The Red Sea – Day 7: The Final Dives
THE RED SEA
Day 7: The Final Dives
June 28, 2024
I guess I overdid it with making fun of Amelia and Aladin’s budding relationship. I assumed as much as she spent the entire morning ignoring me.
While we’d usually start our day fangirling over what we were about to see during the dives, all I got that morning were side-eyes and silence. I apologised – to little effect. I recalled her shutting me out like that back in Utila, – mostly when I’d pick on her about her fling with Louis. In hindsight, I do get how annoying I can be – even if joking is the way I express my affection. And so, I figured I’d tone it down and wait until the dives before I’d try again.
Small Giftun
Our final two dives would be at Small Giftun Island, which lies just off the coast of Hurghada. It’s part of the Giftun Islands protected marine area, known for its clear waters, sandy beaches and rich coral reefs. The dive sites around Small Giftun feature steep walls, coral gardens and plenty of marine life.
I guess our most impressive finds here were the stonefish and the cube trunkfish, though the wave wart slug and the mottled dorid stole the show just by virtue of being nudibranchs. Because, as it turned out, I was now the sort of person who could be emotionally repaired by a sea slug. They are quite amazing sea slugs though.
The Grudge
After the dives, we started sailing back to the port where we’d spend the night before disembarking the following day. Just like that, our dive trip was over – I couldn’t quite believe it…
To be fair, I didn’t have much time to dwell on that. Instead, I cast my focus elsewhere. I tried to make amends with Amelia once again. After much pestering from my end – especially since it was our last day together for God knew how long – she told me to back off and give her some space. I might have stepped over the line, but I truly felt that she was overreacting. At that point, I started wondering whether I’d done something else to piss her off.
My conflict-resolution skills were set aside when I saw her acting normally and having the time of her life with the other guys on board. I was genuinely hurt and angry. After a week of being underwater together, somehow the hardest silence to sit with was the one above the surface. Was that really how we’d spend our last day together?
When I was done sulking, I indulged in some bonding time myself – guzzling one beer after the other as I chatted with our fellow divers. Man, I was gonna miss diving in the Red Sea and I was definitely gonna miss these guys!