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Published: July 22nd 2009
Bad pose
Seabed of eels in background. Actually they are all down the slope but you can see someIt took asking 24 people, but eventually we got directed to the wrong ferry… With the fast ferry booked out, Abby my new travel buddy and I thought we struck gold! Then we were told to change to the slow, shitty boat. This is Egypt’s introduction from Jordan and the adventures of Sinai.
The ferry was one of those old European boats that cover a one hour trip in an overnight journey. At midday on the top deck we sat ourselves down for an undetermined time. Just before the ferry set off (on its world record speed walking pace) the loud speaker went off. Blurting out the Quran - the deck turns into a prayer room. The prayers finished but not the loudspeaker with the captain going way overboard.
Lunch was what has become a regular in the past few weeks. Corn kernels with tuna - this time in vegetable oil - much to the delight of Abby... When we arrived after 7 hours (covering a very small distance) it was sunset. Waiting to abort we were near a room full of conservatives. Abby forgot where she was after the relaxing scenes of Aqaba and was wearing a short
enough skirt for this area. She was getting stares from everywhere. Sensing the discomfort she got her sarong out and wrapped it around her legs. The smiles, the relief and appreciation that gesture received. Abby said with a hint of sarcasm, “I might do that more often. I get a better reaction than if I were conservative.” Or along those lines.
It was then an effort to get my passport, going from a yelling man at the exit of the ferry, to health check that was useless, to a bus with half the seats missing, to the post office to get a visa sticker. That was followed by the immigration office, which puts the sticker on your passport via a door that needed to be forcibly opened. But it’s not over yet its then a dogfight to get your bags through the x-ray machine ahead of cargo at customs… WELCOME TO EGYPT… WELCOME.
It was dark by now and Abby suggested this place 20km north of Neiweba (port of call in Egypt) called Rock Sea. At check in I thanked Abby for taking me here. Even in the dark the place looked perfect. Apart from the workers and
this Danish family. It would be us two with a beach in front of our bungalow and a reef all to ourselves. Although the bungalow almost didn’t last the first night - The candle set the wall ablaze leaving a small hole. If I noticed it 5 minutes later who knows what would have happened.
I have a pair of Speedo goggles that have substituted snorkelling gear since the Philippines and that was put into use here. But generally throughout the day Abby and I had to do some time with the Danish families eldest daughter around 5. She would be there at the balcony, in the shores of the water, during breakfast. Nice enough kid but proves how relaxing this place was if that’s all to complain about.
The window of the bungalow was positioned perfectly for sunrise and a great way to start the day even if sleep was taken up shortly after. An early morning haze of blue is substituted by the arrival of orange and yellow. The full circle of the sun presents itself from across the Aqaba straight over the Saudi Arabian Mountains. What a day this will be!
There really isn’t
too much to do here except swim and relax. Most places here have closed down so the few bungalows left along the whole coast are basically empty. This area was popular with Israeli tourists but with this area now classed as unsafe for them, most places that targeted exclusively to that market have closed. Not Rock Sea they target Europe so they are still around.
There is a point to swim to which created a problem once we got to the point. A hot coal walk back once we found a dead coral exit. There is also a raft made from empty 1.5L bottles of water with reeds as its floor. This was a perfect way to finish another day lying there until the sunset and the stars came out. With no artificial light the stars are so visible that the Milky Way is there. Every time I walked out of the bungalow at night. I’d raise my head like a UFO has just landed on top of us. Standing still, mouth gasping. This place was so good probably should have stayed longer but diving in Dahab was calling.
Around 90 minutes south via a conservative hitchhike (Me
in the front seat and Abby sitting basically in the trunk of an AWD. That’s the way it is here - Males in the front seat and women not allowed to sit next to males in the back. Felt terrible, but comfortable…) is Dahab, one of the dive centres of Egypt. On the east coast of Sinai it has arguably the most famous dive sight known. The Blue Hole…
It had been almost 6 months since my last dive with Thresher Sharks in Philippines so naturally I was excited and the first dive down was ‘The Canyon’. Dahab’s second most common spot. Descending down into a canyon 30m down with a small gap to ‘penetrate’ we reach the floor bed. Abby didn’t have an advanced divers certificate so she had to do an adventure deep dive before the blue hole. As she went through the puzzles I tried to catch fish with my hands. It’s never going to happen but always funny to see the fish freak out.
Attempting to catch fish is easy to do here, as the fish are not afraid - well until the hands come out. They seem quite comfortable with our presence. Fish are
basically about to kiss your mask they are that close. Coral is dying which is disappointing but my standouts were the Broomtail Wrasse whose tail is like blue crape paper not fading in the water. And spending a good two minutes staring at these steroid infested yellow angelfish. Oh and the lionfish freaking out the other fish is always good. Naturally I sucked my air like no tomorrow for the first dive.
I have been thinking about diving since Iran and the 2nd dive was the Blue hole. Expectations were high. To walk there you walk past some gravestones of divers dying from nitrogen narcosis (going down too far.) My dive master said, “They are all Russian and if they are not Russian then they are people trying to help Russians.”
It starts off descending at Bells I couldn’t make out the bells but apparently what I descended looked like bells? Shortly after that there is a shaft looking like a chimney Santa would go down. It originally looked like there was no exit point but my master (Nemo) indicated its okay so I go headfirst and summersault my way to 30m and exit. It is easy to
get carried away here and get stuck with the blue but I checked my gauge and went up to where Abby and Nemo were maybe 10m further up.
As we entered the blue hole a Devil Scorpion fish looking a slimy green and prehistoric allows us to enter. The hole is blue but with rubbish interrupting I was wondering what the fuss was all about? Okay if you look the other way from the reef there is no reference point but I wasn’t overly excited. What did excite me was the prospect of my birthday!
Looking at the book from the dive shop I noticed Eel Garden and the thought of swimming in a seabed of Eels on my birthday was too good to be true! For those who don’t know, I am a Parramatta Eels supporter in Rugby League and since I am missing this season of misery. I thought this is the best way to be there with the team.
On the day Nemo says “Oooh this is a rough day today.” I say, “It’s just like supporting the team… Never easy!” A rough strong tide as we walk out chest high water. Normally they
wouldn’t go out but I insisted and since it was my birthday and all we proceeded. Entry point is a small canyon and drift down going past Blue trigger fish, green unicorn fish, big eye trevally. This would be the best of 4 dives and it was my last. The third dive at the Lighthouse was okay - The last 2 minutes had schools of fish everywhere so close I could see there mouths open.
But this dive had the greatest animal to ever be put on a sporting teams jersey… The eel. And better still it was not a moray eel, which is more mucho, but it was a sand eel. That wormy looking eel that is depicted on that shithouse new logo for the past 4 seasons.
Kneeling on the sandbank, Eel Garden is just a sand slope that goes from around 10m to slope to near 30m. A forest full of eels are standing slithering its body like worms. I read it’s like they are mesmerised by a snake charmer and that is true until you get closer. When you get closer to the grand occasion of being face to face with them. They go
hiding in the sand like its another finals series.
The view from the top looking down is also a good vantage point, which is where the photo of me is. The other highlight was the Moses fish or flat fish that was so close to my mask I went cross-eyed. It stayed there waiting for me to move so I ascended slightly and let it swim past my chest - lucky I have my indent.
Prior to this day I went up Mt Sinai where most people who don’t follow the 10 commandments hike to pay tribute to what they don’t adhere to. Starting around 230am the dark rocky path up is anything but energetic. I cut my foot on the reef point swim so I slowed it up a bit and (booking from the hostel) you are only allowed to go up with a group that’s generally unfit.
The whole way up Bedouins say “Camel?” “Would you like to ride camel?” - As a dark outline of a camel passes you. The hike up was like fartlek training really -very stop starty. But what the camel provides is a gas release from the previous days lunch.
It’s a bit like when you drive past a village in SE Asia. You take the opportunity while you can!
Like at RockSea the stars are like a crystal ship but sometimes you just have to put a middle finger up at sunsets and sunrises. It should have been done here. It’s a nice sunrise but I can’t do sunrises and sunsets with a mass of people. Instead I’d prefer to take a raft out and plant it on the Red Sea.
Abby left me a few days before my birthday and walking the streets of Dahab with her was a different experience. Locals would yell out “Hey lucky man!” “Congratulations my friend”, instead of “Welcome, Welcome my friend. Where you from? Yes! Come to my shop.” That’s because she’s a good-looking gal. And when she did leave I still got a break from the sales pitch, with locals saying disappointingly “Hey my friend. Where’s your girl gone?”
Scuba diving in a seabed of eels on my birthday may not beat drinking a bottle of vodka and sweating it out in the (then) worlds biggest smoke sauna in Finland - my 23rd birthday - but it’s a
birthday all the same and a birthday I’ll have fond memories of.
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