Egypt:: Diving Dahab

I've had a cold and a cough for the last few weeks, even before leaving London. I didn't want to dive as having my ears explode when unable to equalise or having a coughing fit at 18m depth is not much fun. Today is the last day we spend at the coast in Dahab, so as I got through breakfast without coughing, I decided to risk it. I phoned up the dive company and they said I could fit in 2 dives if i was quick.

I sauntered along the road to downtown Dahab and flagged down a Jeep.
I arrived at the dive centre and prepared for a refresher dive as I hadn't dived since January 2007 at the Great Barrier Reef. We entered the Lighthouse and refreshed some skills. We swam further and saw some coral and fish but not as spectacular a display as the time I snorkelled at the Blue Hole.

For the second dive, we went to Banner Fish Bay and we saw a blue trigger fish, a giant puffer fish, a scorpian devil fish, and a cornet fish. They were interesting but the quantity of fish was far lower than the Blue Hole. Towards the end of the dive, my ears started popping and I couldn't equalise properly.

After getting out of the water, I felt weak and my ears were suffering. Now, I have to face an 8 hour overnight bus journey back to Cairo, followed my a full day of market, museum and mosque visits.

Egypt: Luxor to Dahab

The 13hr bus journey started at 10pm and we settled down to watch Tropic Thunder, not a funny film. I got about 4 hr sleep, until we stopped at a service station to get a drink and use the toilets.

We reached the Dahab Paradise hotel at 11am and it looked picturesque from the front. Each room had a balcony that overlooked a pool surrounded by palm trees, with the Red Sea in the background. However, on entering the rooms, the luxury ended, they didn't have a fridge or a TV. The hotel was one of many dropped in front of the cliff side.

I walked towards the centre of Dahab and encountered wandering camels and goats as well as a decaying cat. Unlike Hurghada, we were back to half-built and decaying buildings, amongst rubbish-strewn streets. Only the mosque looked well-built.

In the afternoon we met up with the ferry group and they looked green. Most of them were sick as their ferry was small as was flung from side to side and up and down on the choppy seas. The bus was a much more comfortable option in the end.

In the evening, we got minivans into the centre of Dahab and ate at the El Capone restaurant. I had my first Egyptian fish. It was like cod and baked in tin foil and vegetables. It was very tasty and I was glad to get some cooked vegetables as I had been avoiding unpeeled fruit and salad vegetables that might have been washed in tap water. Apparently, the water does not have bacteria that makes foreigners ill but lots of chlorine that they are not used to. So, they get sick when they drink the equivalent of swimming pool water. The food was good and we were giving a free starter of garlic bread and dips as well as a free desert of chocolate cake and tea. Some people tried the shisha but I did not.

We went back to the hotel by getting a taxi. As there were 5 of us, a pickup truck was found and 4 of us set in the sun deck.