Over the first two days, and thanks once again to Waleed (and Zoe's patience), I completed my PADI Advanced Open Water certificate - a deep water dive to 30 metres at the Blue Hole, followed by a navigation dive at Eel Gardens and a night dive off the Lighthouse. Two weeks earlier I could not have thought of anything worse than doing a night dive. It was a breeze. It's as if the nitrogen bubbles create a euphoric feeling of invincibility.
Once I was done with the diving course, we spent our days on the sun lounges at the front of The Bedouin's Son; reading, drinking fresh juice and beers, eating pizza and going snorkelling on a reef just metres away. The snorkelling was as good as The Blue Hole. Drifting along the edge of the magnificent coral reef we saw Lion Fish, Stingrays, Clown Fish, Puffers, Trigger Fish, Morays, Groupers and hundreds of other species. It's a shame that the tourists and locals treat the reef with such disdain - breaking off coral, walking on the reef, littering and even poaching (from a national park) would occur in full view.
As far as activities went, there were a few highlights and one lowlight: We went on the world's worst sunset camel safari - crossing rubbish dumps, passing a dilapidated prison and conveniently missing the sunset. It was so bad it was hilarious. Although, at the time I had to contain myself because I thought Zoe might have exploded. Despite his bumbling, we liked our fourteen year old guide. He proudly announced that I was riding the oldest camel in Dahab. And didn't I know it.
The horse-riding was much, much better and awesome fun (and less impactful on the nether regions). I'd never ridden a horse at full speed before. Zoe came close to disaster on one gallop as she slipped from her saddle and only saved from a fall by her foot being caught in the stirrup.
At night we ate out at a lamb barbecue place on the main street. It served the best lamb sharma, kofte and shish I've ever tasted. The chicken was top notch too. Dinner, with a few beers, would come to USD12.
Slowly but surely the days, then the hours, slipped by. I can't speak for Zoe don't think I've ever loathed the idea of returning to London so much.
More ugly, arrogant Russians at Sharm El Sheik airport confirmed to us that we'd made the correct decision in staying in Dahab. The pushing and shoving in at security and checkin was so ridiculous it was laughable. And it was a consolation that they were returning to shitholes like Kharkov and Smolensk. My revenge was their very existence.
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| Romantic Sunset Camel Ride in Dahab. Without the Romance or Sunset. |
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| Lubbly jubbly. Feasting in Dahab. |
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| Completing the Advanced Open Water with Waleed at Dahab. |
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| Horse riding on the beach, Dahab |
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| Last day |
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| Last photo...booo... |
We'd boarded our EzyJet flight to London when I discovered that I'd forgotten to get a book for the journey. So for the next five hours, forty-five minutes and six seconds I stared at the seat in front of me.
One last thing: We enjoyed the Sinai hugely. It was a nice, relaxing end to our adventures. The drawcard is the beauty and accessibility of the reef, and the inexpensive food and accommodation. Biggest drawback was the ludicrous chauvinism on the part of the a large portion of the locals. Our mates at The Bedouin's Son and The Sphinx tour company, our horse and camel guides and the taxi drivers from Mt Sinai and to Sharm airport were all nice and respectful guys. Many of the rest were disrespectful to Zoe. Their behaviour ranging from simple rudeness to criminal. Mostly it was just pathetic. It's of no surprise that 98% of female foreign tourists in Egypt suffer some sort of sexual harassment.
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