On the first one, the day was windy, the sea was choppy, and I was reminded that cameras get easily confiscated by the coast guard, so I resigned myself to enjoy the view and forget about the camera. However, ... the view turned out to be too interesting.
Here are a few houses on the way out of Obhor, the bay next to Jeddah where most of the in-town beach houses are. The second one belongs to some prince or other, and the round lollypop looking room on the top is apparently his bedroom.
Jeddah has two airports: the normal one, and the one used solely by pilgrims on their arrival at Hajj. Two million people are transported during only ten days every year from this airport directly to Mekka.
Lots of waves on the way to the reef; it took about one hour's boat ride from Jeddah to get to the parts where we did our three dives. But once there, we saw some of the best corrals that I have ever seen.
And finally, the first reef. It had amazing unspoilt coral gardens! Big table corrals, big fire corrals, big brain corrals, and all very very colourful. Blues and pinks, mostly. Also lots of small fish, the usual reef kinds, but nothing big.
Unfortunately, the locals enjoy spearfishing, and the fish life shows the damage. The beach diving is strange: beautiful coral at parts, but also lots of plastic chairs at the bottom, and many building and construction materials dumped straight into the sea. Still, the off-shore sites had some of the prettiest sights I have ever seen underwater.
Jeddah has an impressive collection of statues, mostly in modern style. I am a little surprised that these statues do not count as "idolising", but maybe that is why they are so abstract. I liked these camels by the highway, on the way home from the beach:
A bit later, with Ekie's camera ... here are a few photos from under the Saudi Red Sea:
A blue-spotted stingray. There were so very many of these.
A clown fish hiding in an anemone. These fishes are my underwater favourites. They are just so ridiculously brave and protective of their small poisonous anemone nest, that they think noting of picking a fight with a big diver. And they always make me smile.
A turtle. They are so calm, so sweet, so... sheepish.
A lionfish. Beautiful, and dangerous.
A jellyfish in action. I wonder whether they ever get jet-lag?
Eagle rays flying by. These things always remind me of the film Abyss: they move so gracefully, they look so beautiful, they dissappear so fast, that I always think they must be from a different planet. Am I being unfair to ours?
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Silvija Seres, 29 March 2002