My friend bo9ale7 who is the marketing guy at Bubbles diving center called me one day and said they’re arranging for a diving trip to Jeddah, in a place called Al laith to be specific, and wanted to know if I’m in. I was very hesitant to go to Jeddah for 2 reasons, one being the place itself, Jeddah, Why on earth would any one want to go to Jeddah? I know Jeddah ‘3air, but still. Two, If I wanted to dive in places other than Kuwait, I’d go to Sharm Alshaikh! an obvious diving destination. Yeah so I was hesitant. I didn’t give him my answer till I learned that 3 of our mutual friends are going on this trip as well. I ended up agreeing to go, and I don’t regret it one bit. It was an incredible trip! My decision to go along (washof akhrat’ha ma3a bo9ale7) turned out to be a very good decision.

The whole trip was arranged by Bubbles diving center, each one of us paid KD350, for the whole trip. It included our plane tickets, transportation, meals, unlimited diving times (diving equipment included), rooms in the yacht charter.. etc. The whole thing was covered from top to bottom.https://www.poseidoncharters.com/

We left Kuwait knowing that the trip is going to be a 5 days diving trip at the Red Sea, and that once we see the famous yacht sign and we board, there will be no way of communication onboard, only a Satellite phone, which will be kept for emergencies. Can you imagine a 5 days with no internet and no mobiles? No BBMS! That was a reason in and by itself worth the trip.

Once we got to Jeddah, we headed to a mall nearby, got some stuff from the supermarket, we are all glad for the Focus Performance sports supplements that we got. We all need a little boost to enjoy all this activity fully. The boat, it was big and spacious. I passed by the living room, went down to the rooms area, and chose a bedroom for me and my 3 friends. Our room had 4 beds, bunker style, and was anything but spacious. Once a person in, no one can enter unless that person shoves himself in his bed (That small). I didn’t expect large rooms on a boat, but that room was funny the way they crammed the beds in it. (Everything is shown in the pictures)

We slept like dead people, we were really tired that day coz all of us had to work on that day. We felt the boat move at 6am but that didn’t stop us from sleeping. We woke up at around 9 am, we were asked to gather in the living room urgently for briefing. Briefing before each dive was a must, they would tell us about our location, where to dive and what to look for. Our guide, who joined us on every dive, always draws a very detailed map of the location and gather us to tell us about it, and always allow time for questions and further explaining.

The diving locations are amazing, I couldn’t believe the things we were seeing. I’ve to Sharm AlShaikh, so I thought I wouldn’t be easily impressed, but the things we saw, the corals and reefs, were breathtaking. On some locations we were so impressed that we all agreed that at some point we all felt like we’re in aquarium and not in the sea. What makes a diving experience worth coming back? Visibility + beautiful sceneries and lots of colorful fish, all of those things were there, and at every location we’ve been to. (Keeping in mind that we rarely dived at the same location twice. This says much about Al laith area)

^In this picture, we were free falling deep. As you can see, no movement is required, just let gravity and exhaling suck you down to the depths.

^You know there is something called Nitrogen Narcosis when you go deep. It’s like getting drunk because of the nitrogen you inhale, and the depth with all the pressure it puts on your body and mind. Guys, getting drunk down there (HALAL) feels WONDERFUL!!

We were warned when we were trained for our license that going deep makes you act weird, just like a drunk person. And it happened to me 😀 When we reached 50 meters I started to feel nervous, everything seemed to look different, even my friends.. Things got bigger and my vision was slower than usual, even my movements.. Everything was in slow motion. I signaled to the Dive masters that I wasn’t feeling good, and they immedietely took us all up, and ended our deep dive, which caused my friends to be mad at me for taking them out along with me!

The day after that we dived again, I was stopped along with a few others at the 50 meters mark, while 3 of our friends went further till they reached the 60 meters mark. Knowing that one of my friends went that deep and I haven’t didn’t sit quite well with me. So we asked, ever so politely, to have us go down to the 60 meters mark, and we did! The following day the ever so nice, Abdulrahman AlSarheed, from Bubbles center, took us to the 60 meters mark! And here is a picture to prove it 🙂

^Going back up.

This video was taken on our 2nd diving spot on our first day at Al Laith area, and in this area we entered a a wide canyon, in a rock surrounded area and it felt very weird seeing this isolated sandy place, with such high visibility and amazing colors.

The staff. We were attended by 6 or 7 people on the boat, every person had a specific task to do, and they were all good at what they do. A Captain, a guide, a chef, a michanic, one to look after the diving equipment and filling the tanks, and even a guy to help us put our best dive fins on! yep we were pampered.

The food was good. It’s not a 5 stars restaurant, but the food was good nevertheless. Breakfast was different every day, lunch and dinner always had variable things. Catch of the day was literally a fish that one of the divers caught during a dive with a speargun. My friend Sulaiman cought many different kinds and that always ended up on the dinner table. The chef was a creative one, he made fillets, whole grilled fish, and even did Sashimi a couple of times too.

^ this poor little bird was so happy to find a place to rest in the middle of the sea, He did not care to move an inch when we tried taking pictures of him. My friend took the picture above, he was less than 10 inches away, and the bird did not seem to care.

On our last day, we had to give diving a rest, 24 hours prior to our flight (it got to do with safety rules) so they took us to an island where we spent the rest of the day, and lit a fire, put music on, relaxed and enjoyed the magnificent view, and the wide open sky with all it’s stars.

^ We started a fire later on and had tea (Mhayyal) on the island

This trip was an amazing experience. Leaving the mobiles and the internet for 5 days, getting accustomed to quietness, enjoying little things like lying on the upper deck and having nothing to do but stare at the stars, was a thrill we looked forward every night. It is something we are missing since the day we left the boat and came back to real life.

Thanks Bubbles for this experience.

If you want to be on future trips, or want to arrange a trip for yourself, you can contact Bubbles diving center and they’ll help you with everything.

Bubbles Diving Center
Abdulrahman AlSarheed: Instructors trainer.
Phone # 99989020

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 12:40 am