Ships, Wrecks, Screws and Rudders

My Best Vanna White Pose

Growing up a Navy brat I had long known ship's screws can be quite large but I was still surprised when I first saw the ANA's rudder and screw sitting on the bottom of the Red Sea. While visiting the wreck we all had to get a photo posing by the screw (Notice the different colored edge area of the screw where diver's hands have kept the coral worn clean).

The surprising size of this wreck made you feel humbled by the power it took to sink the ship. One of the guys searched online and couldn't find any information out about the wreck so we are left to wonder under what circumstances this ship met her end.

Across Saudi Arabia

Mother Baboon Looks to Cross the Highway

Russ, Mustafa and I drove from Hafr Al-Batin to Jeddah, which is over 800 miles one-way. I've traveled quite a bit of the Eastern and Northern areas and really wanted to see more of the other parts of the country.

On the way going we drove around Medina and from the non-Muslim road we could see the Mohammed’s Great Mosque. It was already night time and the minarets were as bright as football stadium lights. If you didn’t know, non-Muslins cannot enter Mecca or Medina so there are roads that go around them for the non-Muslims.

On the way back from Jeddah we drove through Riyadh which took us through Taif. Taif is located up in the mountains and is the summer residence of the Royal family and it is supposed to be cooler up there. Just outside of Taif on the mountainous two-lane road there is a troop of baboons. The Saudis stop alongside the road to look and feed them. This mother had a right arm that was useless. We surmised she had been hit by a car at one time or another. She was doing okay when we saw her.

Wreck Dive and Eels

We dove a wreck that sat at an angle. The ship's rudder and single screw were at 110' and the bow at about 45'. While exploring, Mohaned, Malcolm and I saw a very big eel. I was barely able to catch the last half of it in a photo before he disappeared under some decking. Look in the lower left hand of the photo. All Malcolm could do was watch it go and then he quickly looked up to see if anyone else saw what he saw. We were all surprised and I was so lucky to get any photo at all.