Virtually surfing the Red Sea from California, I found the Web site for Imno Diver's Home. It looked good, so the taxi driver took me there after dropping the locals off downtown. I checked into a two-story room overlooking the pool and caught up on my sleep.
The next day (Sunday, Febuary 15) was relaxed. I hung out, walked on the beach. Tourism being down by 75%, I had the town almost to myself.
The open water diver certification course started on Monday and went through Friday. There were four in the class - myself and Mathias, Yvonne and Anja, all from Berlin. Ahmed Abd El Wahab, our instructor, was excellent - good English, very patient, always making sure everyone understood before going forward.
And that was all I did for five days. No worries. Up at eight, breakfast by the pool, classwork and dives, first in a shallow lagoon and then in deeper water by the "Lighthouse" reef. It was work, but also fun.
I really liked diving - I'd avoided learning earlier because I was afraid to get hooked. But it looks like that happened - on Friday, I passed the course. The next two days I went on three more dives - to the Islands, Canyon, and Abu Hilel dive sites.
