Egypt - Dahab.

After a few days in Wadi Musa its off to the ferry-border crossing from Aqaba in Jordan, to Nuweiba in Egypt. It was a fairly easy border crossing and nice to do it by water, with a 'natural' border. Met some fantasic Australians on the boat over, Kara, Jade and Ryan, and one American guy David, all with a very similar sense of humour and nice to exchange stories of the middle east, had some raucous laughs. We all were headed to the same place, Penguin Hotel in Dahab, right on the beach. We shared a 3 hour mini-bus to Dahab, where I fully intended on staying put for a week or so to chill out by the beach and relax before Cairo then home... shit, home! Its come so quickly, but also feels like a life time ago that I had a panic attack in Adelaide before flying out !!! Dahab is a really nice spot, very Thailand-esque. Did an amazing day trip snorkelling to a place called the Blue Hole, which is called amongst the huge diving fraternity as 'divers graveyard'. The Blue Hole is a sinkhole (a kind of cave), around 130 m deep. There is a shallow opening around 6 m deep, known as 'the saddle', opening out to the sea. But the reason it is called Divers Graveyard is because there is a 26 m long tunnel, known as the arch, which lies at a depth of 52 m down, it starts inside the blue hole and ends in the open ocean. Its notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred there and is referred to on Padi's website as the "World's Most Dangerous Dive Site". Accidents are frequently caused when divers attempt to find the tunnel through the reef (known as "The Arch") connecting the Blue Hole and open water at about 52 m depth. This is beyond the PADI recreational diving limit (which is 40 m), and the effect of nitrogen narcosis is apparantly significant at this depth. Divers who miss the tunnel sometimes continue descending hoping to find the tunnel farther down and become increasingly narced. The "Arch" is reportedly extremely deceptive because it's difficult to detect because of the odd angle between the arch, open water, and the hole itself, its really dimly lit most light enters from outside so it also appears shorter than it really is. Divers report that the Arch appears less than 10 m long but measurements have shown it is 26 m from one end to the other. Also there's frequently a current flowing inward through the arch towards the Blue Hole, increasing the time it takes to swim through. The arch continues downward to the seabed which is beyond view and there is therefore no "reference" from below. The Blue Hole itself is no more dangerous than anywhere else to dive, but the Arch tunnel has proved irresistible for many and thus the dive site is considered unsuitable for beginners and a potential trap for even experienced divers. The Egyptian authorities claim that 40 divers have died at this site since records began; however, many local dive guides believe that the authorities are deliberately underestimating the numbers so as not to detract people from coming, and that there have actually been at least twice that many fatalities, nearer to 100. There's a graveyard on the cliff face overlooking the blue hole, which is VERY off putting! But I spent all day there snorkelling, there were sooo many fish and it was just absolutely beautiful, and I hadnt realised the significance of the graveyard and I didnt know about this tunnel either until after. Was kinda spooky. I had such a beautiful time here, snorkelling over the diamond looking bubbles that bubbled up from the divers ... it was magical actually.

Oh and they hold free-diving championships here, the world champ lives in Dahab and practices here all the time, diving down without any breathing apparatice to as far as possible .. pretty cool!

Id planned on doing a dive here, my first ever, but of course being at a beach which is also in the hard core Egyptian desert meant hayfever for me, so Ive been too conjested and the Instructor said Id have to go to the doctors before I went in .. and the fact I couldnt clear my fucking ears meant I couldnt dive. Disappointing .. but Im just looking at it that now my baby sister can be the first to take me out diving! Also, it sounds weird, but the amount of snorkelling Ive done here in really really deep water and the amount of diving Ive watched (Ive sat watching first time divers of the past week learn their skills and stuff and have it pretty much memorised!) has taken me from petrified of diving to just mildly nervous... and actually excited.

Anyway, it has been a beautiful stop here on the Red Sea coast. The men were annoying, but the water was beautiful. I met some great people, and a gorgeous 3 month tortoise called Yusef who belonged to one of the staff at Jasmine hotel really made the trip here something to remember. Yusef was the apple of Shariff's eye, this 40 odd year old man who would dote over this tortoise like it was his first born child! He would bring it in to work in a little lunch box and put him on the sand to walk around on all day, then take him home at the end of the day. Absolutely adorable. The plague proportion of cats and kittens (literally plague numbers) was not something to remember and I have a new found hatred for animals near food (not helpful to my already OCD ways!). From here its off to Cairo, and I'm so eager to get home its not funny. I am looking forward to getting a bit of a shop on and of course seeing the Pyramids, but I am sooo oover the constant sexual harrassment and learing, I just cant wait for some quiet ... and some time to sit on my own and reflect on my trip, which is all becomming a bit of a blur at the moment. I am just .. well I'm tired actually. Of the heat, of the constant harrassment, constant questions about my tattoos, my hair, if Im married, if Im looking for an Egyption husband etc etc, its all fun until its been 6 months of it !!! Anyway, onward to Cairo .....

Pics - Top shot is of cars getting on the ferry across to Egypt from Jordan - classic. Me at a pool I fequented in Dahab, Next 12 shots are of the Red Sea, just from outside my hotel ... got some classic shots of the local kids jumping into the water - after I showed them the first couple, every kid in sight wanted a shot of them quote "flying like superman" .. was very cute how excited they got seeing themselves 'flying' ! Next shot is at sunset, taken from my balcony and looking out over the sea to Saudi Arabia... cool huh. Next 3 shots are of my hotel, and one including a little horse which galloped by with its mum most days .. last few are of Yusef the tortoise and the last one is of the Blue Hole, a shot that I stole from the internet just to show what it looks like.