buggy, and when we sailed out of the harbor we were accompanied by a huge sea turtle who swam in front of the boat. What a view and what extraordinary creatures they are
Mexico
I didn’t go to Mexico just to enjoy those beautiful beaches. I, of course, also wanted to make a few fun and adventurous dives inside a Cenote (underwater caves). Beneath the Mexican peninsula Yucatan lies a wonderous world of underwater caves with crystal clear mineral water. You can swim, snorkel and dive in it. To the Mayans these Cenotes were sacred as they were doorways to the underworld.
There are a ton of different cenotes there with different difficulty levels from easy to hard and from shallow to deep. I still didn’t have much diving experience then, which was a bit disappointing since that ment I could’t dive the harder cenotes. I immediately applied to one of the local diving schools in Playa Del Carmen. In total I made three cenotes dives and in one word it was fantastic! Floating in an underearth cave system, then another tunnel ending in a kind of pool, where the sun shone through the leaves. Which caused a beautiful view of light beams that shone deep into the water. I didn’t find the diving very hard since, because the water was so clear I could easily follow the other divers from my group. There wasn’t much of a current and if there was a moment where I could float off, I could always grab one of the ropes that were strung underwater.
I was lucky that one of the divers from my group had a wonderful underwater camera, which she used to make beautiful pictures. So that now years later I can still from time to time enjoy this beautiful dive.
I also went diving that week in Cozumel with the same diving school. According to many diving brochures this area would be one of the most beautiful diving locations in the world. Sadly the first dive was quite disappointing. The coral, apart from a few beautiful coral-rock formations, was not what I had seen before. I saw a very bare surface with very few large fish or shoals of fish. Maybe it was not the best place to dive. The second dive that day, was in one word amazing and made my diving day great again! We dove towards a shipwreck 25 meter deep. It was the first time I descended using a rope. Afterwards I got a lot of compliments from my diving instructor because my diving goggles were running full of water during the descent. Without panicking I removed my diving goggles and put them back on a couple of times.
It was a gorgeous view of that wreck, that was fuzzy at first, but became increasingly clearer during the descent. Sadly we weren’t allowed to enter the wreck, but it was great just to float around the wreck and meet large fish from behind every obstacle.
USA – La Jolla Beach, San Diego
During my trip in the USA I had made plans to dive somewhere. On the West Coast are a few beautiful diving locations. One of which is La Jolla Beach in San Diego, which I could combine with other destinations. The trip I had planned started in Las Vegas, from there I would go with the Greyhound to San Diego and take the Pacific Coastliner to Los Angeles. As I have said before, during my travels I like to use local public transportation when possible. Not only because it’s cheaper, but also because it’s a nice way to have contact with the local citizens and it’s often a source of exciting adventures. Especially in the USA, where it doesn’t matter if you take the Greyhound, the citybus or the metro, everything is an adventure. So in San Diego I took the bus in the morning to La Jolla. However the distance was quite a disappointment. It took about one and a half hours to go from the place I was staying to the beach. To think I would have to go the same way back in the evening. To make it even worse I ended up at the wrong bus stop! I ended up at a small Industrial area, where I only met homeless people who were wondering what I was doing there. I was wondering the same thing! Luckily a security guard came driving by who took me to my guesthouse or rather caravan, that the owner had standing in his backyard.
Back to diving! Because that’s what I came to do in San Diego. I Pretty much traveled there without much expectations, I had found a diving school in the Lonely Planet and everything went swimmingly. That same noon I made my first dive together with the instructor and a local. The days after I dived only with my diving instructor, since there weren’t many other tourists.I got more excited by the day, the diving in La Jolla was everything I had hoped for. Especially the second dive where a sea lion decided to perform a show for us, Incredible! It was so close and those rolls and other cute motions it made, almost like a circus! It was incredibly disappointing that, as advised by my diving instructor, I had packed my underwater camera so securely I couldn’t grab it and thus sadly no pictures. Of course I had wanted to make unforgettable pictures, such a shame. The next dives all carried the hope of another wondrous sight like that. Would it be repeated, would that same sea lion or another show itself again? Though sadly, like often in the untainted nature, we didn’t see a sea lion again. Diving in a thick forest of kelp was also an adventure on its own. Diving through green corridors of water plants. Another sea animal I surely won’t forget is the leopard shark. Who regrettably only saw in the waves when we walked into the sea with our diving kit. Amazing what a beautiful animal with all those dark spots on his back!
Indonesia
In 2018 I once again went to Indonesia for the fourth time. This time for a real diving journey to the gorgeous Sulawesi. This island, with its strangely formed tentacles, beautiful culture and nature, I had not visited before. In South Africa I had met a couple of divers who were incredibly enthusiastic about the dives they made in Bunaken in the north of Sulawesi. It sounded great and like a place I wanted to go! Bunaken National Park situated in the middle of the Coral Triangle, also known as the ‘Amazon of the seas’, is a grandiose place to dive with more species of fish and coral than anywhere else in the world. Bunaken is also known for its steep reef walls sometimes hundreds of meters deep, covered with hard and soft coral species. Here I had chosen for the complete diving experience at the local diving school.
I was appointed to a nice cottage with a beautiful swimming pool. In which I had to reluctantly show my diving skills to the instructor at my first dive, however it had been sometime since my last dive. After two rounds my instructor had finished his assessment and we could begin for real. I mostly dived together with my instructor or in small groups of at most four divers and the instructor. That gave me the opportunity to learn from my fellow divers and instructor, as well as to learn more about underwater photography. The water was incredibly clear which caused the view to be phenomenal. Because if the water is clear the sun can shine through making the view of those incredible fish and coral formations amazing. But especially it were those large sea turtles who completely stole the show.
Indonesia – Raja Ampat
The diving adventure in Raja Ampat might be my most beautiful diving adventure yet! I had never heard of this natural paradise, however when I learned more about it and the opportunity arose to go there I didn’t hesitate for a moment. This protected nature reserve is made up of six hundred small and four large islands. which might have been named after the fours sons of a Molukian sultan who conquered this area in the long distant past.
And I didn’t even mention the unbelievable fish and coral species that live under the sea. I had read on websites stories of writers who couldn’t stop talking about this magical place and none of it is exeteration. This truly is advertising of mother nature, and that we treat it with respect is only a matter of course. My guesthouse was one of those small huts on poles right beside the sea. A coral reef only tens of meters away, where during snorkeling the Blacktip reef shark swam around me. Meals were served three times a day, and costited of those delicious freshly made Indonesian cuisine of rice, fish, chien and fresh vegetables.
There weren’t many people, luckily there was someone present in the office who I asked if they already went on diving tours. This diving school in the startup phase strongly reminded me of my diving instructor in Sulawesi. He told of that he had relatives in Raja Ampat who were trying to set up a diving school. So I asked whether he knew Yayan from Manando, and he did. Wow and they were my neighbors, what a coincidence. The same afternoon I made my first dive!
Raja Ampat literally means ‘four kings’ and is situated in east Indonesia in West Papua and in the middle of the Coral triangle. Via Sorong, which is located on a much larger island Papua New Guinea, I traveled with a ferry to the island Waisago from where I could go with the taxi boat to my guesthouse. Honestly, words fail me how happy that overwhelming nature made me! The clear blue sea and those gorgeous limestone islands who rise up from the sea and where overgrown with incredibly thick vegetation. Plants and trees were beautiful animals that lived, such as Birds-of-paradise. On the larger islands are even mountains of over 1200 meters high surrounded by impenetrable jungles. What a paradise of nature and what an adventure to get there.
It was a typical backpackers guesthouse where we often ate together during the day and at night. The only setback being that it wasn’t a guest house, diving school combination, I later found out. Which was the case with most guest houses in Raja, sadly those were completely booked or expensive. When I could only go snorkeling, most guests went out diving with local diving schools. This was a huge bummer since apart from a few excursions I mostly came to dive. However, when I went to ask my hostess if she knew a diving school which might still have a spot, she pointed me towards the neighbor. They were planning to open a new diving school, although the hostess didn’t know if they were open already. With newfound hope, I followed along the jungle path to the neighbors. A bit later I arrived a clearing where cottages were being built and something that seems to be a office.
