Sorry to take so long
but John does. He went to work for Saudi Arabian Airlines and we lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which is right on the Red Sea. He started diving when we got there and we did a huge amount of traveling. We never could understand people that had such an opportunity and never went anywhere, just back to the States. One couple came back and was so excited about going to the new Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas and seeing the Sphinx. I just had to say to them that it was only a 1 ½ hour flight to go see the REAL thing. I really could not understand that. Anyway, some of the best diving is on the Red Sea and John loved Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. Both areas are just lovely! And he also did a lot of diving in S. E. Asia. All over Thailand, Ko Samui and Phuket. We went on a live aboard dive boat one time out of Phuket for 1 week. For the life of me I can’t think of the Island chain the boat went to but it took all night to get there. There were reports the first day that Whale Sharks had been spotted in the area and they were really trying to find them. They never did but he thoroughly enjoyed every second of that trip. I just loved sitting and watching the cook prepare all the meals while everyone was on the dive. Her English was limited and my Thai was even less but you know how two women can communicate when it comes to the love of cooking. I would watch her cut fruit into beautiful shapes to have on a platter for them the moment they came out of the water and carrots into flowers etc. for what ever dish she was preparing and one day I asked her why she spent the time doing that for these guys who didn’t even notice. She just pointed to herself. She did it for the self pride in her craft. One day as she was preparing the lunch meal it was really rough and suddenly she was gone. I was perplexed as the divers we just coming back on board. As soon as they we all on board the Captain got the boat moving to get to a more sheltered area for more calm. When I realized he was driving the boat AND starting to get the meal cooking I asked where she was. He said she was below…sick! I just jumped in and took over. She had already cut everything and it was pretty clear what she had in mind so I just did it. The Captain was so appreciative and told all the divers I had cooked the meal. She was back up and going strong a few hours later. So there’s my food related.
He also enjoyed a night dive in Bali and I sure enjoyed the lobster he brought back for the hotel to cook for us!
And in the Philippines he had one day (note that is 1) of great diving on the Island of Mindanao. That was the first day we were there and the rest of the week it stormed! The only way to get to this little Island is by boat and that also means that everything on the Island came by boat! We were ok with not having any dry clothes, (no dryers) and no hot water when the temperature is usually in the 90’s and now is freezing but when they started to run out of beer and booze we started to panic! LOL! Luckily the storm finally passed and the boats hit the shores. I have never seen so many people hauling product in my life! Just think of all the food items it takes to run a restaurant. But we finally had cold beer and all was good. The bad thing was the next day was our day to leave. Ah, memories are wonderful aren’t they? Where ever we traveled we always bought one really nice thing from there so when I look at my living room I can say…oh that was Morocco, Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, Viet Nam etc. I’m so glad we did that. Anyway, I think John would recommend going to Egypt for great diving, in particular, Sharm el Sheikh. You and John could really enjoy sharing dive stories!