Whose bright idea was this: Story of a dive guide from Sharm El Sheikh happy to meet old diving friends. After presenting them with the perfect dive plan for the Red Sea something will let them say "Whose bright idea was this?"

By John Smith and Marco Benedet

“Whose bright idea was this?” is the first-person story of a dive guide at Sharm El Sheikh. It describes in detail what happens when two old friends come to visit him and “force” him to do a night dive in the Red Sea in February ,during an already intense and perfectly planned week’s diving. What could possibly go wrong ... ?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verbaqua
• Release date: Sep 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463442197

John Smith

John was born in Norwich, Norfolk from a merchant family. He made his first dives among the wrecks on the east coast of the North Sea. For few years he worked on British oil rigs and then moved to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt where he worked as an underwater guide. After he moved to Thailand and then to the Philippines. He now lives in Florida where he is a diver and writes novels. His articles on diving and marine biology have been published in many magazines

Book preview

Whose bright idea was this? 

John Smith

Verbaqua

Whose bright idea was this?

John Smith

Verbaqua79x42

©Copyright 2022 Whose bright idea was this?, 

John Smith - Verbaqua

Published with the precious collaboration of Charlotte Fleming

All rights reserved

SUMMARY

Cover

Whose bright idea was this?

@Copyright

Chapter 1

The perfect diving program to do in Sharm El Sheikh

The perfect diving program to do in Sharm El Sheikh with the addition

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Map of Temple

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Authors and Contacts

1

Sea.

Cradle of culture and of feelings.

Men of the sea.

With their eyes forever turned towards the horizon, searching for emotions that can dissolve their known reference points. The sea is black as coal. The same colour as the sky and the beach. In the distance, as though suspended in space, you can see only the lights of a passing ship and part of the landing stage that stretches ahead of us, lit by the yellow light of a pair of flickering lamps. The moon above us, at the end of the first ten days of February, is just a thin sliver with a hump on its western side, surrounded by myriad glowing white stars.

Given such a show, which should be enjoyed from the depths of a wicker armchair with four soft cushions, a beer in one hand and in the other a plateful of little bruschettas and pizzas made by Debora for one of her unmissable aperitifs, instead of this regulator and mask, how can I not ask,

Whose bright idea was this?

After a while spent working as a dive guide in a place like Sharm El Sheikh, it becomes natural to invite the friends I’d left in Italy to share this new experience.

Every time I spoke to them, everyone’s enthusiasm skyrocketed, and when we began planning to do a series of dives together we all became very excited.

Of the many who would have like to come, only Bob and Martin had managed to free themselves of work commitments and confirm they have enough leave to spend a whole week with me, devoted to diving and underwater photography.

When I got their confirmation, how could I not try to show them the best this place has to offer? After a brief exchange of emails, I succeeded in suggesting a list of sites, in my opinion among the most beautiful in these waters, to which I could take them.

Knowing them well, I was certain of making a selection that would suit their tastes, so I was not surprised when they said that they were pretty amazed just reading the list. In fact I had put together a programme that ticked a lot of boxes on their bucket list. As they were both expert divers, I had complete freedom in my choices and I put all the most desirable sites in the area on the list, including those where you can see fish as long as your arm, the wildest, most colourful coral gardens, and places where you can enjoy the most exciting depths within safety limits.

Knowing their tastes and, after several years as a dive guide, understanding every diver’s innermost longings, I was pretty certain of the effect that programme would have on them. Having been given free choice by the dive centre, I had tried to include all the best sites, without missing any, certain that they would go home with their eyes and minds sated and with hundreds of photos on their memory cards.

I was proud of my choices, the result of many years’ working experience in these waters, reading guides, books and manuals, consulting assorted internet sites, and listening to the opinions of the old guides in Sharm El Sheikh. I suggested a week’s schedule that most divers would describe as perfect, with two or more dives each day: a programme which, due to various organisational difficulties, only a few lucky divers can enjoy when they come here.

After long and tortuous negotiations with the dive centre managers and the other guides, to make my shifts fit in with those of my colleagues and the logistics of the dive centre, in the end I was happy and more than proud with what I had managed to do. I had organised