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The ferry, I mean the slow ferry, the only one that runs on Sunday leaves sometime around 9 AM. In reality it goes when it is ready. This day it was ready at 10 and we boarded along with 20 other backpackers. The boat was old, dirty, uncomfortable and the day was far from ideal for a crossing from the mainland to the Sinai peninsula. Within 15 minutes there were several seasick casualties. The old, uncomfortable, dirty boat is not cheap at 100 EP each. I wholeheartedly recommend waiting to cross on a day when the new modern high speed ferry is making the trip. But when Scooter and I are ready to go we tend to take whatever means possible. The slow boat took about 3.5 hours arriving to a port 2 km from the town of Sharm El Sheik, the tip of the Sinai and home to some of the world's best scuba diving. About 6 of us were staying in Sharm or Na'ama Bay and tried to negotiate with the taxi driver who came to meet the ferry at the otherwise deserted port but he wanted a ridiculous amount of money so we walked and he drove away with an empty van. The 6 of us walked about 1 km until a man drove by who would take us all to the main bus station for a few EP, he took Scooter and I 5 more kilometers to Na'ama Bay, an upscale resort town on the Red Sea. No backpackers here, mostly package trips from all over Europe for scuba diving. After checking a few hotels, the best we could do was 54 US$ for a nice resort hotel. To Scooter's excitement, in this very small town, was a brand new authentic Hard Rock Cafe.

After dinner (guess where we ate) we checked around at the dive shops for dive locations and prices. Diving seems to cost the same everywhere in the world, approximately 50 US$ for 2 dives plus equipment rental. There is also another catch here, the premier dive spot is Ras Mohammad National Park but to go there you must first go on a check out local dive. So you have to pay for 2 days of diving no matter what. But I suppose not many people are just passing through this remote location. Eventually we came across the Red Sea Diving College and saw that they were offering a 2-day advanced PADI certification that included 5 dives and equipment. This morning we arrived at 8 AM to sign on for the 8:30 class. Our instructor Alex got all of our paperwork and equipment organized in record time and led Scooter, Sven and I to our boat. There are loads of dive boats lined up and ready to go every morning. We were fortunate to arrive on a slow week. Two weeks before Christmas is an ideal time to travel because no one else is.

The PADI advanced diver course includes 3 core dives and 2 elective classes: deep dive, night dive, navigation, and our electives underwater photography and bouancy. The Red Sea is really as beautiful as everyone says. The reefs we dove were 10-30 meters deep with cliffs rising to the surface, tunnels, multicolored coral, clams, sea fans, exotic fish (scorpion, lion, butterfly, surgeon, wrasse, parrot) clear blue warm water. The first day we did 3 dives, bouancy as a check out dive, then the navigation dive using a compass and swimming out a square, then when it was dark and cold we donned our wet wetsuits and walked into the sea for a night dive....not my favorite. By 8 PM, I had certainly had my share of diving, even if it was Red Sea. We had dinner at the Hilton's Pirate Bar and completed our diving homework. Also, we found cheaper accommodation in the Red Sea Dive College dorm, still expensive at 10 US$ for a bunk bed.

Our first dive today was the deep dive at 100 feet -no problem and a gorgeous reef. Then we had a couple of hours to snorkel, relax and lunch. The Bedouin crew makes lunch and charges the divers as a way to earn money. Both day's lunches were delicious, fresh tuna, garlic potatoes, rice and veggies. Then at 2 PM it was back in the water for photography class. Our dive was over an hour since we were only in 10 meters of water to get the best light, had fun playing at being professional photographers. It is definitely harder than it looks based on our results. Not a perfect shot in the bunch.

Back at the dive college we filled out our final paperwork, made payments, and received our official ‘advanced dive' status. Celebrated with yucky Egyptian beer and learned a new trick--just add 7up to gross beer and it is less gross. Enjoyed dinner at an open air Bedouin style restaurant, sampled local specialties while looking over palm trees into the Red Sea lit up in the moonshine.

Decided that sleeping in a dorm is not really for me, but it seemed a fair tradeoff to get to experience the beauty of the Red Sea.

We were moving on today to Dahab, a city that we heard about while in Greece. As usual we did not know how we were going to get there. We missed the morning bus and so we just started walking out of town towards the desert. The new construction is incredible, we hiked through the rubble sort of looking for a ride...cars stopped, trucks stopped, and taxis stopped but they were either not going our way or they wanted too much money. We ended up paying 70EP to get a ride from Sharm to Dahab. I am sure it was too much but it was better than walking or waiting for the evening bus.

In Dahab we got out of the car in the middle of town which is a dirt road sided by small stores, restaurants, and camps. There are over 50 camps in this Bedouin village, camps being concrete or tiki style huts along the shore--really really laid back atmosphere. As we walked up the street we ran into two girls that we met on the ferry from Hurgada a few days earlier. They were staying at the Aslen Camp and liked it so we headed that way. Checked into a totally cute room on the beach. The beach here is unique, it is covered in carpets and pillows. The main activity in Dahab seems to be laying around on carpets, eating, napping with an occasional dip in the ocean. We wished we could have stayed longer.

The last 24 hours has been really a series of just strange scenes passing by: sitting on the carpeted beach writing Christmas cards watching camels and horses trot by. Within a few hours we are attending a Bedouin wedding in the Sinai mountains, drinking sweet tea made on an open fire and wondering what they use to build a fire in the desert. Three hours later we have climbed up Mount Sinai in the dark and are setting up our sleeping bags in a small 3-sided hut covered with decades-old blankets in well-below freezing weather. On top of the mountain we are watching what we think are bombers flying to the Middle East. A Bedouin named Achmed says "I feel your cold" and makes us move to a warmer hut. The US bombed Iraq today. Shivering we watched the beautiful sunrise with about 50 others who had hiked up early in the morning. After watching the sun come up we walked down the 3,000 steps carved into the mount by a repentant monk.

Our taxi driver, Alecatrina was waiting for us at the St. Catherine's Monastery. Two hours later we are whisked away and in Nuweiba to catch the ferry to Aqaba, Jordan. We are wondering how safe travel will be in Jordan and Israel since the Iraq bombing. We hear they are passing out gas masks in Israel.

The ferry port is packed with buses going to Mecca and semis going overland through Jordan. The ferry ticket office is in an apartment building had our taxi driver not known to drive over sidewalks and through the goat herds we would still be looking for it. Now we are sitting in the ferry terminal batting flies away. We arrived in plenty of time to catch the 12:00 ferry fast boat, purchased our tickets for 42$ each payable only in US cash! Walked into the port looking lost and were directed to the customs building full of long lines of Muslim Mecca goers with all signs in Arabic. About 1 in 1,000 were tourists. We pushed our bags through a non-working x-ray machine then a man approached us and motioned us to follow him to the front of the customs-stamping line, he picked up two other foreigners on the way. In minutes we were through the line and waiting for the noon ferry when we found out that the 12 ferry does not leave until 3:30. The massive waiting room was doubling as a prayer room for the religious pilgrims was not the best place to spend 4 hours, so when everyone got up and motioned for us to get up too we shoved our way onto a bus and arrived mistakenly at the slow ferry. Hundreds of Arabs on the boat were on their way to Saudi Arabia for the start of Ramadan.

Saturday, December 19th/ full moon signifies the start of Ramadan. It is believed that Mohammed received the Quran during the month of Ramadan. Fasting (abstaining from food, drink, women, and smoking) from dawn to dusk every day for one month. This is meant to teach Muslims to resist temptation and control their unchaste urges. In addition by experiencing hunger they are meant to better understand the plight of the poor and be thankful for the food provided by Allah. Finally, Ramadan creates a sense of community. They do eat, drink, smoke, etc.. from sunset until sunrise. Typically, they wake up at 4 AM for a morning meal then back to sleep.

Sweets also play a large part in their celebrations. They are everywhere and we don't resist.

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This page last changed on 27-Apr-2006 23:39:48 EDT by 70.171.24.221.