Where the goats never sleep

a view from our back window the other night

Well as the title says, our "backyard" or the desert behind our house is the home to an unowned roving band of goats, that sustain themselves off of cardboard and trash. They are pretty ragged and look like they have never seen better days. Last night as I lay awake listening to the dying noises they were making I tried to imagine that it was crickets in Winthrop (didn't work out too well). However I couldn't go out side and shoo them away for fear or spooking the neighbors temperamental camel. Welcome to Egypt...


Besides a few sleepless nights, Dahab has been going great, I have been getting at least 2 dives a day and sometime an optional 3 dive. Last night I went on my first night dive, really cool but very erie. I got to see plenty of lionfish hunting and managed to spot a Giant moray eel. I also got to experience Bioluminecence(sp) for the first time, a magical experience. To see this the whole group turns off their torches and then when you wave your hands the water glows around them.

Taxi rides = bed of a truck

Southern oasis

On the way to the Blue Hole

Retro Padi promotional poster...

Started the DMT course

I just started the Dive Master course 2 days ago after yet another bout of the sickness a couple days ago. Im hoping that being sick isn't going to become a twice weekly event. However I now have 25 dives since in Dahab and have started assisting in guiding other certified divers. The weather has actually been very windy and rather cold for the desert the past couple weeks but it is a nice relief. Other than that i got to see a big manta ray, Blue spotted ray and a torpedo ray yesterday during a boat dive. very cool. The diving is great but it is basically a full time job that uses all of our energy.

oh and the phone which ive had for a couple of weeks and just told you about recently has disapeared mysteriously in a egyptian taxi so ill post when we get a new number.

hope all is well at home.

Contact

You can now call or skype me on my Egyptian phone.

This is the number i believe to use if calling from states.
011 20 0195 863 762

If calling from the west coast the best time to call me is

From 10pm - 12:01am your time (this is my morning before diving)

or

From 7am - 1pm this is my afternoon after diving.

Finished the Rescue Diver Course

I have spend the last 3 days diving and in the classroom for my rescue diving course. Today I had my "final" a series of 4 rescue scenarios. The actual skills are easy, the tough bit is the fact that the day is just 2 fun dives where nothings supposed to go wrong, but other instructors and dive masters during the dive can just surprise you with any combination of problems. These consisted of having to deal with panicked divers underwater who were out of air and at the surface. Also I had to organize a search for a missing diver and tow tired divers to shore. A great way to test real situations, however a bit stressful. I passed and in 2 days i get to start my dive master training ( what I came to Dahab for).

Sadly Willie came down with the sickness last night and missed the testing today so he will have to do it tomorrow. Other than that we found a great pizza place for only 3 dollars a pizza and have been eating way to much falafel. Oh and a local underwater photographer got a couple good shots of me and Willie swimming around with a turtle. Ill try to put those up as soon as I can get them.

Willies Blog

www.willieandryunfun.blogspot.com

he managed to get a couple pics up and some colorful descriptions, enjoi.

All Settled in Dahab

Dahab with Saudi Arabia in background

Its been a while since my last post and we have been very busy since then. We made it safely to Dahab on the 12th in the afternoon after a 9 hour bus ride across the desert from Cairo. We passed the Suez canal and then followed the west coast of the Sinai Peninsula all the way to Sharm el Sheik, where we headed northeast to Dahab along the red sea. The drive was actually quite nice compared with the buses I used in Costa Rica, it was air conditioned and the seats fit willie and I very well. However the bus only stopped once and the only other option for a bathroom was a luggage sized compartment just large enough for the fetus position.

We arrived in Dahab in the afternoon were we caught a taxi to the nearest hostel and had a great dinner on the beach in a Bedouin style tent. We looked across to the sandy shores of Saudi Arabia finally having a chance to relax for the first time since arriving in Egypt.

The next day (the 13th this is kind of a catch up blog for me..) we walked all over Dahab trying to decide on a dive center to complete our training at. This was much harder than originally though due to the fact that there is over 50 dive centers in the city alone. We ended up deciding on a larger all inclusive center called Posiedon Divers. They have there own dive boat and the manager was very friendly and helpful. He set us up with a 2 bedroom fully furnished house and by nightfall we had already moved in and were already begun planning our dives for the following day. We soon leaned that all egyptian beds are hard futons and pillows are just extra pieces of futon material. Also bathrooms double as showers and laundry rooms. Screws are non-existent, everything in held together with nails. Besides some minor technicalities the house is great and it is near 3 young divers from the UK doing there dive master with the same company.

14th - we finally got to dive. We had to get a medial certification to dive, but due to questionable doctor ethics in Egypt that cost about 10 dollars US, with a so called check up aka temperature, ear check, and some of the sketchiest stethoscope work I have ever had done. I actually think he did more harm than good (non of his medical equipment was sterile) . I'm glad I had already been checked in the states.

We did 2 "fun" check-up dives to make sure our skills were up to par in the area just in front of the dive center. We did the open water skills test and then continued down the reef where we saw a big sea turtle munching on its dinner, Amazing!. The reefs here are teeming with life and I wish I could share some pictures with all of you.

15th - Today we did three dives off of the company boat, a 65ft specialized dive boat at a site called Gabriel el Bint. These dives were all for my advanced open water training. the reef was even more spectacular the first site and diving from a boat was quite the experience! On our way back from the dive site a pod of dolphins swam with the boat for a time. After dining we went out to dinner with our dive instructor from Switzerland and then to the blue beach bar for drinks and the Manchester-Porto futbol game.

16th - I woke up at 530 am to the worst headache I have ever had. My first case of food posioning had set in... I was very sick all day and had trouble keeping anything down. I missed my two last advanced dives and spent most of the day in my uncomfortable bed shivering.

17th - Luckily it the sickness passed quickly and I got to dive again and complete my AOW. The dives were at the two most famous and infamous dive sites in dahab, "The Canyons" and "The Bells to Blue Hole". The Canyons is a relatively deep dive into a crack in the reef about 100ft deep, in the Canyon there are large schools of fish and we saw a huge Napoleon fish. This dive was a deep diving specialty training for my class to experience the effects of nitrogen narcosis first hand, very strange.

My next dive in the afternoon was at the Blue Hole. This was my favorite dive so far with the entrance being very exciting. To enter the dive you free fall down a coral chimney ( a tube about 4-6 ft across) for 30 meters (100ft) that exits through an coral archway into the open ocean along the reef wall. We followed the wall around to the blue hole where we completed the dive. This dive had some of the most abundant life I have ever seen underwater in my life and makes you want to become a activist for reef protection.

18th Today we did come classroom work and are now officially "Emergency First Responders" a generic first aid class. Basically I learned that if you are dying I needed to say
"Hello, my name is Ryun Johnson, im an emergency first aid responder may I help you", first before saving your life.

"And that's how the falafel crumbles...."

Cairo and the Pyramids

We arrived in Cairo a few days ago and the time since has been crazy. Arriving at 1am at the airport was a terrible way to do things after not getting any sleep for 2 days. However we managed to find a hotel and when we awoke the next day we saw what Cairo was all about.

Cairo is one of the fastest moving cities I have ever been to. There are no rules to the roads. Stoplights are ignored, lane markings go unnoticed, seat belts are rare, tailgating is common, headlights go unused at night, speeding is the norm and the horn rules all. It is more nuts than any south American city. Weaving at 140kph on the freeway is common.

To cross the street on foot you have to just walk with the confidence that no one will hit you. Basically don't try to run since if you trip and fall you are done for, so very calculated walking is the way to go. Constantly we are barraged with offers of goods, services, and anything else that could separate us from our money. Even the police will look the other way for a few Egyptian pounds. However the food is great and very cheap only about 1.50 American for a full meal. The people are very friendly if you can find someone who is not only interested in your money. Now that we are getting used to the fast pace, Cairo is a great city with lots to do and see!

We also managed to make it to all the pyramids within taxi distance of cairo and they are truely awe inspiring. They are much bigger than anticipated and are one of the most amazing things i have ever seen. Picture do better justice than anything i can say.

We spent today working our way though red tape to get our visas extended and tomorrow morning we leave for dahab to begin our scuba diving adventure!

Riley

Here is my family's new Black lab/Blue heeler puppy.  His name is Riley and he's about 3 months old.