I have to say, Egypt was much better than I expected, but I didn`t have much as far as expectations if that makes any sense. I knew I wanted to see the Pyramids, but didn`t know what else. I was worried about harassing comments, but really didn`t have too many (until I got to Cairo and was out walking on my own) as I spent a week at the Red Sea. Maybe that helped…
So I arrived in Dahab, Egypt for Tara`s birthday on August 19th. I was so exhausted from the ferry ride from hell, but happy to reunite with friends I met in Jerusalem. I quickly showered (in salt water in the shower?) and had a fun time celebrating her day, up until I felt like I was going to crash as I was so exhausted at midnight!
The next day, I moved hotels so I would be at the same place as my friends and it was another place right on the beach. This time, my room was only 20 Egyptian pounds a night ($4 a night). I am so excited as Egypt is way cheaper than any other place and it`s about time I will be able to catch up with my budget as I spent so much in western Europe and Scandinavia. So this is a good thing. Funny part, is my room has A/C, so it`s twice the price as the non A/C. Seriously – where could you stay on the beach for $2-4 a night?
I decided to take the 20th as a day off (can I take a day off from my year long trip?). A day off from trying to do stuff and run around a town. Tara and I just went to the sea, got a sun bed, chocolate shakes, snorkeled and had quite the nice day. The Red Sea is so amazing with bright colorful fish and many colors of coral (blue, purple and many reds) that I have never seen before. It was a rough day, but someone had to use those sun beds and keep the locals employed bringing us more drinks!
The following morning, I was starting my open water scuba course and was super excited. I have wanted to get certified for a long time and never had the time to do it. This was the perfect time, and I had 4 days to learn. I was lucky as I got a private course with a dive instructor, Avi, that has been teaching for a long time and was very good. So I was able to do my reading (all 250 pages of the PADI dive manual), take knowledge quizzes, watch 5 cheesy videos and then practice my skills in the water. The best part was I got to dive a lot. Since it was just me, I was able to demonstrate my new skills fairly easily and then Avi and I would continue to dive in the sea. Normally you don`t get this as it takes all the air in the tank for a group to practice all the skills. So big bonus for me as I got to go diving 8 times instead of 4!
After my third day, and 3rd open water dive, Avi gave me a huge complement and said I was one of the best students he has ever had. I told him he must say that to all the students, and he assured me he doesn`t and explained what I do well, which was nice. That was up until the last dive when I lost my concentration doing some skills underwater and lost my underwater buoyancy. Whoops. I floated to the top and felt like a failure, but we went down again, and I proved my worth and passed all my tests. So it was all good. I came back and took my final written exam and passed with a 98%. I only missed one question, which was going back and forth between two answers and choose wrong (just like all the SAT questions). I even was able to prove one of the questions was wrong and not mathematically possible (so still using my math skills while traveling)
So I love the scuba diving as it`s a whole new world underwater. I`m allowed to go to 18 meters (60 feet), so you can really see a lot. I may get my advanced diving when I get to Zanzibar next month. I`ll see. It also was fun as I feel like I won the money to pay for my scuba class. As I won the March Madness pool at work, I knew I wanted to do something fun with the money and decided to use it for my scuba somewhere. So for all the Bernstein Bees that played in the pool – thanks for playing as this paid for my scuba.
I was even able to negotiated a discount on my course and a free dive when I was done. Everything in Egypt is negotiable, and I tried and won. So I went out with a divemaster to a place called the Islands. It was very cool as we walked far into the sea, then started to go under the water and entered the dive site through a cave. That was new and tested my skills just to enter to area and maintain my buoyancy which is hard for beginners like me.
The rest of my time in Dahab was filled with:
-many milkshakes (as this is one of the habits all visitors get here). I love the mango and chocolate
-of the 8 dinners I had, 4 were amazing spicy Thai and 2 were great spicy Chinese. Can you tell what food I was missing? Plus the Egyptian food wasn`t too good or anything special. So I took advantage of the Asian foods I love and have missed.
-Becoming a regular at a few bars/restaurants. I guess when I found places I liked, I just kept going back. They soon knew what I was going to order before I told them.
-Finally was able to order a latte. There was one real espresso place in town, but they didn`t open, get the machine warm or functional until after 10am (and I was always in scuba class then.). So Val and I had a couple 3 hour breakfasts and a couple latte and coffee shakes. So good!
So it was finally time to say goodbye to Dahab.
Logistics:
My diving instructor, Avi, is starting a great business for divers and families in the Red Sea. If you are considering coming to this area, check out his website for a holiday destination as it will be a way for people to get the most out of areas with activities for divers and non divers. The website is: www.redseasafaris.com