Today I'm going diving on Cleopatra's city! There is a boat that goes out from the Eastern harbour in Alexandria and I have been in touch with Dr Ashraf by email and phone to organise it. My biggest immediate challenge is getting a taxi from here in el Agamy to the harbour which is about 40 minutes drive away on the way to Stanley where the school is. The actual kilometres are not very much, but the roads and the traffic are so chaotic that it takes a long time. This will be the first time I've hailed a taxi on the street.
I'll post this while I've got a connection and add to it when I get back from the dive. Tried to add a photo but it's still taking an age from the wireless at the apartments
I had a great day! I managed the taxi tango at both ends of the day and went to the new Alexandria library after my dive and lunch. When I arrived at the "world famous" Tikka grill which was the landmark given to me by the dive operators and was unknown to the local taxi driver, I found the dive company easily. I was greeted, kitted out with dive gear, completed safety forms, had my guide check out my diving status - I suspect with some anxiety as he noted my age and the fact that I hadn't dived for 20 years - and sat at a table chatting to the young women who helped with the gear and occasionally went on the dives. One of them was to be engaged in a few weeks and wanted to know about my sunscreen so that she could remain pale for the event! Both of them were keen to practice their English and chatted about life as a young Moslem woman in Egypt. One of them had the beautiful blue eyes of the women who come only from a particular village in Egypt. The boat was well organized and I had a skipper, a dive guide and two male assistants to myself. So although I was a bit worried about stepping into the water with full dive gear and a 10 kilo weight belt, I managed it with only a slight increase in my breathing rate! The dive site was unique. Visibility was poor and there was a strong current so my diving buddy held my hand most of the time - he told me before the dive that he was a Christian so I think that makes it OK for him to touch a woman in public.
The first thing we came across was a world war 2 fighter plane crashed on the seafloor. The guide carefully took me around each section pointing out the guns, ammunition containers, the wing flaps. In the cockpit, he even picked up an old face mask. At first I thought it was an octopus but then picked out the face shield and breathing tubes. All this time my guide is pointing and giving me the OK signal and as my confidence grew, I was able to signal back and even start noticing things myself.
I assumed that the wreck was the highlight of the dive, but then we moved away and suddenly we were noticing amphora and other drinking vessels just lying there encrusted on the seabed. There were also column fragments and even the remains of an old road with paving stones. We moved around the sea floor inspecting the remains of an ancient city as though it was just an everyday occurrence to find a lost world under the sea.
That first dive was 45 mins at only 5 metres depth, so when we returned to the boat, we rested for a while and my dive buddy, who was skinny without any insulating fat, warmed himself up in the sun. Then we moved the boat to another site and did a second dive for about 20 mins. This time there was a huge column with carved hieroglyphs and the top of a granite table and also I think, a scribe's small table as far as I could interpret the guide's signaling. We also went deeper to about 7 metres and found several tumbled large blocks of sandstone that were good habitat for fairly large fish.
On the short drive back to the jetty, I went up on the top deck to chat to the skipper. I quickly became his friend when I commented on the sweet note of the engine and asked if it was a Gardiner. I think he launched into an impassioned lecture on the merits of different kinds of motors that he had worked with!
Back at the dive base, I was ushered to a shower and told that they would be serving lunch. It turned out to be a delicious small, whole grilled fish with rice and salad. Hand shaking all round and the presentation of a stamped sticker for me to take away as a memento!
After leaving the dive base, I walked along the Corniche to the new Alexandria library. There were lots of people out for their Saturday strolling and the cafes were full. I passed the tomb of the unknown warrior and then called in to Koota markets - a large covered area with a variety of market stalls including kaftan stalls where I bought a pretty, sand-striped kaftan for myself. At the library, I was in time for an English-speaking tour of this remarkable space with an ancient heritage. There are also some great exhibitions including one of images and maps of old Alexandria and another of the work of an Egyptian film maker. I found a small portrait of Laurence Durrell sketched by his artist friend Clea who inspired the last book of his quartet. Their bookshop is also good and I bought a couple of English translations of short stories and a novel set in Alexandria. I used a passage from the short stories to teach one of my grammar classes in the following days.
Afterwards, it was easy to come out of the library, cross the road and hail a taxi to go back to Agamy.
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