Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, and Nighttime Mountain Climbing

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For people following my blogs from home, you'll have to forgive me for not blogging about Israel yet (we spent 2 weeks there in the end, twice as long as intended). The reason is simply not making the time to blog whilst there, and wanting to blog about the last few days now instead. You'll have to wait to hear about Israel.

So we crossed into Egypt at the Taba border crossing (at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea) early in the morning 4 days ago. The border was easy enough, although it did give us an immediate impression of what the phrase "typical Egyptian 'efficiency'" means! They were OK really, I think they just have a different pace of life, and don't have the typical Western impatience. We chose to wait almost 6 hours for the 3pm bus rather that pay for a private taxi down to Dahab straight away. Realistically, this actually only saved us a few british pounds since things cost so much less hear, but it gave us chance to catch up on sleep lost on the over-crowded and cramped overnight bus down from Tel Aviv, and to do so on a quiet, picturesque, almost empty beach on the Red Sea. Right next to us was a huge posh hotel with a long commercialised beach full of plastic deck chairs, picnic umbrellas and lots of people. We definitely had the best deal. A quiet beach, just a few locals coming to relax for a while or take a quick dip, and a small cafe with parasols made out of dried palm leaves. Who wants to pay a fortune for a resort hotel when you can have that for free?

We have spent the past 3 nights since in Dahab - a 'backpacker's haven' amongst the beach and diving resorts scattered along the Red Sea coast. And I can see why. It's a small, simple place consisting mostly of a string of hostels, 'camps', restaurants, bars and diving schools along the sea front, with a road of small shops, internet cafes and good cheap fast food joints behind. Everything and everyone is so chilled out, relaxed, and friendly, locals and tourists alike. We were going to stay at Seven Heaven as recommended by friends, but we were met off the bus by Osama, who gave us a free ride from the bus station in the nearby town in return for looking round his 'camp' (read hostel). Auski Camp is pleasant, spacious, clean, quiet, and unbelievably cheap (~3GBP for a double room), so that with Osama's friendly and welcoming nature we decided to stay without looking anywhere else and don't regret it at all! The camp also arranged 3 excellent value trips for us...

On our first full day we went snorkeling at 'Blue Hole'. It took a while to get used to swimming with fins on, and to remember to breath all the time not just when poking your head up, but was so much fun! The reefs there are really shallow and so close to the shore - you have to start swimming before you're waste deep to avoid standing on them! There were spectacular coral formations covering every inch we could sea, all surrounded by fish of every shape and colour who go about their business with no concern for the people nosing about around them. There was one fish that was almost camouflaged with the coral, in colour and texture, and another that I think was a lion fish with crazy long fins pointing everywhere. Snorkeling is dead easy and you can see so much without diving or heavy kit, I think everyone should do it!

That night we got a lift down to Mount Sinai, which is where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments after he crossed the Red Sea leading the Israelites out of Egypt, and the Burning Bush is in St Katherine's Monastary near the base. We arrived at about 1am and climbed steadily through the night with a local guide called Moussa (Moses in Arabic). The walk took just 2 and a half hours, by moonlight and torchlight when the moon was hidden behind mountains. The walk itself wasn't too cold, but once we got to the top and stopped in a small cafe to rest until sunrise we were very glad of the blankets provided! There was ice on puddles outside in the morning - that's nighttime in the desert for you. We didn't see anyone on the way up (Moussa took us up a slightly longer but little-used path rather than the main routes used by tour groups) but they started filling up the coffee shops/tents at the top throughout the early hours. Come 6am, the summit was crowded with travellers, tourists and pilgrims clustering around the small church and mosque, jostling for space along the walls looking eastwards. Despite the clamour from all the people, I have to say that was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and that's all I can say about it, it was simply beautiful. There was some very enthusiastic praying going on from some groups (at least one woman was so overwhelmed she fainted), mostly from Nigeria from what I overheard, and prayerful singing from others, whilst many were there just for the sunrise and the scenery of course. We stopped off at the Monastary on the way down, which is home to a 'descendant of the burning bush', rather uninspiring though, if you ask me. But it was interesting to see on the way back to the bus.

The highlight of Sinai has definitely been scuba diving today. We were in a spot known as Moray Gardens, and neither me nor Dee have ever dived before. Sameer, our instructor, was very patient with us though, and after running through things on land he took us into the water (we just walked in from the shore) and taught us the basics just a few metres under. After that he took us down individually, we had 2 dives each, both lasting about 40 minutes and going down to around 10m. The initial instuction dive left me a little shaken, I didn't feel like I was in control underwater, didn't know how to move or what to press to let air in or out of the suit (to control bouancy) or where I should be going, and I struggled to balance the airpressure in my ears. But the individual dives were great. I felt safe the whole time with Sameer looking out for me and helping direct me and control bouyancy when I wasn't quite getting it, but soon I was doing it nearly all myself and could really look around me rather than worrying about everything I was doing. Wow. The coral wasn't as non-stop as at Blue Hole, with stretches of sand between the reefs, but where it was there was lots of it in all the forms you see in pictures! And the fish, so many! I saw clown fish, a lion fish, a small moray eel, calamary and my favourite: a spotted stingray!

It was an incredible experience, I hope I don't regret leaving here so soon to go see the rest of Egypt! Perhaps I will come back on a different holiday, I could quite happily stay here a week or two. If anyone is sat at home wondering what to do with their next holiday, then come to Dahab!

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