Eid in Sinai

We took our first major trip out from the hustle and bustle of Cairo for the Eid holidays. As we did not have the car when we booked we decided to fly, rather than drive, down to the southern tip of Sinai to just chill out of the beach in Sharm El Shiekh. We took Egyptair (or Egyptscare as they are locally known) which was actually on time, very efficient and good value! We flew over Safwa (its the patch of green left of centre on the photo left) Kattameya, the northern Red Sea and the beautiful Sinai Peninsula.

Kattameya is the large green patch below with the ring road bending round.


The northern Red Sea, you could just make out the Suez canal in the North. And the Sinai uplifting Nubian Shield, beautiful geology!



Getting a taxi in Sharm was a typically Egyptian affair:

"Taxi?"
"Yes, how much to Naama Bay?"
"120 pounds"
"No way 30 pounds"
"OK, lets say 100"
"Lets say 35"

..............cue 5 mins of going back and forth, numerous bit part actors coming in and giving their two peneth, much wailing and waving of arm, taxi rank supervisor coming saying pay no more than 40, etc etc. Its entertaining in its own way, though a little wearing! After a 15min white knuckle Hyundai-induced blur we arrived at the hotel, check in and then hit the beach.

P used his skills honed in the souks of the Middle East to kit everyone out with snorkels and fins. The boys were very impressed with his tough bargening stance, and the shop keeper, who had more than a passing resemblance to Frank Lampard and who we visited several times, called him the Mafia-man as he drove such a hard bargin (Yeah right, shopkeeper was pretty happy too - so do not know who was the winner). It was fun seeing them arguing over the last few pounds - then you realise they just spent 20mins fighting over less than a Euro!! Still P says its all about respect. Respect the Mafia-Man and his extra Euro!

In Naama Bay we had a blast, you can snorkel from the beach onto some nice reef packed full of fish. Within a day, with the addition of the spotters guide of Red Sea Fish, we were having indepth dinner discussions of how many species of butterflyfish we has seen and whether we had seen only Rusty Parrotfish or Bullhead Parrotfish also. The snorkelling was fantastic, particularly out and under the pier on the end of the bay, many of the species we knew from Oman, but some new and fish also, including some potential dangerous ones. The lionfish were spectacular and can be dangerous if cornered, but are otherwise docile, the boys found 5 under the pier. We also had a nice encounter with a large Common Porcupinefish who seemed to be enamoured with the boys who would shoot off like torpedos everytime the fish would come towards them. We also saw a large Yellow Trigger fish about 1m long and later found out it can be the most aggressive of reef fish! Luckily he was deep. J spotted a large moray eel. T found a stonefish in the shallows, I knew of these from Oman, they are venemous if stood on! It was pretty well camoflaged.





When J and P were out on the reef by themselves that came across a very large Napoleonfish of avout 1m+ length. Apparently in came to look at Joe who took off like a jet towards shore! P then said it was just him and the fish and although he knew it was not dangerous it was a little disconcerting to be near such a large animal. We hired a pedalo with a slide on it for a few hours and pedaloed out to some other reefs.

We became beach-bums for a few days, our lives rotating from sun lounger to snorkel to lunch to boat to snorkel to beach. T was told several times she had "beautiful eyes" by egyptian men and had a massage from one of them!



One morning the boys did the "Bubblemaker" PADI diving course, the intro to diving for small children. Normally this is done in a pool but here in Naama at the Red Sea diving college they take them out to the shallow reef. They had a personal instructor Steve, who got them kitted out (gear-freak Tom loved all the gadgets) and explained all the hand signals and then they were off down the beach. Joe was hilarous as the equipment was very heavy and he had to be helped in. Then they were off underwater to the reef and as they done really well and were comfortable they went out to deeper reefs and were gone for 30mins. They came back full of stories of what they had seen, lionfish, pipefish etc. they both said it was seriously cool.

The boys getting equipment and a briefing.

Learning the signals and equipment.


Ready to go....

And finally onto the reef.........................

Tom before and after.........


Going down.... and being helped out....

Whilst T made friends with the Dive School cat!

Last day we went down to the tip of the Sinai to Ras Mohummed National Park for more snorkelling. It was really worth it, we have snorkelled and T dived in Oman, Malaysia, Caymans, but we think the snorkelling here is the finest, some say the best in the world. The coral gardens were truely breath-taking, thousands of fish, many many different species, it was beyond words really. Luckily we had another encounter with a Napoleonfish of around 1m, so both T and Tom got to see this huge fish, proving it was not just a story that J and P made up! Pity we did not have a underwater camera, here is a link to a you tube clip, maybe its the same fish we saw!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqnLM8DUUTk

We also saw Panther Torpedo Rays, huge triggerfish, Bigeye jacks and numerous other ones we had not seen. It was such a riot of colour its hard to describe. Apparently this was the "best thing of the holiday" jointly with diving.

Naama Bay was a great place to stay, we were just out of the centre and so could walk to the resturants at night and wander round the souks and shops, hasstling was not bad, just a Laa'a shukhran and people would leave you alone. Best meal of the holiday was voted the Lebanese and everynight would be finished off with a stop at a great icecream shop called Vanilla an then a drink at a very friendly cafe which we called the sofa brothers where we watched the world walk up and down.

Then soon it was....

"Taxi to airport, how much?"

"120 pounds"

"no 30...."