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Published: August 15th 2006
Shark Bay
Taken from the headlandAt last, after 18 months we've returned to one of my favourite places, The Red Sea. Sharm el Sheik, to be exact. We were a bit apprehensive as sometimes a return visit doesn't live up to your memories of a place.
We needn't have worried, our hotel was even better than the last one we stayed in and more importantly the hotel's beach was fantastic. One of the problems of Sharm is that most beaches are private so you're stuck with the one your hotel has to offer.
Set in a part of Shark Bay our beach was uncrowded, sandy and the coral was absolutly amazing!! Just a short 'glide' through the shallow water over a layer of relativly dead coral and you came to the edge of a steep drop where the sea turned a deep blue colour. As I floated over the edge it, it was if I was flying gently over the edge of a cliff. Amazing! As we swam around we came to a maze of channels under the water, some leading to deep blue pools. All around us there were hundreds of fish as we remembered from before, all shapes , sizes and colours.
Shark Bay
Another view of Shark Bay Beautiful coloured coral was everywhere with brilliantly coloured tiny fish swimming in and out. The water was so warm it was easy to stay in it for 40 minutes or more and there was certainly enough there to keep us occupied for that long.
Needless to say the camera was out and clicking, it's actually quite difficult to focus on the shot you want to take, A, because you're bobbing obout on the water and, B, because the fish don't know they have to keep still and 'pose'!!
We had opted for half board in the hotel and evening meals were a very pleasant affair, the staff were so friendly and attentive I began to feel like a princess! , Yeah, I know this is starting to sound like an advert for the hotel, but to be honest this kind of treatment seems to be the norm around here, the Egyptians can't seem to do enough for you even though they have work extremly hard in very hot temperatures.
Meals were served under the stars in a very picturesque part of the hotel, little lights twinkled all around you mingling in with the stars and gentle music
Sinai Dessert Trip
On the road with our new found family played. On occasional nights the tables were set out around the pool and a belly dancer came to entertain you whilst you ate. The buzz of activity as the tables and buffet were being set up gave the whole thing a party atmosphere.
On our next to last day we thought it was time to drag ourselves away from the beach and see what else was on offer. The mountains of the Sinai Dessert seemed to be beckoning to me, they could be seem easily from our hotel roof and stretched into the distance as far as the eye could sea. Kemo, our friendly masseure on the beach had organised a friend of his, who ran a private taxi, to take us to Dahab. The journey would take us for about 40 miles thru' the dessert.
Kemo and his friend turned up nice and early, Kemo announced he had to work today so couldn't come with us. Hang on a minute, did we ask him along? He was duly dropped off at the beach to open up his massage tent and we set off. First of all we had to collect the driver's brother as it was the
law ' there had to be 2 drivers on a long bus journey' hmm! can a 40 mile drive be classed as a long journey?
The driver's brother emerged from a seedy looking block of concrete flats along with a small boy! It turned out he was the driver's son, we were asked if we minded if he came along too. Now this is beginning to sound like a family day out at our expense!
Being the nice kind people that we are we said 'no problem' and they all piled in. Fortunatly it was an air conditioned mini bus so there was no problem for space.
We drove through a police check point and travelled through the dessert. Despite being called a dessert it was actually more mountainous than sandy, but obviously not a blade of grass to be seen.Our crew of 3 were very friendly and stopped many times for photo shots, telling us the best places. At one point we came to a very steep sand dune along side the road. There was an obvious path up it, having had no exercise for the last week (apart from hours of swimming) we felt the
Another view
Nothing but rock and sand as far as the eye can see. need to climb it!
Osama, the driver's son asked if he could come with us and the driver came to, his brother opted to stay with the vehicle, probably thinking we were crazy Brits!
The soft hot sand and searing temperatures made the going tough and the driver soon stopped for a cigarette break. Due to the steepness we had gained height quickly and the views were good, Stan and Osama carried on for a while but soon returned having reached the summit and taken photos of the road from either side.
Back in the cool of our mini bus we carried on to Dahab. Rather than entering the town via the usual tourist way we drove through the area where the locals live. It really opened my eyes, most of the houses were box like concrete single storey buildings with tiny windows. (obviously an attempt to keep out the seering heat). Goats roamed around everywhere eating rubbish. The only shops resembled a derilict kind of garage with dusty fruit and vegetables displayed outside and other stuff on wooden boxes in the dark interior. People roaming around covered from head to toe in long robes. I feel as
though I've seen the real Egypt now.
Things were much different as we got to the beach front, souvineer shops, supermarkets and hundreds of bars all trying to tempt you in. There was no beach as such just bars with sunbeds crammed next to one another under huge umbrellas. This was the only access to the sea.
Our driver and family said they would wait for us in a bar that was owned by another family member. I knew this was a family outing!!
We chose a beach front bar, bought our lunch and had a snorkel in the sea. What a difference, there was nothing to see. No coral or fish!
I know that Dahab is supposed to be the backpacker place hereabouts but to be honest I prefered the 'plastic' of Sharm which is unusual for us. In these temperatures the luxury of an air conditioned hotel and transport to the beach laid on has a definate appeal. Plus the coral and marine life around Shark Bay is far superior to this place. Apologies to anyone who has stayed here and found a parts that are good that we didn't come accross.
We were
quickly itching to get back to 'our' beach so went in search of our driver. He was still in the middle of his lunch so asked if we minded waiting, we went for a short walk and very soon Osama came skipping up to find us, he grabbed hold of my hand as if I were his long lost aunt or something, Very sweet! It turns out he lives with his mother in Cairo and was on a visit to stay with his dad who had come to Sharm to find work. He seemed thrilled to have had a day out and I was glad to have contributed something back to the native people.
On the way back our '2nd driver' took the wheel for a while but after several stalled engines and appalling clutch control it was soon apparant that he wasn't a driver at all but just along for the ride as we'd suspected! To our relief he soon handed our fate back to the 'proper' driver.
We were soon back at Shark Bay,I would have loved to take Osama on the beach with us but sadly for them locals are not allowed on the beaches,
Dahab
Beach front bar only hotel residents. It's very sad as he's probably never experienced the underwater world.
That night we took our camera in to Naama Bay to get the underwater photos developed. Disaster! tha camera had let water in and we had nothing!
We bought another camera and proceeded to spend the whole of our last day happily snapping away at anything and everything under the sea.
All too quickly it was time to go home, we've definetly not exhausted this part of the world and who knows if we return we may drag ourselves away from the beach long enough to do some culture trips, the Pyramids maybe? It's always good to leave a reason to return.
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