A Day in the Red Sea

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We get picked up at 8:40am to go to the Dive Shop, Just For Fun, that are running our dive trip today.

We get to the shop and it’s packed with people, I cringe wondering how many are going to be on our boat! Finally we are loaded up into 3 mini-vans and taken to the Marina. There is over 100 people congregated waiting to get on their boats, we can see about 7 boats waiting to load. Our boat is called Dar Esalem. We try to keep sight of one of the dive instructors that we know will also be on our boat. He’s a bit of a pretty muscle boy show off, wearing a bandana, tight muscle shirt, camouflage pants tucked into army boots so he’s not hard miss, although not someone you particularly want to have to spend time with.

Tim is already not a happy camper as it all appears a bit disorganized, I’m still too excited about my dive and figure if we keep an ear out for our boat name to be called everything will be fine.

Finally our boat is called so we all line up like ducklings and make our way on board. It’s a really nice boat, downstairs is the equipment area and kitchen and dining room. Upstairs there are white leather couches set up in 4 booths with a glass table in each. There are also leather mattresses at the front and back of the boat upstairs to lay down on.

Looking over the side of the boat there are 3 of the most bright beautifully coloured big fish right near the surface - a taste of things to come!

So now we wait, and wait, and wait….

We don’t actually head off until after 11am and we are the last boat to leave. We’re told the plan of the day is we will go to dive sites, lasting about an hour and a half each then lunch and then off to a final third site for snorkeling. It’s supposed to take us an hour to get to the first site, so we figure lunch won’t be until at least 3pm, hope they have some snackies in between! But all our soft drinks, water, tea and coffee is free.

We get all our briefings on the way to the first site, it turns out there is only 3 instructors for about 30 unqualified divers!

OUR DIVE

Tim and I will be with the first group that goes in and we are with muscle boy. We go down to get ready and he’s pushy, rude and rough - I just keep thinking what’s down in the water waiting for us to see…

We jump in and the water is beautiful - I have never been in ocean water so warm and so clear!

Almost immediately my mask starts to fill with water, I try to clear it but it’s just too big. I keep telling muscle boy that I need to go up but he keeps ignoring me, in the end I just start going up myself. He follows me up and literally rips my mask off my face and swaps it over with his. He puts the mask on me and then mashes it on my face so hard I am still sore 2 days later - he’s just an absolute idiot!!

So we continue on with our dive, but it only goes for about 10 minutes. But a fantastic 10 minutes! We see so many different bright fish, lots of coral, some plain but some bright yellow, red and orange.

He makes Tim and I hold hands the whole time and he is hanging on to the cords of our wetsuits, on the video it looks like a cat carrying kittens!

We get back to the boat and I’m so weighted down I can’t stand up (for some reason I’m a floater, so I always need loads of weight on my belt), so I’m on my knees trying to wiggle my way in a bit, must look hilarious.

We now discover that the boat doesn’t have any snorkeling gear (most of the people on the boat were told like us, not to bring anything) so unless you just swim there’s nothing to do until our second dive.

So we sit on the boat, chat to a Turkish girl and her husband (she translates as he speaks no English) and enjoy the serenity. It does get a little more than boring though…

Eventually, maybe 3 hours later, we finally get our second dive. As most people only paid for one dive we get a longer one this time, about 20 minutes. Unfortunately we get the same instructor, but fortunately the dive spot is even better than the last one. It’s a lot deeper with more coral reef. It was a huge colourful wall of coral and hundreds of fish, so much to see! But sadly it was over again, but what a great memory!

Back on board (I manage to walk, most inelegantly onto the boat properly this time) lunch has been served, although at 4pm its more like early dinner. It’s a buffet and there is something to suit everyone, pasta, fish, meatballs, salad and rice.

There is not enough time to go to the third location, but considering only about 6 people can snorkel, I guess it doesn’t matter so much - unless you’re one of the 6! On the way back the boat captain starts on the horn repeatedly so everyone goes to see what’s happening. There are about 3 dolphins swimming alongside the boat, they put on a huge show for us, jumping out the water, magic!

HARD ROCK CAFÉ - SHARM EL SHEIKH

When we get back to the Marina we decided to walk to Hard Rock Café as we had passed it on the way, didn’t seem too far and our hotel looked quite close to the Marina when we were on the boat…

I ask for a small milkshake and they bring me one in a kids cup - too funny, okay I get the point!

Tim goes to the bathroom and when he comes back he tells me they put ice cubes in the urinals (sorry if you’re having tea folks), I don’t believe him so he goes back and takes a photo and it’s true! I have no idea why, we’re just glad we don’t have drinks with ice - arrghhh, gross!!!

So after another great milkshake, we then have to try and find our way back to our hotel. The guy in the shop who doesn’t have a huge grasp of English says to get to the beach go right then left then maybe right again, perhaps…

So we go right, then left - then realise we are on the street that goes straight to our hotel, thank goodness we didn’t catch a cab, it would’ve been longer to drive than to walk.

THE SAD SIDE OF THE WORLD CUP

So we get scrubbed up and go to a beach restaurant for tea (and free internet) and to watch Brazil versus Ivory Coast in the World Cup, great game but sad example of some of the worst sportsmanship I’ve ever seen. How can someone think no-one will see them faking getting hit in the face when every camera in South Africa is on you and the whole world is watching. Shame on you Ivory Coast player!!

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