Sinai, Egypt

I just got back yesterday morning from spending 4 days in my 2nd Arab country. A few weeks ago, when spontaneously touring Caesaria with Meir, he asked if I wanted to go to Sinai with him for a snorkling/diving trip. Apparently, some other friends kept backing out. Well, luckily, last week, I didn't have university on Wednesday and I took off work on Thursday because the English teacher I work with wasn't going to be there, so I wouldn't have anything to do anyway.
We hopped on the midnight bus from TA to Eilat on Tuesday night and arrived about 6 hours later, having slept very little. We talked to 2 other guys going into Sinai and shared breakfast and a cab to the border with them. Since we had no idea where we were staying, we took their word on a northern village called Terabin, near the town of Nuweba. It was right on the water (like most of the towns in Sinai are) & very deserted and quiet. We spent 2 days there sleeping (in the sun or shade by the water) reading, playing cards and backgammon, and battling mosquitoes. The 2nd day we walked along the water for about 20 minutes to see the action in Nuweba. Apparently, it's still the off-season.
2 days was enough quiet, though. We needed some things to do, so we decided to move south about an hour to Dahab. Friday morning, we walked back to Nuweba to catch the 6:30 am bus, which came closer to 7:15 and then broke down when it tried to go up a hill. Good thing we had sunflower seeds & the "-tion game" to pass the time. We got into Dahab around 9 and began looking for a cheap (but nice-ish) place to stay. We found it at the Bish Bishi. We ate breakfast and then...slept outside. (All these places have pillows set up all around tables, so you can just stretch out & relax.)
Later, we walked around and explored the town and priced snorkeling and scuba diving trips. I got molested by a guy that Meir wanted to buy a shirt from. The guy wanted to sell me wrap around pants & put them on me. Outside of that and eating dinner, we didn't do much. We were going to leave with a group from the hotel at 11 pm to go on a night hike to watch the sunrise at St. Catherine's monastery, neat Mount Sinai, but um, didn't. If we had, the next day wouldn't have worked out so perfectly.
The fourth day, we were determined to do something, so we got up at 7:30. Meir is an experienced diver and said that the best time to go is early in the morning. However, Dahab didn't wake up until about 9. We ate breakfast, found a snorkeling trip at the famous Blue Hole leaving at 11am and signed up for a dive at Moray Gardens for whenever we got back. Besides the super cold water & the pretty purple jellyfish that had long tentacles, I thought snorkeling was awesome! The water was so blue and clear and fish were so beautiful. Meir thought it was ok, but he knew what was to come. I didn't.
We got back a little later than we thought we would, but everyone is very relaxed, so the dive center was cool with it. We got our wet suits on and I got a quick lesson on what to do and expect from the instructor (Andy), who was going to have a hand on me the whole time in the water and would regulate my air for me. (What a relief!) We drove 10 minutes outside the town to a more secluded part of the reef & put everything else on: fins, BCD vest (w/ which you pump in or let out air to control how you ascend or descend), weight belt, tank, face mask. It was extremely heavy on land. I don't know how I managed to walk to the water. Once in the water, the instructor had me practice 2 skills: how to get water out of your face mask and how to put your mouthpiece back in if it comes out...both underwater! I apparently mastered them the first time & we were off!
I never thought that I would ever go diving and I am so glad I did. The fact that I didn't have an underwater disposable camera with me just means that I'll have to do it again! I literally thought I was in the middle of "Finding Nemo". We even saw 2 squid! Every new fish I saw was my new favorite. Snorkeling in the Red Sea was pretty cool, but not as cool as diving in the Red Sea. I was worried that Meir wouldn't get such a cool dive because he was just accompanying my introductory dive, but since we went outside the town and were under for 45 minutes, it was better. He was really happy with it, too.
Andy told me after the dive that I only went through half the tank, which is less than some more experienced divers use. I told Meir later & his response was, "Yeah, you were really calm." I don't know how they or my body thought I was calm, though, because my mind was a frantic mess. I kept worrying about breathing and popping my ears (the 2 most important things), not using my arms to swim, keeping water out of my face mask, keeping my mouthpiece in my mouth AND taking in all my surroundings and looking at things. In fact, my face muscles used for jaw clenching are still sore from trying so hard to keep the mouthpiece in!
When we got back, we changed super fast to try to catch the bus to Nuweba at 6:30 pm. We were trying to get back to Eilat to catch our 9:30 bus. It was late. We majorly bargained with a cab driver who took us and 2 other girls. We dropped them in Nuweba and continued onto Taba, where the border is. On the way, we realized that the time change was not working in our favor. Egypt has not changed their clocks, so Israel is an hour ahead.
We ended up missing our bus. We didn't want to pay another 60 shekels to catch the midnight bus, so we convinced ourselves that there wasn't enough room and started to try to hitch hike back to Tel Aviv. The first ride was almost into the middle of Eilat from an empty charter bus who had just dropped off a group at the border. The second was an empty army transport bus who was extremely nice. The driver told us not to thank him when he got out. He wanted to thank us for letting him help someone out. He dropped us off about an hour north of Eilat in Yotvatah, a famous dairy kibbutz with a 24 hour store. We got some chocolate milk and hung around, waiting for drivers. Our next ride was in a semi, with a driver who had moved here from the Ukraine and who Meir thought talked too much. I don't know what they were talking about exactly, but I got the idea the driver was telling his life story and all his plans for the future. After about another hour, we got dropped off again at a junction where we could hitch a ride in either direction and get back to TA. We preferred going toward Be'er Sheva because our friend Noam lives there and worst case, we could crash with him. Also at the intersection were 2 Hasidim (really religious Jews), also trying to hitch. I think having 4 people there was hurting our chances of getting a ride. That and the fact that all the semis were headed to the factory down the road. Eventually a bus came by and we surrendered and got on. It had obviously picked up a bunch of others along the way, because it was packed! With so many people laying and sitting in the aisle, we stood near the front for an hour before the bus took a break. Some people got off and we were able to sit...on the stairs. The bus dropped us in Herzliya, NORTH of Tel Aviv. After unsuccessfully trying to get a ride, we got on a sherut (cheap taxi van) which took us into Tel Aviv & then we took a city bus that stops almost in front of my apartment. It was 6:15 am.
Shower, rest my eyes, went to class. What an adventure!