The One Where I Finally Went Snorkeling!

Hello friends,

I finally did something today that I had meaning to do in the longest of time. It was on my "Life's To-Do List."

I went snorkeling! :)

The last time I remember I went snorkeling was in Dubai in 2001 at a place called Snoopy Island (yes, Snoopy of the cartoon fame!) But what I had really wanted to do was snorkel in the Red Sea. Red Sea is known world wide for being the second most popular and famous coral reef, after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. I am still surprised the Saudi Government has not exploited this, but in a way, its good, because what I had seen today was most people damaging and ruining the spectacular beauty in the corrals.

I went to the beach early in the morning, and rented out the snorkel. Walked all the way out to the pier and went right in. I had completely forgotten how beautiful and amazing the underwater world is. Never mind Sebastian's song, Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid, or the awesome underwater world in Finding Nemo--- this is the real thing, and nothing, not even cameras, pictures, videos, can capture the mesmerizing beauty that the coral reef and fish had to offer.

The most awesome thing about snorkeling here is that you can see the coral reef, like you would see paintings on a wall. Once you cross over the reef, it drops down vertically into the abyss. At first, it was kind of scary to look down into what seemed like a never ending abyss. It was also very dark down there. Images from certain horror movies came to my mind as I imagined beasts and monsters, and sharks, lashing out from the dark onto me, biting into me and tearing me apart. Mansur, snap out of it!

What I saw here is beyond what I can say in mere words. The sun rays breaking through the water surface came down underwater as if they were rays from Heaven. Everywhere I looked, I saw a different fish. Some fish were big and not so pretty, others were small and fast, yet others were so beautiful, it would leave me breathless as to how and what colors there were. I saw colors on fish that I did not see in my Crayola crayons box (which I had when I was a kid!) I saw colors which I had no names for! Some fish had shiny scales and when the light hit on them, the fish looked like underwater stars. It was beyond belief!

There were too many fish, and I wish I had known some of their names. I asked other snorkellers, but they were as clueless as I was, and were also asking me if I knew the names of the one they liked. I think I also saw a clownfish, but it may not be ( I think it was!) However, my favorite fish was clearly a colorful one. It was about twice the length of my hand, and about twice the size of my palm. It had a black body, but with a electric neon-like blue around the edge of its body. There were stripes on it as well, and they were neon-blue stripes, with yellow outline. In between each stripe, was another color, which seemed like a mixture of purple, blue and red. Like I said, mere words cannot describe what I saw.

The corrals and anemones were another story. The different shapes and sizes and colors and textures was so incredible. I even saw those anemones where they retreat into their shell really fast when you approach them, as if a grown flower would go back into its pod! However, my favorite anemone was one that had a silky texture, and spread out like a cloth. From a distance, it clearly looked like a silk cloth, but upon closer inspection, you could see really minute strands that collectively formed a large sheet.

I snorkeled for about three hours. It was a great experience, and served as a great reminder to me about how awesome God is in His design. Only He could have come up with the so many fish, colors, size, corrals, reefs, anemones and how they all co-existed with one another. To me, the underwater seemed like a microcosm of the world we live in. Everyone is a different shape, size color and style, yet, we somehow still live with one another. (If you are thinking about the moments when the bigger fish kill the smaller fish, that part is represented by the powerful people killing the not-so-powerful people!)

I wish I could be a fish for a day and live underwater.

If anyone of you comes to Jeddah, I am going to have to drag you to the Red Sea! You will not regret the experience! (Don't worry, I have loads of sun tan!)

Yours still-swimming-away and a burnt-back-from-tanning,

Mansur