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Can you introduce yourself, who you are, your age.
My name is Ahmed Fouad Gad, 26 years old, diving instructor.
Where were you born, where you grew up and how you came to Marsa Alam?
I was born in Ismailia, on the Suez canal side,
I came to Marsa Alam 6 years ago, for my passion of diving.
Where did you start to learn to dive and what was
the occasion that brought you to diving?
I started diving in Dahab, south Sinai, 13 years ago,
and I was doing some voluntary work for the National Park, in Nah-mas-i-trid?*?.
That's how I came into diving ... fell into this specialty?*?,
and from there I started to go to my diving career.
Can you tell us if there are any caves around the Read Sea coast,
from Marsa Alam down and your experience with those caves.
There are some explored caves and some unexplored ones,
but most of the caves on the Red Sea are not real caves,
as you have maybe in Mexico or in Europe, it's more caverns.
You have some easy ones, as in Sha'ab Samadai, Dolphin House of Marsa Alam,
it's a very easy one, you can spend in it 20, 25 minutes, it is not that tight.
It's shallow, only 6 m deep, and you have light all the time inside.
Light coming from the reeftop, it can be really an easy one.
You can also have quite difficult ones, like Om Harari*?* and St. John's reefs,
In these caves you can stay longer, you have more feeling of a cave diving.
And again there many caves to be explored by technical diving.
Deeper? - Deeper and longer, like some caves in Dahab or in Sharm el Sheik.
But, the Red Sea is full of treasures to explore.
Are there any through caves, where you enter in one part and exit in the other?
So that you don't have to go through the same entrance here and there.
Yes, but again they are more like canyons or caverns.
We have one diving site in Dahab, it's called Canyon. The top starts at 14 m
and you have the exit at 53 m.
For technical diving this might be an interesting one.
Or in Blue Hole, but this is only like an arch,
you enter on one side and you come out on the other.
When the light comes at a proper angle, it must be a beautiful scene.
Are there any animals that you particularly fancy, underwater?
Dolphins, whitetip oceanic shark, Carcharhinus longimanus,
recently we had in the Red Sea humpback whales, this was a great encounter,
They are very big, aren't they? - Yes, and whale sharks.
How are you handling sharks? Are you not afraid of an accident?
No, I believe most diving accidents with sharks is by mistake.
We are not their main food, sharks eat a completely different category of food,
And on their food scale human beings are the very last.
So they are not really interested in us, we are hot-blood, they are interested only in cold blood.
If it happens that they attack somebody, it is by mistake.
They are afraid of being cornered?
We are afraid of them because we don't know them, they are afraid of us because they don't know us.
We have, maybe, a better chance on dealing with them because we can read about them,
and they can't read about us.
We can discover many things but this comes by learning and
by reading and by dealing almost daily with these animals.
If you respect them, they will never attack you.
In diving with whitetip shark, considered as one of the most dangerous sharks,
and you have them this close, they never attack. You get respect for respect.
On your blog site I read a lot of interesting things, many good pictures from Al Shalaten.
Or is it El Shalaten?
Al Shalateen. - Al Shalateen, OK.
What was your first encounter with Al Shalateen and how do you like the place?
Well, first of all, my real passion is diving,
but I am also interested in everything that's *?* diving,
and the most important thing, especially in the south area,
is the local community. I have worked with them for many years.
I like their culture, it's quite rich,
and to understand more about them, you have to go inside their ...
- Souk in Al Shalateen ... - Yes, to drink their coffee,
to talk their language, it is quite difficult ...
and that's why old Shalateen ... let's say the tourists go to Shalateen
to buy herbs or to watch the camels or to make photos of the local community.
I have also done that but the main reason why I went there is to find out more about the place,
about the local community.
My general impression was that if you want to feel the African side
of Egypt, not the Mediterranean one, you have to go to Al Shalateen.
Yes. - Because the desert starts there, open space, and it is so much different.
What is your favorite spot on the Red Sea? Diving spot.
Probably there are many, but probably you like one more than the others.
Elphinstone reef. - How does it look? What's so special about it?
It's an off-shore reef, almost one mile away from the coast,
and it's quite beautiful because it offers many possibilities.
You are always surprised there. In certain seasons you have hammerhead sharks,
other months you have the longimanus, bery often you see dolphins,
maybe whale shark,mantas, big fish ... and the coral reef is also beautiful.
It has no shallow bottom like most of the dive sites,
at Elphinstone the bottom starts at 333, 367 m,
it looks like a cake, or banana, there are endless possiblities to dive there, strong currents ...
Which time of the year is best to dive in the Red Sea?
All year round. - There is no time with bad weather, big waves ...
Yes, but we can't say: In summer it is perfect,
in the summer you get many days with poor visibility also.
Aha, because the sea temperature is high ... - Yes, and the season of the plancton.
You can't say winter is better, sometimes you have too much clouds
and windy weather, rough sea, you can't even touch the water.
You say all year round, it's always possible to dive in the Red Sea.
What are the sea temperatures in the winter and in the summer?
In the winter you have from 19 to 23 degrees C, in the summer it never goes higher than 29.
28, 29. In the shallow places you can also have 30, 31, in very shallow places.
OK. Where do you live actually, now? - In Marsa Alam.
And how do you like it? You enjoy the place?
Yes. - Not only diving? - Yes, I do.
Let's be honest. Most of my friends, family members,
don't like it because it's like, isolated place.
And there is not so much to do in Marsa outside diving.
How far is it from Ismailia? It is 10 hours from Cairo.
It is almost 800 km. - To Ismailia? - Yes.
It's more than 10 hours then. 12 or so. - Yes.
How often you go to Ismailia?
Twice a year. - Your parents must be very happy when you come.
- Yes, they are. - Do you come from a large family?
The whole family is a big family, yes. But my own family ...
... my parents, me, and 3 sisters, younger than me.
It means you are top of the family, so to say.
OK. I hope you will enjoy diving as you do it now and I was very glad to meet you.