I was lucky enough to get out of Riyadh for a long weekend a few weeks ago. While there I manged to get some time underwater. It was my first chance since I left Hawaii. It was also my first chance to use my Underwater Camera I bought right after leaving Hawaii. The pictures are all quite blue, and I lost my USB cable for my Dive Computer, but other than that it was a great time.
This was my first dive outside the U.S. and my first dive not using my own equipment. Both of these things started to worry me a little as I arrived at the dive shop. When I showed up the only questions they asked are; SCUBA or Snorkel and what equipment do you need? Not once did they ask to see a dive liscence or a log book. Back in the equipment room everything looked rather beat up. I thought I would be able to use my own regs, but this ended up not being the case since I have an AIR2, so my hose wasn't compatible with their BC. I didn't realize this until I was on the boat setting up my gear. Luckly one of the guys working for the company had time to run back and grab me some regs. I was able to use my computer.
We did three dives the Cable Wreck, Crazy 8 and one other reef. All we good dives, even if the visibility wasn't great. Bottomed out at about 75 feet. Saw plenty of small fish, got a few good pictures. By the third dive I gave up playing with the camera, because I realized I was spending most the dive following the camera, watchign the screen. I had a great time and made some new friends, who with luck I'll get to dive with again before I'm out of here.
This was my first dive outside the U.S. and my first dive not using my own equipment. Both of these things started to worry me a little as I arrived at the dive shop. When I showed up the only questions they asked are; SCUBA or Snorkel and what equipment do you need? Not once did they ask to see a dive liscence or a log book. Back in the equipment room everything looked rather beat up. I thought I would be able to use my own regs, but this ended up not being the case since I have an AIR2, so my hose wasn't compatible with their BC. I didn't realize this until I was on the boat setting up my gear. Luckly one of the guys working for the company had time to run back and grab me some regs. I was able to use my computer.
We did three dives the Cable Wreck, Crazy 8 and one other reef. All we good dives, even if the visibility wasn't great. Bottomed out at about 75 feet. Saw plenty of small fish, got a few good pictures. By the third dive I gave up playing with the camera, because I realized I was spending most the dive following the camera, watchign the screen. I had a great time and made some new friends, who with luck I'll get to dive with again before I'm out of here.
My new Saudi friend
Spotted Ray
Fish that aren't camera shy
No comments:
Post a Comment