Author: Stefano Maselli
TOGETHER with SSI Italia, an extraordinary event!!
A true event for all SSI People. 446 participants, more than 300 divers and many snorkelers, all on 15 boats equipped with SSI flags and banners . The boats headed to different destinations each day to allow everyone to dive away from the usual Sharm el-Sheikh crowds: the Red Sea was SSI- colored.
Over the past few days, numerous dive sites have been visited—Local, Tiran, Ras Mohamed, and Thistlegorm—all welcoming the SSI community in the best possible way. The colors are still fantastic, the soft corals are increasingly lush, and there have been numerous encounters with pelagic and benthic animals. And there were plenty of hammerhead sharks, as usual, on Jackson's outer reef. Lots of SSI bubbles in Sharm, as well as a group of rebreather divers, who savored the pleasure of swimming undisturbed among schools of jackfish. ASSIE in Sharm also provided the opportunity for a pleasant meeting with the DAN EUROPE staff, who introduced the research work to be developed over the course of the week with the SSI community.
This year, SSI people had the opportunity to visit Dahab, spending a different and truly enjoyable day of diving, snorkeling, and shopping. Less than an hour's transfer and we found ourselves on the shores of the Blue Hole, the local dive site's legendary site, where SSI found all the boxes with their equipment on traditional mats. A quick stop at a traditional café before the dive, and immediately afterward, the Sprindiving guides gave their briefings and took us underwater with their words and a description of the dive. We dived in... a triumph of colors... and after crossing the famous "Blue Hole," we jumped onto the outer reef. It was time to be amazed by the many colors of the coral and the multitude of life forms, from the smallest to the largest. Even more evocative is the “Canyon”: a stretch of sand where hundreds of pinnacles rich in micro life rise up and you get lost in looking at them and admiring how many and what tiny life forms inhabit these coral formations until the entrance to the canyon: a fascinating passage with a wall of glass fish, which envelops the divers, and then the exit...an incredible sight.
This year, the usual Go Kart race took place at the Ghibly Racing track. 180 spectators and 30 drivers literally battled it out, navigating curves, overtaking, mocking gestures, and crashing. Three heats culminated in a surprise finale. They ran to the already-powered karts and took off like a rocket. The final heat was beautiful and thrilling, followed by an awards ceremony right on the track. All spectators, as important as the drivers, were invited to join the winners, and the podium erupted with applause, accompanied by sprays of sparkling wine. Everyone was awarded a commemorative trophy, and everyone received a smacking kiss from the "starter girl."
While the various boats plied the small waves of the Red Sea over the days, the Trainers and Certifiers, holed up in a conference room at the Resort, engaged in their biannual refresher and renewal training. The diving days fly by, and one evening the SSI People gathered them all at the famous Coral Bay venue, Smaila's, which was completely at their disposal. Around 250 participants spent a few hours in the characteristic venue, listening and dancing to live music from Matteo Borghi's band: and they truly all danced in a fun-filled evening.
Another day of local diving, already savoring the evening when all the participant boats gathered at Ras Katy for an aperitif offered by Sprindiving while waiting for nightfall. The luckiest ones managed to admire Spanish dancers, curious lionfish, sleeping parrotfish, and even the rare devil fish. After emerging satisfied from the water, the participants, divers and non-divers alike, enjoyed dinner and slowly returned to the port. The last day was dedicated to snorkeling and sunbathing: the divers enjoyed a day of relaxation and some very warm sunshine, considering the time of year. In the early afternoon, everyone gathered in the resort's amphitheater, where the now customary photo was taken, all of them wearing the official event t-shirts, a triumph of color. The event officially concluded with the final evening in the amphitheater of the Plaza Beach Resort, where Monica Marchesi and Stefano Stolfa, respectively President and Training Manager of SSI Italy , found themselves on a stage in front of approximately 450 participants : such was the emotion and many were the thanks from SSI Italy towards all those who, in this event, divided themselves between enchanting dives, fun evenings, snorkeling days, but also with some inconveniences of the accommodation facility, which led SSI Italy to thank them for their patience.
DAN researchers briefly summarized all the work done this week, thanks to the help of the many divers who underwent analysis. Numerous prizes were offered to all the groups by Dive System and Sintierra, for the most diverse and amusing reasons. After some certifications were handed out by the various instructors from the clubs present, it was time to say goodbye: Monica Marchesi and Stefano Stolfa sincerely thank everyone: the organizing agency Sintierra, the Sprindiving diving center, the clubs, group leaders, schools, chaperones, trainers, certifiers, DAN Europe, but above all those who gathered together in Sharm; the SSI People. But what triumphed this week was the true SSI spirit , the desire to come together and be together under the banner of the sole training agency, which, thanks to the 446, created the largest diving event ever held in Sharm el-Sheikh.
A sentence from Stolfa's final speech, addressed to all participants, encapsulates the entire meaning and philosophy of SSI : " ...the party is you... " The announcement made on the closing evening was surprising: aSSIEME in Sharm will conclude its tenth year. Next year, aSSIEME will continue to exist, but SSI will change its destination, seeking new destinations and new emotions to experience aSSIEME with the SSI people.
The numbers of aSSieme in Sharm:
446 participants
300 divers
670 cylinders per day
3698 dives
1524 nitrox dives
52 dives with Semi Closed Rebreather
3258 kg of ballast
15 boats used per day
40 people as Sprindiving staff
18 Open Water Diver courses completed during the week
23 categories of awarded groups
30 GO KART drivers
224 spectators at the GO KART race
198 participants at the SMAILA'S evening
320 dives monitored by DAN EUROPE
For information and registration:
SSI – Scuba Schools International Italy
Via A. Bergami, 4 40133 Bologna – Tel.: +39 051 383082; Fax: +39 051 383554
Website: www.ssi-italy.org Email: info@ssi-italy.org Toll-free number: 800699140
Reproduction of the text and photos in this article, even partial, is strictly prohibited without the author's consent.
