Back in the U.S.A.

It's strange being home. At the airport even impatient people waited in line. Outside the airport there wasn't a single taxi driver hollering at me hoping to dupe me into paying an exorbitant amount of money for a ride home.

I finally had a burrito. Its price was fixed and my attempt at bartering to get it cheaper was met only with confusion.

I showered and the water was clean, hot, and fresh (it was all salt showers in Dahab), and I could step on the tiled bathroom floor with my bare feet without worry of contracting a fungus. I walked into a closet and chose from a variety of more than 10 shirts and I also had more options than simply jeans or shorts. I could have watched TV in English. I didn't, but I could have.

I drove a new-ish car on the right side of the road. There were no old clunkers on the road, no camels, no donkeys, no tractors, no buffaloes. I felt overly restricted by the traffic rules. I stayed in my lane, drove only at the speed limit, obeyed stop signs and red lights. I played my own music loud enough so I wouldn't have to hear myself sing along.

It was green. Trees, grass, bushes, flowers. All of Michigan looked like a golf course with spotless manicured lawns. I never remembered Michigan being so lush.

There was a nasty thunderstorm with hail and winds strong enough to knock over the flagpole. The power went out, and a tree fell on the neighbor's house. The storm subsided and I spent my first evening home helping to chop and clear a tree that pierced the roofing of the house.

I've been unable to clear my plate. The portions are too much. No one else appears to have the same problem. I went to the mall. Almost everyone there was obese. Almost morbidly so. I saw round, stout body shapes that I've never seen anywhere but here, in the good ol' USA.

Everyone spoke English. I understood every word spoken and did not have to speak slowly or over-annunciate in order to be understood.

I slept in a comfortable bed with clean linens. There were more pillows than I knew what to do with. I had dreams about being home and happily woke to the reality that that's just where I was.

Final Photos of Dahab

Under the Red Sea

These photos were all taken by Tarik A. Fatah who dove along with us for two dives. He also shot the videos posted below this.Could we look more like dorks? Few if any wet suits were made with fashion in mind and rentals can be horrible. Still, the best part about this picture isn't the thumb up and goofy look on my face but the mountains set as the backdrop to our dive.Once in the water it was time to slip on our fins and spit in our masks.We swam through the shallows for only a moment before we dropped down to the reef below.Honestly, I can't be sure that's the two of us silhouetted in the background but it's a cool photo.Me, alone, checking out the reef.And here's Ash, probably barely breathing at all.Though not that exciting of a creature, this is a cool photo of a giant clam.They're extremely common in the Red Sea but everyone loves clown fish. What's cooler is that if you swim up and watch the sea anemone closely, you can usually find invisible cleaner shrimp living on it as well.Same as the photo a couple posts below, here's another puffer fish.Easily one of my favorite photos he took, this is a great up-close shot of a rock fish.

Who needs the Discovery Channel when you can see this with your own eyes?

This video is nothing short of awesome. In the beginning it's difficult to discern what the video is of but suddenly an octopus appears from the reef. The video captures it climbing on the reef and then heading out into open water to get away from us. As it goes over the edge of the coral it disappears from view completely but look close and you'll see it nearly perfectly camoflouged against the corals. If you can't see it, look for it moving as it breathes in and out. If you still can't see it, keep watching and you'll see it change colors before swimming off again. Better still, when the octopus is hidden against the reef, look to its right and below it; there are three lion fish hanging around near by. This video and the two following it (the other two are far less exciting) were taken by the head of Penguin Divers, Tarik A. Fatah who went diving along with us on this dive at the Canyon Gardens.

Discovery Channel would have edited this portion out

In this video both Ashley and I look like amateurs. The video begins with me paddling with my hands, presumably trying to get out of the way, and Ashley holding a waterproof chart of all the species of fish for her "underwater naturalist" dive required during advanced courses. There's really not much going on here, but perhaps you'll find it interesting and would like to see what Sinai looks 60 feet below the surface of the Red Sea.This video was also taken by Tarik A Fatah.