Adventures in Diving

| | Jamie Brisbin (left) and fellow Rolex Scholars show off their Rolex watches|
Are you wondering what Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society's 2008 North American Rolex Scholar, Jamie Brisbin, has been up to since we last caught up with him in the September 2008 issue of Sport Diver magazine? Believe it or not, he has been diving everywhere from Iceland to Egypt since he put his master's degree from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York on hold and began his journey as Rolex Scholar on June 1, 2008.
What is the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society? It's a program that offers young people invaluable experience-based scholarships and internships with renowned marine and freshwater experts throughout the world to jumpstart them into underwater-related careers. Currently, there are three Rolex Scholarships offered North America, Europe and Australasia.
Want to find out how you can become the next OWUSS Rolex Scholar? Log on to www.owuscholarship.org to get all the details and apply. To learn more about Brisbin's ultimate underwater thrills, check out his blog at www.jamiebrisbin.blogspot.com or www.owuscholarship.org/scholarships/current_scholars.aspx. You will be amazed by all of his adventures. Here is an excerpt from his travels to give you a glimpse into his journey as Rolex Scholar.

Ras Mohamed After leaving Dahab, Steve and I returned to Sharm to spend a few more days with Debbie at Blue Eye. With the help of Debbie and some of her employees (Paul, Rachel and Sam) we spent our last few days in Egypt cramming as much underwater video knowledge into our little heads as we possibly could. Not only did we work on our filming, but we did it at some of the best dive sites on the planet. We had been diving from the Straights of Tiran to Sharm and up to Dahab, but we still hadn't made it to Ras Mohamed.
Ras Mohamed is one of Egypt's first national parks. About 20 minutes south of Sharm El Sheikh, its sits on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. To the west lies the Gulf of Suez; to the east, the Gulf of Aqaba. The junction of these two portions of the Red Sea and the extreme depth of the water immediately off of the shore means that the life, especially the amount of large, pelagic fish is extraordinary. Most people board large day boats in Sharm and get to do two or three dives. In my opinion, that's one of the worst ways to dive Ras Mohamed. Rent a jeep, throw some tanks in the back and if you can avoid the land-mines left in the park from the Six-Day War with Israel (stick to the roads), you'll have the best spots all to yourself, for a quarter of the price.
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www.rolex.com www.owuscholarship.org www.jamiebrisbin.blogspot.com www.owuscholarship.org/scholarships/current_scholars.aspx