Divers House by Pedro Arieta
I've been diving in Dahab (Egypt), by the Red Sea, for the past twenty years. Dahab first became famous after Jacques Cousteau's praise that it was where he spent his happiest hours underwater. That's also where the infamous The Arch of the Blue Hole is, the world’s deadliest dive. Trough out the years I've watched the city and its reefs grow, but the damage also grew with the increase of tourism.
I could never pinpoint a specific reason for my obsession with this place. The truth is it's not just the dive sites. I've come develop real deep connections to the people, the sea and land. I have also witnessed countless times the profound impact diving can have in most people. The realization of the amount of life and enormousness of the ocean can be real transformative.
Diving is not just about the marine life, but also about the meditation like quality of spending time underwater. Years ago I became keen on some images I had taken of people enjoying the water. And have been pursuing those even further ever since.
Divers House is the name of the dive center I’ve been diving with since my first visit in 2004. I have since visited every year, months at a time, often multiple times per year. The work is named after the dive center as homage to the owner, who recently passed away and was one of the first Egyptian divers in Dahab and helped setup the first dive center there in the early 80’s.
