Sinai Diving

Currently in transit Cairo to Bangkok

Tanks for scuba diving are transported by camel from Dahab to Ras Abu Gallum

This summer I earned my open water and advanced PADI diver certification. I went to a little town in the Sinai desert on the Red Sea, Dahab. From the second century BCE to the second century CE it was a bustling Nabataean port and trading hub; an important part of "the incense road." Now it seems fairly quiet. The entire village is oriented around scuba diving with a few opportunities to hike and visit desert canyons to look at the stars. I hadn't actually intended to dive when I arrived but it is a bit impossible to resist once you're there. I think it was a great place to learn. I also managed to pick the best dive shop, H2O, directly opposite the bay. I went back last month and met a group doing their instructor course in very chilly weather.

Some tea while star gazing in a desert canyon

• Tali Erickson-Gini, & Yigal Israel. (2013). Excavating the Nabataean Incense Road. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies, 1(1), 24–53. https://doi.org/10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.1.1.0024
• HU Archaeologists Probe Secrets of Ancient Sinai Jerusalem Post (January 7, 1957) 2]
• Aziz, H. (2000). Employment in a Bedouin Community: The Case of the Town of Dahab in South Sinai. Nomadic Peoples, 4(2), 28–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43123604