Beautiful people

Beautiful people, you live in the same world as I do
But somehow I never noticed you before today, I’m ashamed to say
(Mathilde Santing, Beautiful People)

One of the aspects I appreciate most about working as a divemaster in the tourism industry, is that I meet all sorts of people. Previously, in the bank, my circle of work-related contacts was pretty much restricted to bankers, marketeers and random it-consultants (or is that a pleonasm?). Not that I was complaining at the time, let’s face it, I loved my career and my life. Nowadays however, I meet the most diverse range of people, every day new faces, new stories, new eye openers. And that is really cool.

The one thing we all have in common is our interest, or in some cases passion, for diving. So invariably, there is a lot of talk about diving during the day, the evening and the night. Great stories about amazing places around the world where people have been diving, from freezing lakes in Germany, Norway and Switzerland, to tropical waters in the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Parents who take their one year old baby with them on a diving safari in the Maldives, 60 year olds who go diving with whalesharks in Mozambique, guests who have been coming to El Gouna for more than a decade and know the divesites better than many of the divemasters working around, but still love coming back. My lifetime is too short to discover all the wonderful places I hear about.

And then there are the stories about their life at home, about their jobs, their families, their houses, their health...

There was a Dutch goldsmith, making jewelry of all sorts with his own hands and selling it on the market. There was a Dutch prison guard, working at the Bijlmerbajes. There was an Italian family and I have no idea what the parent’s day job was, but their hobby was astrology, numerology and tarot cards, so one day on the boat, they laid my cards, drew my horoscope and told me about me and my life. And their 13 year old son is a gymnast who once participated in a competition with a broken ankle. There is a Swiss banker who checks his blackberry every 10 minutes, which is how I learned hot of the press that Fortis has to sell ABN AMRO (I’m now 99% sure I’m staying out here in the desert for another year...). There was a German lady working with deaf children, with whom we discussed the brilliant idea to develop a more extensive sign language for divers under water. There were three dentists from Germany, who came here because one of them once resolved a dental emergency free of charge for the owner of an El Gouna divecentre when he was traveling in Germany, thereby earning an open invitation to come diving in El Gouna in return. I hear many funny stories, listen to many interesting characters, broaden my horizon every day.

Tell me, how else would I ever have gotten to meet this variety of people in the span of such a short time?

And then there are the people you hope to stay in touch with after they leave El Gouna. Like the Dutch couple who are stationed as expats for a pharmaceutical company in Norway and are about to move to Tokyo. Or the Dutch guy who works for a construction firm, has the same age as my little brother and had a little crush on me, asked me out for dinner and told me I was rather nice but strange at the same time (as if he was describing Rivella). Or the English guy, one of Stefano’s friend, who works as an underwater videographer and photographer and is about to set sail to West-Papua.

When I think back to my previous life, I see myself working on all these important multi-million projects which are by now probably completely futile, constantly trying to compromise between deadlines, money, quality and the different agenda’s of the different business units, earning a handsome salary and spending it all with great pleasure.

Looking at my current life, I observe that the gratefulness of the people I do it for and do it with, is much greater. And therefore, I’m having much more fun as well. It’s physical work, sometimes I get really tired and there are of course the little daily frustrations. But on the whole, the people I meet and work with are all happy because they are doing what they love: diving. And that includes me, as being under water is gradually turning from a fun-thing-to-do into a passion. Since a few weeks now, I feel completely at ease under water. Diving has almost become like walking. Just like I don’t need to think about how I put one leg in front of the other, I don’t need to think about how to float up or down using the least amount of energy. I don’t notice I’m breathing through a regulator anymore. My BCD (dive vest) is now nicely worn in and fits like a glove. I’ve been diving without a wetsuit lately, as the water is 28 degrees, so I can move freely without the neoprene squeezing in my joints. Basically, I feel like a fish in the water.

Of course this little fish isn’t earning jack shit, but somehow, I don’t need anything else anyway. I have everything I need right here (well, aside from the kilo’s of drop and herring I’ve asked my friends to bring over from Holland). I’m surrounded by great friends, other great friends are coming over soon, I meet new beautiful people every day and I feel good, physically, emotionally and mentally. I love my new life. Every day, on the boat, I take a few seconds, sometimes minutes, for myself, sit in a quiet corner, look out over the water, feel the wind blowing through my wet, salty hair and I say to myself “What a life...”, just to remind myself of how fortunate I am.

Now let’s be realistic and see how I feel when the winter kicks in, the wind freezes my (in the meantime) skinny ass off when I get out of a dive in (relatively) cold water and then have to get into a wet, cold wetsuit for the second dive... By then, this happy bunny might not be as raving about the job any longer, decreasing that 99% to a new level of restlessness.

But then again, this bunny can hop to anywhere in the world and nibble at whatever she wants, whenever she wants. And that, my beautiful people, is the thought I cherish the most of all.

Baci,

xYx

Pictures:

El Gouna:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60019&l=3dca6&id=523210814

(Crab) Fishing:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59977&l=528a5&id=523210814