Trip of a lifetime dive right in: in the middle of a rocky desert, an underwater paradise beckons

When my sister Julie calls to ask if I want go spend the holidays scuba diving with her family in Egypt, I am skeptical. I think of Egypt as the arid land of desert sands, pyramids and pharaohs. "It's the Red Sea Riviera, Liz!" she cries. "Sun 365 days a year and some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the world." Still, I'm not convinced: Julie lives in Moscow and gets desperate by mid-winter for relief from the snow. I live in Los Angeles, so a sunny dose of vitamin D isn't so urgent for me. Plus, I haven't been diving in four years. Will I even remember how?

I do a little investigation on the Internet and sure enough, Sharm el Sheik on the Red Sea is a diver's paradise. At the tip of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the warm azure waters lie where the Gulf of Suez meets the Gulf of Aqaba. Compared to resorts in Thailand or Hawaii, where coral reefs have been blasted with dynamite to create more white sandy coves for beached tourists, Sharm el Sheik features 150 species of coral and a thousand different kinds of fish just steps off the shore. Count me in.

After a few days in Cairo, my sister's family and I head to Sharm el Sheik. To get back in the swim, we take a refresher course in the pool, where a patient Italian instructor answers all my important questions like, "Where does this gizmo go?" This quiets my fears and prepares me mentally for the next day, when we head out to Ras Mohammed National Park, a 480-square kilometer preserve of rocky desert and turquoise sea that was protected by the Egyptian government in 1983. The cluster of dive boats in the water stands in stark contrast to the jagged Sinai mountains and Bedouin tents on the land.

Soon a dozen of us suit up, jump in and are bobbing on the surface, waiting for the divemaster's signal to begin our descent to 20 meters. As soon as I start to sink, I remember what I love about diving: It's the closest I'll ever come to exploring outer space. At first, I focus on the sound of my breath and the sensation of being weightless. Then the beauty of the alien underworld grabs my attention. I have never seen anything like this. The terraced coral reefs, a huge wall of brilliant reds, blues and oranges, encircle the peninsula and then fall away steeply. Soft corals sway with the current, while schools of striped and spotted groupers, angelfish, batfish and lionfish dart between them. I am motionless among all this life, just hovering, watching, occasionally finning forward to get a closer look. The sheer enormity of the reef reminds of what a small thing I am in the sweep of the sea, and when we swim through a huge school of barracuda and past a couple reef sharks, I am also reminded of my place in the food chain.

When we pop back up to the surface almost an hour later, I feel like Dorothy must have when she returned to black-and-white Kansas after visiting Technicolor Oz. As we swim back to the boat, all I can think is, "I hope Moscow is as miserable next winter."

For general information on Sharm el Sheik, visit www.touregypt.net or www.padi.com. Two dives, lunch and equipment rental on a diveboat costs approximately $60 a day.

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