Hurghada, Egypt
Well today was a very nice day spent out on the water….of the Red Sea. Our wake up call was actually pretty late as we did not need to be out of the hotel until after 0800 so no complaints there. The group of us then loaded up into a little van that took us on a drive for about 10 minutes and then we got out and walked about 15 minutes. Nobody seemed quite sure where we were heading and a security guard apparently wanted some money for us to walk down an alley (we think anyways….none of us speak Arabic) but we eventually made our way out to the boat.
The group of 11 of us was joined by a group of 4 kids and their mother from Switzerland and two other people (who never once made an appearance on the upper level of the boat with the rest of us). Some people would be diving and some of us were doing some snorkelling but the two locations we were headed to were ideally suited for both so we did not have to separate.
I look like I could drive it right?
A few of the other boats headed out to the swimming locations. I think this is rush hour traffic on the Red Sea.
The ride out to our first spot took about 45 minutes. Pretty unexciting except for the great sun, a dolphin sighting (just one little loan dolphin) and some great sun (I know I said that twice but it was great).
The dolphin
The water was nice and warm and there were lots of colourful fish for me to follow and take pictures of (my underwater camera will not be developed until I get home so you will have to wait a bit for that.) The water over the coral was really shallow so I really had to be careful and of course they don’t want you to touch the coral but I still insist that the coral was touching me. The water was a lot saltier than I expected but very nice and warm so it was an even trade off. Did happen to notice some sergeant majors (little bastards). Very recognizable by the way they bite people….not me this time but another member of our group.
The first stop of our day at sea
After about an hour or so we hopped back on the boat and headed to our next swimming location. They fed us lunch along the way, which was actually pretty good…simple but good. Probably a good thing I am not that picky.
The entire group out on the boat
The second spot we stopped at was very different from the first. The first spot I literally fell on the coral when I got off the boat. This spot there was nothing below me on exit from the boat (except a fake shark tied to the bottom of the sea). As I started swimming though it was like I was swimming towards a giant wall and it turns out that was the coral. Very neat. Lots of little caverns with fish and eel in them. The fish here are not nearly was camera friendly as those in the Caymans so I had to work a little bit harder to get some shots. Once again we took about an hour there and then headed back to shore.
Well he had no hot water but they still turned out towels into animals
The group of us got together for dinner with our 2 tour leaders, Rafik and Nardeen and then we had a few drinks too. Our convoy back to Cairo is set to leave at 0200 so we will be leaving the hotel at 0130. I have decided not to sleep until I hit the bus. We shall see later if that will be a good choice or not.
Nardeen, tour guide in training
Rafik, expert tour guide
Julie
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