I grew up in a landlocked city: Elgharbya. But, some of my fondest memories of childhood were centered on family vacations to Red Sea to snorkel.
When I was 14 years old, my dad and I went snorkeling in the Hurghada. We boarded a boat as the only two snorkelers in a group of SCUBA divers. We traveled to deep water, in what felt to me like the middle of the ocean. I watched the divers gear up. To keep warm, they wore wetsuits that fit snug on their bodies. They wore vests, which held their air tanks on their backs. They wore face masks that covered their noses. On their feet, they wore large fins.
The divers buddied up, then each took a giant step off the boat. My dad and I jumped in the water and watched them descend into the blue until they disappeared. Where did they go? I wondered. What could be down there?
After some time, the divers resurfaced, talking excitedly about what they had seen. I wished I could’ve experienced it, too.
The captain of the boat took us to a second site. Here, the water was shallower. I could clearly see to the bottom of Red Sea. The captain and dive leader gave us a briefing about the site and told us we were diving on an old shipwreck!
With my mask and snorkel in place, I eagerly jumped into the water to explore. Below me, I saw the remnants of a ship scattered across the ocean floor. Some of the wreckage, covered in coral and sea life, was hard to pick out from the reef. Other pieces of the ship were large, intact, and easy to spot. Schools of fish and other creatures swam in and out of the wreck.
I swam down to get a closer look. Yet the few seconds I could hold my breath were not long enough for me to see everything I wanted to see. I had to resurface. The dive leader, though, saw my interest. He offered to take me down on SCUBA equipment. My dad and I readily agreed.
The First Deep Dive
The dive leader handed me his alternate regulator. This is what divers put in their mouths to breath. I held onto him as we descended. With every inhale, I could hear air flowing through the regulator and with every exhale, the bubbles tickled my face. I was thrilled to be breathing underwater.
With SCUBA equipment, I could get much closer to the wreck and see it more clearly. I was able to pick out pieces of the ship that didn’t stand out to me before.
When I resurfaced, my father was waiting to congratulate me. I knew then that I wanted to be a SCUBA diver. Fortunately, one of the divers in our group told us about PADI.
My Training Begins
A year later, I found myself training with PADI to become a certified open-water SCUBA diver. I had met other kids who looked like me and were as thrilled about diving as I was.
When you train for SCUBA, you become familiar with your equipment. You learn how to safely plan and execute dives. You learn how to perform key underwater skills. Through PADI, I was able to practice my skills almost weekly in the pool until it was time for my open-water certification.
Getting Certified
On February 24, another PADI youth and I headed to MARSA ALAM to complete our certification. It was there where we would show all that we had learned.
Our first open-water dive was at a site called Turtles Bay. I was nervous swimming t but loved the thrill of diving outside of the pool. Here, my dive buddy and I successfully demonstrated our skills and passed every test.
Once I got my certification E-card, it felt official. I was now a certified open-water diver. I couldn’t have imagined that the first unofficial dive on the wreck in Hurghada would lead to this. I was eager to get back to the Red Sea to explore.
