Shabat shalom, insh’allah

That should confuse you. “Shabat shalom” is Hebrew for “peaceful sabbath” and “insh’alla” is Abaric for “god willing”. This is my contribution to peace in the middle east.

A lot has happened in the past few days. After the Independence day party (Wednesday 7 May) and the next day of red sea & recovery… on Friday (9 May) Noam, Batsheva (Noam’s g/f) and I met up with Karen (the original party host), Katie & Mosh for a few drinks. Jerusalem has a good night scene with lots of options if you’re with the right people. And I was. The night ended up lasting 48 hours.

Israel’s 60th birthday

About 60 years ago, Israel was born. Happy birthday.

On Tuesday I mailed some books back to Australia and then caught a bus to Jerusalem. It’s quite an amazing and diverse city with lots to see. The old city is a maze of windy paths filled with shops & tourists. I stayed in the christian quarter, but it is only a short walk to any of the other three areas (muslim quarter, jewish quarter & armenian quarter).

Lazing around in Tel Aviv

After nearly 6 weeks in Egypt I have finally escaped. Yesterday (Sunday 4 May) I got a share-taxi to Taba and walked across the border to Israel. I wasn’t sure where I was going, so I decided just to catch the first bus leaving. So five hours later I ended up in Tel Aviv.

My passport has now been “tainted” by the Israeli stamp, which precludes travel to Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Lebannon, Saudi and a few other places… but they aren’t on the short-term schedule anyway and I can always come back with my UK passport. My Iran plan was cancelled when I found out the visa hassle. Most rich countries can get a short-term visa on arrival at the airport, but this excludes America, Britain and Australia. Damn. So instead I’m looking at Israel-Jordan-Nepal-India.

I think I like Israel. I met an interesting group of people on the bus ride and I was struck by the diversity of the country. My bus-friends came from Argentinia, Morocco and Romania. It got me to thinking about what it means to be a Jew. There is no common race, religious conviction, culture, language, foods, sport preferences etc. Hebrew is a revived language that people learn after they come to Israel. Sure, world Jews share a few holidays… but the Japanese recognise christmas and that doesn’t make them christian, white or european.

My conclusion is that the main connection between the Jews of the world is that they all call themselves Jews. That’s it. Basically, it’s a club — like a really long-running successful version of the Masons. And now we have a country dedicated to club members. It’s so strange, you have to be impressed.

Anyway — when I arrived I came straight to “sky hostel”, met some random American Jewish travellers and wandered along the beach smoking hash. Today (Monday 5 April) has been a fairly relaxed day. I got up late… surfed the net for a while… debated religion… and then wandered the streets listening to music (Augie March, Iron & Wine, Grant Lee Buffalo) and practicing fire dancing with my arabic walking stick (called Ishmail).

Good, bad, good, bad news

I had some good news, then bad news, then good news, then bad news.

On Friday (1 May) I did my last major dive requirements, and then I also did my deepest dive. The recomended depth limits for divers vary depending on their training. For scuba divers the limit is 12m, for open water it’s 18m, for advanced divers it’s 30m, for experienced divers (eg with specialty or divemasters) it’s 40m. To dive deeper you should instead to “tec diving”.

My previous deepest dive was 35m at Blue Hole. One of the concerns of deep diving is getting nitrogen narcosis (like being stoned)… but 35m was no problem. I was planning on edging out my record slowly, but on Friday we went down to 51m! I was under the watchful eye of a tec diver and all was fine, but I did get a little “narked”. After that, I was in an excellent mood for the rest of the day. Good news #1.

But later that day I started to have a sore ear. The next day my ear was still sore and I was worried that it would stop me diving when I only needed one more dive. Bad news #1.

But, but… the doc gave me the OK and I got to go diving down south (where I hadn’t dived before), I did my final dives and finished my deep diver speciality and my divemaster course. Good news #2.

But, but, but… this morning I was supposed to get in two final dives at my favourite places (Canyon & Blue Hole). Instead I woke up sick and have spent the whole day in bed with a head & stomach ache. I missed turtles, going the wrong way down the canyon and a good day diving. Bad news #2.

All in all, the good has been better than the bad. I’m now a divemaster, so I’ve done what I came for. If I feel good enough, I will head off to Israel tomorrow. It will be strange leaving Dahab after five weeks as it’s become a home of good places & good people. But it’s time to go. We’re having a BBQ at Caleb’s place tonight, which is an appropriate “goodbye”. And then back on the road.

Damn ears

Damn it. Today I was supposed to do the last of my major diving requirements — the mapping project. But I couldn’t equalise my damned ears. Shit. That means today was a waste for diving.

For the non-divers — when you decend in water the surrounding pressure increases. For every 10 metres of seawater the pressure increases by one atmosphere. So at -10m you have double the pressure. At -20m you have triple the pressure. As most of the human body is liquid or solid (which doesn’t compress under pressure) this isn’t a worry. But there are a few gas pockets — primarily the ears/sinuses and the lungs. The scuba gear deals with the lungs by supplying air at the surrounding pressure. But divers need to deal with the ear pressure imbalance themselves by equalising. Normally this is easy. But occasionally it is difficult… and then a dive needs to be cancelled.

Forever changing plans

Since arriving in Egypt I’ve changed my plans several times. First I was going to Jordan, then I thought I’d go straight to Iran, then I changed plans completely and considered Somalia, then staying in Egypt, then going straight to India, and now… ???

I think I’ll go soon. Perhaps one more week. At the moment I’m thinking about flying from Luxor (south Egypt) to Tehran (Iran) or Katmandu (Nepal) to spend a few weeks. Both would be great. Whatever happens, I want to be in India by late May and I fly from Mumbai (Bombay) to Brisbane on 25 June.

My July plans are a bit more simple. I’ll have a few weeks in Australia and then head over to Vanuatu with the family to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday. We plan on looking in an active volcano and doing some scuba diving. After that I fly to Shanghai, and I’ll train up to Beijing for the Olympics in August.

Not much new to report. I had seven more dives last week, so I need seven more before I reach the magic “60″ required for divemaster. I’ve just watched the first three seasons of LOST… and had a few good nights out on the town with some good people… and a few of us have just adoptied an orphansed puppy called “Sam Dahab”.

Tomorrow I will lead my first dive. I’m taking a couple of swiss-german girls around “Masraba”, under the watchful eye of studeous Stewart. I need to prepare. And tonight I need to make a cameo appearance at a party and see some live music, so I’d better get off the internet.

Life in Dahab

Ah, the joys of living in Dahab. Watching the sunrise over Saudi Arabia after a long night of drinking, smoking & dancing. Sitting in the back of a ute watching the amazing multi-layered mountains in a dozen different shades of red. Having a BBQ at a local bedouin village with good people. Diving through the arches at Mashraba & at Bells-Blue Hole. Kicking back from Eel Garden looking past the perfect blue sea to the surreal mountains of Saudi. Sitting on the beach watching a full moon light up the sea while eating cheap good chinese food. Being surrounded by a school of scale-fin anthias or fighting with a damselfish or finding yourself within one metre of a giant moray eel that could have been “nessy”.

There are lots of “ah, yeah” moments here.

And thankfully, there has also been a lot of diving. After 12 dives in the first week and none in the second, I just finished the third week with 14 dives, including three today. I could probably get through the course in a week if I hurried, but I think I’ll relax and take an extra week. This week I’ll sit in on a “rescue diver” course, which will be a good refresher.

The diving & partying haven’t left much time for the rest of life. I finished another draft of my “declare independence” booklet, which should be published in about a month. The sale of my Canberra house is still waiting on the lawyers. I’m now part-owner in an international company that is invested in an offshore trading company. And I’m thinking of going to America to check out the Seasteading Institute.

Selling my house

Opps. I just realised that I never blogged about the sale of my Canberra house.

A few months ago I started thinking about selling my house. Several reasons. First, after one of my investments went bad my passive income has shrunk. To keep travelling I needed to shift some of my “capital-growth” investments into “passive-income” investments… and that meant selling a house. Second, the house needed some repairs, which were expensive. Ironically, I could only afford to fix the house if I sold it. Third, while I’m not worried about the housing market in Australia, I wanted to take a bit of money out of property for a year, and in the future concentrate on the s/e Qld growth corridor. Forth, interest rates were starting to bite. I think they’ll come down again soon and then I’ll buy another place in Queensland.

So I spoke to my property manager and also the tennant about selling the house. The real estate agent estimated that he could get about $320k-$330k. The tennant wanted to buy, but couldn’t afford it now. However, his neighbour was interested and would let the tennants (a very nice family) stay at the house. But he only offered $290k.

I decided that I would be willing to take $310k as a lowest price from the neighbour, and otherwise put the house on the market. The rationale for the lower price was (1) I would save a bit on real estate fees; and (2) I liked the tennants and was worried about wherre they would go next. But I shouldn’t have mentioned $310k to the neighbour because he thought it was a first price in a bargaining process. After $290k, he went to $300k as a final price. Then slowly crept to $305k as the absolute last road. And finally… he came to $310k. So the house is now sold. Hamdullah (praise allah).

The arrangement was made when I was in Cambodia. A month later… the sale is still waiting on the bloody lawyers to write up the contract. Hopefully things will be worked out in the coming week, insh’allah, and then I should have some money to play with soon.

A week without diving

After 12 dives in my first week, I then went 5 days without another logged dive. Damn. After taking a day off (Monday 7/04) I then assisted in an open water course for two days that only involved confined water dives (Tuesday & Wednesday). On Thursday (10/04) I tried to go for a fun dive to the “Islands” (one of my favourites) but I couldn’t equalise my ear pressure, so I had to cancel. Same problem on Friday. Poor Temu.

I finally got another dive last night  (Sat, 12/04) and my ears seem to be better now. Touch wood. That has put me a week behind, so it looks like I’ll stay in Dahab for a bit longer. That means I’ll either need to renew my visa, or overstay my visa and pay the fine.

I did manage to get through a few tests (total mark 104/105) and do the enriched air nitrox speciality. I’m now studying for the physics test. I’ve also become a regular at a few bars (Tota, Yalla) and a few restaurants (Quickly, Sokaria). I now get the local prices. Joe has been explaining the joys of champions league soccer, and I am now expert enough to tell you that Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and Man Utd are in the semi-finals. I don’t know who I’m supporting yet. But what I really need to do is go diving again. Hopefully this afternoon, insh’allah.

Dahab diving & drinking

Not much new to report. I did lots of diving last week — 12 open water dives and assisting in a scuba dive course. I saw Blue Hole, the Islands, Canyon & Eel Garden, which are some of the best dive sites near Dahab. I had a break from diving yesterday, doing some book work and going out for a few beers and some poker.

I want to try and get in as many specialties as I can during this course, and at the moment I’m doing the “nitrox” specialty so that I can dive with enriched air (ie air with extra oxygen). Other speciality options include Fish ID, peak performance buoyency, photography, multi-level and deep diving. If I can get to five specialties then I can apply to become a “master scuba diver” as well as a “divemaster”.

I’ve spent a bit of time lately with Susan (Scotland), Mohamad (Jordan), Anna (Finland), Joe (England) and a few other randoms… as well as the guys from seven heaven. It’s a fairly relaxed place, but the constant diving and studying doesn’t give me much time for other work.