Friday, September 23, 2011

Dahab, Friday 22nd September 2011

After arriving last night I called it an early night in order to get some sleep. I didn't set my alarm so work up 45 minutes later than I wanted. No problem really.

The breakfast was your typical help-your-self affair, but the fruit and salad were great. So after that I got my rucksack ready and headed to the Harry Nass centre 4 to see about my kite surfing rental. I already knew that there was no wind so I wasn't going to get riding in, but wanted to get my name/face recognised and to know the layout of the land. I was shown the ropes by one of the main guys there. I did find out that kite insurance is extra, and also harness hire is extra. They don't tell you that when you book! Not much money but still a pain (30eur for insurance and 15eur per day for harness hire).

There was no point in hanging about the centre if there wasn't going to be any kite surfing so I headed back up to my room and got together my beach and snorkelling gear. I am just SO glad I bought some snorkelling gear before coming here, because as it turned out the coral is bloody brilliant here. It's literally just off the beach and is a shelf that just drops off and goes along the coast, and on, and on...

The coral is a bit on the dark side (not great colour) and I have seen more tropical fish, but they are in abundance and within such easy reach. Well worth it.

After my second snorkel, I met up with Dave and Cat who were on the flight and transfer, and are my neighbours here at the Mercure Bay View. So we got chatting and drinking the G&T. Needless to say I needed no encouragement. A few G&T later we headed up for lunch.

The lunch again is the buffet style and was actually really good. I had the liver, rice, vegetables, and other stuff. I did enjoy it.

So after lunch, we all headed down to the ocean front and started the G&T again. Myself and Dave did then go and do some snorkelling. This time I ventured much farther and did deeper dives.

After a short rest (=G&T stop), we returned to the water. I promptly lost Dave and headed up the reef towards Dahab. It was a much better coral and had better sea life. Including quite a number of Lion Fish (spines=v poisonous). I followed out an outcrop of reef quite far and dove down about 5m and sat on the ocean floor and had a little look round and up. The water is just so clear. I also touched and very quickly held a sea cucumber ( no idea what it's real name is). Very soft and spongey.

I returned to the beach after a thoroughly good day (without wind). Back to the room, shower, and ready to hit the bar :-)

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