Had Enough - I'm outta here!

[Hank49]

Only you can decide when enough is enough and it's time to go. As the Spanish people say here in Belize, "inside every head is a different world".
I'm getting kind of old now but I loved change before. Move on to a new adventure. ya man. Good luck.

 

[Crowley]

Hi Sam - glad you could finally join us!

Thanks to everybody who's replied with their best wishes - I shall continue to write and blog and post in the Red Sea Forum!

Diver0001 - Thanks for the info but I am struggling somewhat to make sense of your post - I have been here almost 4 years, the revolution was 2 years ago, I've been out of my home country on a permanent basis for almost 8 years, spent several years of my childhood in Africa and also my teenage years in Japan. I can assure you, it is most definitely not culture shock! Plus - it's not just Egypt that's the problem - there's a lot of other factors, such as all my good friends leaving, and the increase in the price of living here, which has not been redressed by a commensurate increase in earnings. Also - it's not just me...!

Leon - You described it very well - and it is notable that a lot of long-termers left just before or shortly after the revolution - strangely enough, a fair few people left after they refurbished the old Camel Bar - kinda tore the diving soul out of Sharm! It was great here, I loved it, but it's just not the same any more.

Malesh - since making my decision I have been bouncing around with a spring in my step and looking forward to the next big adventure. Where that is, I don't know yet, and there's a good chance that I might leave the dive business permanently - at least in the format in which I work now.

And as I say - please don't be put off visiting for dive holidays - most of this stuff isn't really relevant to actually being here as a tourist, and I hope to be able to come back and do exactly that later this year, location and finances depending. If Sharm picks up again to what it was like back when I got here in 2009, then I will think about coming back full-time. In the immediate future, however, I forsee a large pork pie, some crispy fried bacon, a large array of quality sausages, and some excellent beer!

Happy diving folks - wherever you are!

Cheers

C. (boing)

 

[Diver0001]

Diver0001 - Thanks for the info but I am struggling somewhat to make sense of your post - I have been here almost 4 years, the revolution was 2 years ago, I've been out of my home country on a permanent basis for almost 8 years, spent several years of my childhood in Africa and also my teenage years in Japan. I can assure you, it is most definitely not culture shock! Plus - it's not just Egypt that's the problem - there's a lot of other factors, such as all my good friends leaving, and the increase in the price of living here, which has not been redressed by a commensurate increase in earnings. Also - it's not just me...!

Fair enough. If it doesn't fit your experience then that's probably not what it is. It just seemed to fit the pattern but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

In any case good luck and I hope you find a new gig soon that makes you happy again.

R..

 

[Crowley]

In any case good luck and I hope you find a new gig soon that makes you happy again.
R..

Many thanks Diver0001... I plan to! Can't sit still for very long...

 

[Solly]

Crowley, though we never met but for sure i will miss your presence in Egypt !
best of luck buddy.
please keep us updated with your progress in life

 

[Ste Wart]

I've steadily watched friends disappear from Dahab since the revolution (I left late 2009). The downturn in tourists has seen instructors relocate, some have relocated whole dive shops or simply gone back to the 'real world' and taken the jobs that enabled them to pay for all their dive equipment and courses in the first place.

With Crows' admission of defeat I can see that Sharm is not immune to the downward spiral of dive tourism in Egypt.

I always sensed that intros and snorkelling would become the norm of Egypt, the easy dollar is there to be made, unfortunately this has the adverse effect of boring the socks off of the people who earn a living in the dive industry. I failed to see the sense in paying thousands for my IDC and conducting non-PADI intros day in day out (I left a job in Taba for that reason), but dive centres don't see it that way.

Good luck with your future endeavours Mark, but I wouldn't mourn the loss of sharm. The dive sites have been poor shadows of their former selves for many years and hopefully with a little less diver traffic over the next few years they can possibly show some recovery (Dahab too!)

 

[SubMariner]

It is said that one's life changes every 7 years. Well, yours just came a little early, is all....

Wishing you success & happiness in whatever path you choose to take.

And yes, we're still here to talk to on SB.

Pax,

 

[Diver0001]

I seem to remember that Crowley was a Canadian too, right? (or was that Kris...)

We should start a Canadian-expats-teaching-the-world-a-better-way-to-dive club where only people who were born in Canada and went on vacation to never return home again can join.

Oh, and you have to be awesome.

and a good instructor.

Did I mention awesome?

R..

 

[sffrenchman]

Good luck. Always enjoyed reading your blog and hope to find some more of your writing in a (virtual) library in the near future.

Cheers

 

[Tigerman]

...
With Crows' admission of defeat I can see that Sharm is not immune to the downward spiral of dive tourism in Egypt.
...

Not living there, but going there several times a year, I have to say that the attitude in sharm has been steadilly declining..
Not from the dive ops towards tourists, but from everything local..