Jeddah --> Barcelona via Cairo

Arriving in Cairo in the middle of the night to await a 9 hour layover is not the most desirable way to travel.  I found EgyptAir to be a rather gross airline, but they were nice enough to book us a free hotel room for our layover.  We just had to hand over our passports to the Egyptian officials (this made me a bit uncomfortable), and load into the bus with our fellow pilgrims.  The fact that they were returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca and we were traveling the earth in search of the Holy Grail, filled with Mojitos, didn't seem to matter given everyone's state of exhaustion.  We were lucky enough to be taken to a sweet hotel where A. smoking is allowed in the loby B. there is a discotec on the second floor and C. two guys checked all of us in while the rest of the hotel staff checked their facebook pages (see image two above), but overall I really appreciated a clean-enough bed and shower in transit!

more to come....

Hey Folks, sorry I have been a bit MIA lately.  I have spent the majority of the last week in transit and in between, I have been to busy drinking sangria and eating snails to blog.  More details and pictures to come, but let me just say that Cairo sucks, Mallorca is beautiful, and if you happen to lose your passport I hope you do so in Barcelona because the consulate is EXCELLENT there.

FISH in Thuwal

A big group of us decided to enjoy the tastings of FISH in Thuwal, the little village nearby the university.  We packed up in the bus, selected several kilos of fish and shrimps, and then relaxed on the carpeted floor to await our feast.  The evening was beautiful and it was nice to sit outside even covered with an abaya.  We devoured the parrotfishes, groupers, shrimps, flatbread, rice, hummus, and tabouleh.  My belly was so full, I almost, almost said no to the Konafa dessert.

an update from Gordo

"Hey guys, its been awhile since I have given you an update on my life.  I have been eating a lot (though we never get tuna anymore, that is a bunch of bull@#$%), sleeping a lot, and biting my brother.  I've been taken to that freakin' vet about 10 times now, yes my paw is slightly inflammed, but I just can't help but lick it, and yes, my testicles still haven't descended.  Though that doesn't make me any less of a man...

...next time you do laundry, you should try taking a nap in the basket, it is nice and cozy, and the humans really love it if you sit on their clean laundry :)"

-Gordo, formerly known as Tiger

Science on Saturday

Crazy!  How would you like a light bulb sticking out of your brain??

picnic in the middle of nowhere

After our dive, the captain whisked us off to one of the craziest spots I've ever seen.  Out of nowhere, in the middle of the Red Sea, appeared a dock complete with roof shaded picnic tables.  We unloaded our picnic lunch and enjoy a lunch free of the rocking boat.

rough seas, pirates, and pink fins

On day 2 of Al Lith Trip Extravaganza, we tried to head out to the outer reefs for some really nice pristine diving.  Unfortunately, the winds picked up and the seas were rough.  I was white knuckled and green faced holding onto the side of the boat trying to keep my eye on the horizon to not get sick.  We pushed on for over an hour and still having only made it half way to the outer reefs and surfing the boat on the large rolly waves, the captain decided it was best if we head for shelter at a small nearby island.  So, we slowly side sailed the waves to the island, passing what looked to be a pirate boat along the way.  We stopped for a dive and lunch and my seasickness disappeared and I was a happy camper again.

...and yes, I have a thing for pink dive gear :)  I would recommend the Cressi Women's Travelight BC to all lady divers!!

Before heading out on day two of Al Lith Shark Dive Trip Extravaganza, this guy showed up at the end of somebody's line.  He didn't look too pleased about it.  I think if I didn't study sponges, I would study turtles.  You just don't come across that face that says, "hey man, leave me alone" very often in the animal kingdom.

Science on Saturday

Cool?  Scary?

how to spot a shark

We head out to Whale Shark Reef and search the sea for ripples, or disturbance from small fish flapping about.  Then, we look for the dorsal fin of the shark and once it is spotted, everyone jumps in the water and starts swimming as fast as possible toward the shark.  With that giant tail, he swims so majestically through the water while we poor bipeds huff and puff to keep up.

Out to Sea

6:30am on a weekend comes wayyyy too early!  But we were up with the dawn and in the boat ready to hunt for some sharks.  We loaded in our SCUBA gear for a dive in the afternoon and started scouring the water for dorsal fins....

something's in the water....

Shark Attack!  Sorry, I have been a total blog-slacker lately!  I have just been too busy extracting DNA from sponges, cooking delicious Colombian food, and swimming with sharks!  Last weekend, I went back to Al Lith for Whale Shark tagging.  It is that time of year where these giant plankton eaters migrate up the Red Sea.  Quite a sight to behold...

More updates soon, I promise!