Saturday, April 10, 2010

Searching for giants...

Three months, wow, it's already been three months since I started this craziness and I'm still here. There have been ups and downs. Moments of sheer panic, utter foolishness and lots of laughter. I've learned a lot about myself, who I want to be and how I'm going to get there. Living in Saudi has given me a new appreciation for things I would have otherwise taken for granted. In the end, these three months have flown by and I'm actually excited about what lies ahead. This has not been at all what I imagined, but then again what good story ever is?

I passed my probationary period and celebrated by going scuba diving in the Red Sea. Our quest? To find whale sharks. And so we set off to the mystical land that is called Al-Lith, which is only about three hours south of KAUST. The drive was fairly uneventful, except for the camel in the middle of the road that we and the other two cars in our little caravan of diving aficionados almost hit!

Once we arrive at the "resort" which was really more like a Motel 6 (clean, decent but very very very basic), we had a quick lunch and then all piled into a large boat. There was going to be a lot of diving and fun in the sun to be had and we couldn't wait to get started.


On the boat we headed out for about 40 min and went on our first dive of the weekend. The diving itself wasn't spectacular, but we did see a lot of really cool stuff. We saw two large "crown of thorns" starfish, three eels (one big, one medium, one small), lots of coral (that was awake and moving like I've never seen before), huge clams, a blue spotted ray and tons of baby fish everywhere. True to form, I don't like having my picture taken.


After the dive we all got super excited because a whale shark was spotted not far from where we were. We dashed like crazy people to get there, but unfortunately, by the time we arrive the whale shark had had enough of people as was nowhere to be found. We did however get to see quite the sunset on the Red Sea.

The day ended well, although not with the high we had hoped for. We got back to the "resort," had dinner and all went to bed dreaming of the whale shark we had not seen.

The next morning we woke up at 6:30am, had a quick breakfast and were on the boat by 7am. We had decided to go to a dive site which was about 1.5 hours away and wanted to get there before the water got cloudy. About 30 min into the ride, we get a radio call. A whale shark had been spotted! Again we dash like crazy people and this time, joy! We were able to see it, swim with it and basically hang out with a baby (3.5 meter long) whale shark for about 45 min. What a phenomenal experience. The whale was completely unfazed by the fact that 18 people were crowding around it like lunatics, all desperately trying to get a "good view." It is a majestic creature that basically just swam around and ate plankton, seemingly unaware that we were even there. I can safely say, that this was one of those moments I will never forget (and I would be willing to bet that everyone there would say the same).


After swimming with the giant we had been searching for, all of us were thrilled. The day simply could not have started off better and could have ended right there and we all still would have been happy. But it did not end there. After the whale shark snorkeling adventure we still proceeded to our scuba diving destination and were greeted by dolphins on the way there. There is something just so special about dolphins that whenever I see them they just make me smile. It's like they were congratulating us on a job well done. Joining in our little celebration that our weekend search had already been successful.

Once we arrive at the site, we all went right in. The dive was better than the one from the day before but again, nothing that I though warranted a wow. Then again, after the whale shark few things were going to make me say wow. We saw more giants clams, a tiny orange, blue, black and white sea slug and an octopus. After the dive we proceeded to lunch on an island with a random Bedouin tent.

The water was so clear I, for a second, forgot where I was and imagined myself back in the Caribbean. We got to walk around the island (which actually had real sand, something that is not often found in Saudi). After lunch, we went out on a second dive, had a great time, saw dragon fish, another blue spotted ray and other lovely sea creatures. The day ended with a fond farewell from another group of dolphins and a manta ray sighting.

The drive back was actually a lot smoother than I had anticipated and we did get to see one of Saudi's classic sunsets.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend, a great way to round out my probation and realize that even in Saudi there are great adventures to be had.

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