Red Sea Diving Special <1.9.2008>

As passionate diver I can’t miss the opportunity to dive here. So I booked several diving packages at the dive shop of this club – diving & discovery. They were not really well organized & cheap, but the guides there where worth the money.

I started with a beach dive directly from the hotel – the spot called Temple.

Sure I had a quiet some expectations, from all the stories I heard from diving in the red sea. But already the first dive was overwhelming to me: You have crystal blue water, plenty of reef fishes, visibilities up to 30m and a water temperature of 27 degree @ 30m depth ;-)

Here you can find the highlights from my 8 boat dives around the Sinai cost line:

My smallest (20cm) & biggest moray (2m):



The red sea is famous for it ship wrecks which sunk during the 2nd world war. One of the most famous is the Thistlegorm which was discovered by Jacque Cousteau in 40ies but never told to public since it was officially found in the mid 90ies.
Since then it is the No1 dive spot for wreck divers in Europe.

And I was lucky – I got the confirmation to join this dive on my last day.
We arrived the spot after a 2 ½ shuttle with a speed boat in the middle of nowhere. The waves were strong and we expected a dive with quiet some current.
Once arrived at the platform at 20m the sight got better and the current was gone. We were in front of a 122 m long wreck which was transporting tanks, Amory, motorbikes, cars, trains and many other stuff which you still can find down here.

Cannon + monition from year 1929:

But there is also plenty of marine life – like grouper fishes, scorpion fishes, turtles and the funny locking crocodile fish.

My dive buddies and me made two dives that day and thanks to Nitrox, each one last about 45min … it was really worth to make this course during these days.

Time was too short, but the dives were fantastic.
One thing is clear to me – I’ll be back!

Pirate of the red sea

Arabian Nights – Sharm El-Sheikh <28.8.2008>

Last but not least I could spend a week in Egypt – at the Sinai Peninsula – for my summer holidays.
We left Graz and flew via Linz to Sharm El Sheikh – which is the very south point of Sinai.

We stayed in a nice All-inclusive-club (Iberostar Fanara) which is situated directly at the sea within the famous Ras Mohammed National Park.

This is one of the most beautiful snorkeling points along the red sea cost and it was just few meters of the shores of our beach!

The weather here is unbelievable hot! We were welcomed at 43deg Celsius during the day and had even still 31 during the night. And there is now rain – there are only 25min. rainfall during the whole year! Ideal for planning your holidays – you will never have any rain ;-)
Due to these temperatures the land is mainly like a desert. What is special in Sinai is that it is surrounded by several mountains.

And we visited the most famous one – the Moses Mountain. This is the mountain where Moses received the 10 rules from God.
You can either walk the long 8 km hike you can see below or take the steep stair walk right through the two mountains.

Our interest was not the mountain, it was the oldest monastery – the Saint Katherine Protectorate.

It is already 1600years old and famous for the holy Christian relicts – like the burning fire bush.



On the way back we passed by one of the few Oasis where you can learn more about the lives of the Bedouins.

Tired from the hike we returned in our club where we could relax at typical Egyptian water pipe – the Shisha – and dream of the tales of 1000 and 1 nights…

Yours Ali Baba

Hawaii of Asia – JEJU Island <21.8.2008>

After the workshop in Seoul we had 3 more days to explore the country. Where you can get most impressions in such short time gathered ideally in one place? Impossible? No – the answer is Jeju Island!

It is situated in the very south of South Korea ;-) and is called to be the “Hawaii of Korea” (even Asia, but I am not so convinced in that)
Just 40min flight time and you arrive in a different world: No skyscrapers, no pollution, lush forests or huge rice fields and several volcanic spots.

We stayed around Jeju City in a real nice Inn which was recommended by our Korean colleagues. The place is called YEADOOM and is a family run Inn which is very close to the north beach and just 10min from the airport. It is really nice and they prepare gorgeous black pig BBQ! Check out http://www.yedaoom.com/

In Jeju City you can find good places to shop, colorful fountains were kids playing & nice places to eat local specialties:



Coming to culture and places of interest – what is typical for Jeju?
1st is the “grandfather stones” – which you will find everywhere in different shapes and sizes:

2nd there is the Jeju-Toilet – which I don’t want to describe more in detail … see yourself and guess:

Than there are the volcanic sights like the world longest lava tube (>8km), huge waterfalls and an impressive coast line:

For those who want to discover yourselves – I can recommend you a spiritual journey via one of the offered temple stay in the south.

And there is a lot more to see like old women diving 20m deep without scuba gear; mystic roads where you roll uphill (unbelievable but true); huge craters and colorful aquatic life at the southern dive spots.

For those who want to see more of it - please check Lea's homepage for dive pics:
http://japanmeetslea.blogspot.com/2008/09/jeju-island-koreans-hawaii-aug-208.html


To explore the island you need a car – but don’t forget your international driving license otherwise you won’t be able to rent one.
We were really lucky – we were guided by the hotel owners father over the 2 days and he showed us placed you won’t find by yourself.
The magic of the grandfather stones ;-)

Thank you Grandpa

Kimchi & Korean BBQ – SEOUL City <16.8.2008>

As a yearly event, the Asian region is gathering for a business workshop to exchange latest news and information in my business field. This year it was held at AVL Korea in Seoul. Lea, 3 more Japanese colleagues and I were selected to join this event from 19-20.8.
As this was Lea’s & mine first visit to Korea, we used the chance and extended the stay over the weekend(s).

It started in a perfect manner – we were upgraded to business class, which we enjoyed fully the short 2 hours we had to fly.

Once arrived, we immediately could feel and see the difference to Japan:
Not only were the characters unfamiliar to us…

… also the green spots within the city to escape the buzzing city life

… as well the look from the different faces

… until the way you use scissors for eating ;-)

Most people might have heard more military headlines from North Korea than the great places of interest here in South Korea.
So how does N-Korea look like?
Let’s have a look => Just 60km or 1hr drive you can reach the (in)famous boarder to N-Korea – the demilitarized zone (or short DMZ)

Within a half day you can visit this place featuring the longest tunnel (planed to invade S-Korea in the late 80s) or a glance to the biggest and tallest flag in the world – placed on the N-Korean side:

Sure you can feel the tension coming from the many soldiers working around this place, but there is no threat to you.



Actually everyone is waiting to reunite and tear down the walls to become one country again … sooner or later!

Now let’s come to social part, which Korea is real famous for: Korean BBQ!
There is no visit without having a joined grill session featuring meat, kimchi (spicy pickled vegetable) & shochu (local spirit).
Our Korean colleagues introduced us a nice place where we could be ourselves – Childs ;-)

An unforgettable time comes to its end – one advice from my side:
Don’t underestimate the local spirits x-)

GAMBEI!!!

Fireworks & Burning Dogs <10.8.2008>

Every year during the summer months, Japan is celebrating the Hanabi season with huge – 90 min. long-lasting firework sessions.
One of the biggest ones was going to happen this weekend at Tokyo Bay.
And as this is easy to see from my balcony – I decided to give a small Hot Dog Party!

With the support of “Flo” we prepared the buffet ready for 24 Hot Dogs – which was just right for all 5 of us ;-)
The living room was transformed into the BBQ area and grill was ready to go.

Now we were ready to sit down and enjoy the show:

Considering that in this moment 1 million people were watching this fireworks around the Tokyo bay -> we definitely had Top Spot to watch the show at highest comfort ;-)

With a Big Bang

AQUOS Team - New Dive Buddies <2.8.2008>

Recently I got the chance to join my good old friend Yuko & her Dive team, who took me to a joint weekend at Izu.
They using the dive shop which is close to my office in Kanda – called Aquos:
http://www.d-aquos.com/shop/index.html

I highly can recommend them to anyone as they have brilliant service, a decent selection of diving stuff and great instructor called Ajima san. He put his whole heart in what he does and really try to take care about everyone to make it an enjoyable dive.

So hear come the main actors:

My dear old friend & colleague Yuko san and her best mates Masami san & Kanae san (from left).

We went Saturday morning to Izu by Shinkansen and started our first dives at Futo from the 2nd beach entry point.
It was pleasant summer day and we where just few diving teams, as most of them went to IOP for a special sunset dive event. We used that chance to enjoy most infrastructure just for us alone ;-)
The visibility was not so bad and also the temperatures where fine about 22 deg.
This dive site has unusual high number of those special anemones I find so funny looking:

The highlight today was definitely the moon fish – so called “mambo” in Japanese – unfortunately he was already dead x-)
We wish you a good (final) rest fellow…

The more lively ones you can find below:





We stayed tonight in a nice Ryokan directly in Futo before we head next day to the famous Mikomoto dive site – you remember the Hammers?!

Even the days before were very promising due to many shark sights, but we weren’t lucky that day.
We could not spot any hammer heads just some more hidden ones – can you find him?

SAD? … Not at all!!!
There is much more to experience than just the hammers – there is the CURRENT!!!
Believe me – it was a really strong current that day which made it a perfect drift dive. I really LOVE current.
Such experience you can hardly find anywhere else around Izu – enjoy it.
Below pictures might give you some idea what I am talking about ;-)

I love that one (^ε^)

Thanks to the good experience and professionalism of Ajima san we all had a great & safe day out in Mikomoto.

I hope to have soon the chance to dive with you all again

To my new friends