Cult Dive: Shark & Yolanda Reef

ras goma

A fantastic day

looking for hammerheads

finding Ras Goma

a video from Valentina, Liquid Jungle

Buy Shamandura Generation from iTunes

Yess!
Shamandura Generation is now on iTunes!

https://itunes.apple.com/en/book/shamandura-generation/id979023958

I will survive!

Yeah, right:  'Gloria Gaynor is now a PADI course director', Steve says .

"At first I was afraid , I was petrified

I could not stand the contact of the water with my eyes..."

And here we go: Deco Boys again! Live in Sharm

pure genius

sharmers cross the white desert by MTB - the video

We ere eleven bikers, all scuba-divers.
In March 2014 by our mountain bikes we cross the Egyptian Western Desert from Bahariya's Oasis to Farafra's Oasis. We were the first bikers ever to cross this area. A marvelous chance to enjoy the silence and test our skills in a breath-taking surrounding.


camera: Frederick Di Girolamo and Andrea de Laurentiis

join White Desert Project on YouTube

in Italian (use  Google translator)
http://nonsoloshamandura.blogspot.ch/2014/03/il-western-desert-in-mountain-bike.html#more

sharm's eco warriors

Francesco taking over the column Sharm's Eco Warrior
It says a lot about how we still keep in touch, still surprising each other by meeting unexpectedly, in quite unlikely places and circumstances,.

Francesco Germi (dr.Livingstone) and Claudio Di Manao
Mix-Mag 06/09

shamandura generation at T2

 Amazon

Knocking on Adel's Door Deco Boys

here we go:
the deco boys. 

credits

harmonica: chad clarke

deco boys: thomas chabanne, steve turley

adel (the door's owner): dr. adel taher

camera: valentina cucchiara from liquidjungle.tv

(sorry valentina for the low quality of my upload)

and of course:

bob dylan

How 2 stars were born in Sharm: the Deco Boys

It was a sunny, warm and dry December day and Thomas was laughing at me:

“Ah-ah-ah! I cannot believe it: you thought the ‘Shamandura’ was just the name of the store in Naama Bay! Ah-ah!”

Yeah, I had thought the crew was talking about the supermarket underneath McDonald's. And I made the mistake to tell the story to my friends.
At that time McDonald's and Shamandura were already there, just to tell you that I am not a ‘pioneer’ of Sharm but I am just an early sharmer, early enough to have enjoyed the comforts of

the ‘Pigeon House’.  

Well, 

back to those days: the crew was very upset with me, I was not able to tie the rope to the sea floor, because I did  not understand the meaning of shamandura = mooring. I have to say that at that time most of the crews never made the smallest effort to explain anything in any language (even if they could speak many!) to the ‘fresh’ divemasters. 

They rather played you tricks and give you as much shit as they could.

Sometime risking their boats.

I thought it was… (the whole thing was!) such an absurd and surreal situation that really looked (depending on the angle of the sun and on the mood) hilarious, really funny, or...  devastating.

Then: one day me, Steve (Turley) and Thomas (Chabanne) decided to write down a song. Steve and Thomas were  real musicians, which I was not (everybody was a real musician compared to me) and so we started.
The first song was (of course!) Shamandura Blues. It took us some time to get done. Let’s say: a couple of beers. Then Steve came (with a new entry) and changed a bit here and there, revolutionized a few riffs, added a few jokes, trimmed the lyrics and then ‘we got the shamandoora blues!. (quote.)

The Deco Boys were born
And it happened in my flat
Khaled Abu Seif's Houses,
Sea Street,
el Hadaba
Sharm el Sheikh

They became a phenomenon.
Steve and Thomas carried on with plenty of fantastic new tunes, made out of clever, sarcastic parodies: the stuff real humor is made of.

 I was involved lesser and lesser while writing ‘Shamandura Generation’ my first book about the same subjects and on the same ‘vibes’ of the deco boys songs... in simple words I was writing about Sharm el Sheikh's diving community. therefore about us as well.

And it became (as well) an unexpected hit.

and here we are

more is coming 

coming soon!

- to be continued

claudio di manao

What does Shamandura mean?

The captain, who had ignored me during the whole navigation, was now yelling in Arabic. He was yelling at me and, following the fixed rule in effect at any given latitude, he kept repeating the same incomprehensible phrase in an increasingly loud voice, as though it had been a problem of decibels. I had no idea what he wanted, but whatever it was, it was urgent, because all around me people from other boats had also started yelling. They were making strange gestures, jumping about, hunching their shoulders, mimicking someone who was cold and was wearing a coat, or something heavy on his back.

I decided to figure it out by trial and error. I walked all over the boat, pointing to any object at hand: a ring, a pair of shoes, a life jacket, a saucepan. Only when I touched a diving tank there was a certain murmur of approval, followed by thanks to someone up above. Without question I wore my equipment and the deckhand pushed a putrid piece of rope in my hand, gesturing as if he were possessed. Everyone was chanting the same word, without pause, “…m..d..ra!” I felt incredibly stupid. During my entire career, nothing of the sort had ever happened to me. They were all pointing their index finger downward, in a way that could have meant a million different things. In the end, someone from a neighbouring boat yelled something in barely comprehensible English. They wanted me to tie that line somewhere underwater, no one explained precisely where. I candidly asked the reason for this. At this point, they became really furious and raising eyes and moustaches to the sky, they started whining as though something terrible was about to happen to the boat. Apparently, I was the chosen one who could prevent this impending disaster. For all I knew, the word they were chanting, “Shamandura! Shamandura!” was the name of the supermarket under McDonald’s in Naama Bay. I couldn’t take it anymore and I burst out, “Now, what the hell do you want from the supermarket!”

 I understood, but it was too late. The current was turning, pushing the line of boats against the reef; I should have fixed the line of the last boat on the bottom of the sea to avoid what… happened in an instant.

When I jumped in the water, there was nothing left to be done. There was a racket of engines; dozens of fenders squeaked. A few boats hit the reef; the stern-rails of others broke in the hurried attempt to escape, throwing dozens of snorkellers into a panic. No one was injured, but a great deal of people were so frightened that they said they wouldn’t to go out on a boat again. A crowd of people, equipped with reef shoes, found shelter by climbing on top of the reef, only to be forgotten there and rescued a couple of hours later by the last boats leaving Jackson reef.

It was my first day of work in the Red Sea: I was fired.

Before kicking me out, they made sure I understood the meaning of the word shamandura. It means mooring, but especially tying the boat on any given point on the bottom, whether a rusty metal ring, a sunken buoy, a piece of rotten line, or even a clump of coral (!). I discovered that this ‘not exactly healthy’ duty (it is not good for the body to go up and down between dives) was the true essence of the work of a dive guide in Sharm, as well as a reason of pride and respect. I later realized that a dive guide, to be respected here, had to, first and foremost, be a good connoisseur of knots and shamanduras, know where to find mooring spots or invent them and most of all, be the first at the shamandura. A true Red Sea dive guide is, before anything else, a shamandura-man, a challenger of nitrogen.

From: Shamandura Generation by Claudio Di Manao 

copyright 2013 

Shamandura Generation Book Reviews

"Shamandura Generation is an exhilarating portrait of Sharm el Sheikh’s diving community. Between boats, corals and bars the characters of Shamandura Generation live and work  disremembering about their age. A surreal Egypt Riviera, populated by even more surreal tourists and locals, and a marvellous Red Sea stand as a perfect set  for this novel.

  Shamandura generation is a book about all those who left with a diving gear bag on their shoulders in order to explore their true lives in warm places. A real cult amongst the Red Sea connoisseurs and divers worldwide."

Read the full article by Fabio Pozzo, La Stampa (Use google translator)

The book, by Claudio Di Manao (read here claudio di manao biography in english), has been translated from Italian by Barbara Ferri. The cover has been realized by Gabriele Lari."

readers reviews:

5.0 su 5 stelle dangerous book 10 July 2013

By elex - Pubblished on Amazon.com

Format: KindleStories, images and characters are perfectly framed. The writing is irresistible and I enjoyed this book as one by Tom Robbins, my favourite visionary writer. Because of Shamandura Generation I become a diving instructor. Shamandura Generation is a very dangerous book!

5.0 out of 5 stars 

A must - the best 11 July 2013

By Marco - Pubblished on Amazon.co.uk

Format:Kindle Edition

I read this book several years ago and it's the only book I read again and again. It's a smart presentation of scuba diving behind the scenes in the Red Sea.
Much more than a book, a 'must' for all the divers.
Claudio Di Manao is a unique genius.

Shamandura Generation is now an e-book

The cult book about Sharm el Sheikh, 'Shamandura Generation', is now available on Amazon, in English, in Kindle format.

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author profile on amazon

Free Diving The THISTLEGORM - VIDEO: Save the Legend

The SS Thistlegorm wreck is collapsing. We are losing a beautiful historical document from the WWII.
A group of professional divers from Sharm el Sheikh decided to celebrate this 'Legend' wreck by filming a Free Diving champion: Andrea Zuccari. Andrea dives the wreck while making no bubbles.
enjoy this nice video from Fred

fred's channel

freddigirolamo