I was staying in a tent on the roof of the Carmine Hotel in Dahab when I met Boka. I’d been in Egypt for three or four days, and he offered to take me to the best fried chicken joint around once he learned I was American and had, in fact, been craving fried chicken for weeks. We were fast friends, with him quickly sharing with me adventures from his incredible life so far – most of them tied to an underwater world. 

At fourteen, Boka was responsible for overseeing lives in the water. A water park in Cairo paid teenagers off the books to work as lifeguards. He wasn’t even certified to be a lifeguard. “But I loved the job,” he told me. Even at that age, Boka was already deeply connected to the water. He’d already been a competitive swimmer in school for years at this point, winning championships and bonding with his coach who wound up opening the next door for him.

Boka’s coach was also a manager, and he gained respect for Boka over the years. He pushed him to build his skills and become more professional, beginning with an actual lifeguard certificate. For four years, Boka worked as a lifeguard during his summer vacations until he finished high school. When he began college, he added another experience: he became a professional swimming coach, working at a sports club in Cairo.

At nineteen, Boka moved to Sharm El Sheikh – a resort-style city south in the Sinai peninsula – to work as a lifeguard at a hotel. There, surrounded by the Red Sea, Boka first noticed the divers. Moving effortlessly beneath the surface, living life between the above and the below. Boka started imagining this life for himself. He was put in touch with diving communities online, asked questions and listened closely. One conversation stood out. “He was an older diver, around fifty-five. He was a supervisor, and a commercial diver. He advised me to go to the Marine Academy in Alexandria and ask about Captain Yasser El Haridi.” 

In his early twenties, he was able to save enough money to finally take the leap. After he entered the Marine Academy’s diving program, he started training in a pressure chamber, not the sea. This is called a dry dive, often the first test. Boka immersed himself in the training, from the chamber to the pool to the open water. He fell in love with the diving world, and his instructor told him that he would be a great diver one day. He never forgot that.

After completing the commercial diving training, Boka searched for related work in Suez, Port Said, and Alexandria, where he was able to join commercial diving operations. Commercial divers are a specialized group of people who perform intense operations – from welding to inspecting to repairing pipes or oil rigs. The work is demanding and often dangerous, and soon the reality of the job raised concerns for Boka. “The equipment wasn’t professional. It wasn’t safe.” After talking with his father, Boka made the decision to step away and find another path within diving.

He returned to Sharm El Sheikh and joined a recreational dive center as a diving assistant. “The owner, Frank, he’s an American from California. He supported me a lot. Taught me everything. He’s like my soul father in the job.” Under Frank’s mentorship, Boka built himself up to the divemaster title. A divemaster can professionally lead recreational dives and ensure the safety of other divers around them. While pursuing this, Boka also learned how to take underwater photography, which is a feat in itself. As he was showing me his colorful pictures of coral reefs and marine life, I was thinking about how he’d had to master so many elements of diving and photography to be able to capture these photos.

Frank connected Boka with freelance opportunities, photography groups, and snorkeling guides – pushing him out of his usual comfort and routine. Eventually, Boka moved to Dahab where he continued his education toward becoming a scuba instructor. In instructor school, students study diving physics, theory, and safety protocols. It’s not just swimming – it’s actually understanding everything. There’s more mathematics involved in diving that I’d previously realized. Understanding pressure, volume, and density relationships is crucial. Knowing how to respond to thermal changes, strong tidal currents, and what to do in an emergency (lack of oxygen, for example) could save a life.

Beyond the certifications and technical skills, Boka is entirely in love with the sea. Egypt borders the Red Sea on the east – the sea which Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh’s culture is built around. Boka says the Red Sea is one of the best for diving in the world because of its year-round warm temperature, clear waters that are excellent for visibility, and diverse life underwater. “I’m very lucky with seahorses. I see a lot of them,” he says. “And turtles too. One is my friend. Her name is Zulia.”

Boka’s life is so undeniably shaped by the sea he loves, and every step he’d made in his life so far pointed right back to the water and life within it. I love meeting people who have such a singular direction and passion that they seem to be always confident that they’re right where they want to be.

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