Around the World

Hurghada is a tourist center located on the Red Sea coast. Ater about 5 hours of sleep at the CA hotel, we got up early for our trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

For breakfast I ate pita bread and jam. We took at taxi to the boat harbor. We waited next to nice yacht thinking it was the boat we were going to take. Then when we started to board we were walked to a smaller and older boat that smelled strong of gasoline. The trip across the Red Sea was rough and many people got sea sick. It was a long trip with nothing to do. It was a relief to see Sharm el Sheikh's shoreline. Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. Sharm el-Sheikh's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various water sports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkeling which some consider to be among the best in the world.

At the harbor we disembarked and went to the bus stop to get a bus to Dahab. It was a long hot trip for 50 miles of barren desert. We stopped once for refueling. But afterward I started to have the "urge" to go. The driver was reluctant to stop but eventually did in the middle of the desert. There wasn't a tree or bush anywhere to hide behind. It wasn't easy with the audience in the bus waiting for me. Our backpacks were strapped on the roof. A patch I got in luxor had blown out of a pocket during the trip.

We stayed in a small bungalow that felt like a brick oven. It didn't have any AC, just a small electric fan. Donna was able to cool down with a wet sarang. and II ended up sleeping on the beach because it was so hot. Even at night the sea breeze was like a hair dryer blowing your your face.

Dahab is a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village. Dahab is considered to be one of the Sinai's most treasured diving destinations. Historically, most visitors to Dahab have been backpackers traveling independently and staying in hostels in the Masbet area. In recent years, development of hotels in the Medina area has facilitated the arrival of a wider range of tourists, many of whom visit Dahab specifically to partake in the windsurfing, diving and other activities.

We moved to different lodgings so that we could get some sleep with air conditioning. We ran into someone from the boat ride named James. He had severe sun burns from falling asleep in the sun during the boat trip. He was a funny guy and was also on his way to Cairo like us. The restaurants were open air and situated along the beach. We ate pineapple pizza for lunch. There was a sent of strawberries in the air coming from the hookahs that people were smoking. Camels were a common sight everywhere in town.

The word Dahab is Arabic for gold and is possibly a reference to the geographic locality; gold washed down from the desert mountains may have accumulated on the alluvial flood plain where the town was built. The name may also be a reference to the color of the sands to the south of the town itself. Some locals attribute the name to the color of the sky, just after sunset.

That evening we saw the sun set, and the moon rise over Saudi Arabia. It was a beautiful eveinng. Donna and I played cards and backgammon in our airconditioned room. It was so nice to sleep well for a change.

We moved to a less expensive room because it cost 5 times more to have the AC room.

We at at Napoleons by the Sea. Then had planned to go to the Blue Hole diving spot in a taxi, but on the way out of town it appeared the driver wanted to charge us too much since he couldn't find others to take with us. We got out and walked to the Eel Garden to snorkel instead. We saw some colorful fish. On the shore we were approached by young girls selling baskets, but we had been warned that they often stole bags when tourists weren't looking.

Dahab is in some ways an unlikely resort: the beaches are not very good, the nearby coral reefs are since long gone. But there is a mood here which is very appealing, even if part of the easygoing attitude is thank to widespread use of cannabis. But if you don't want to use drugs, nobody will push you and nobody will mind.
The main attractions of Dahab are the unique on-the-ground restaurants, a mixture of Hippie and Bedouin styles and developed over a few decades. Large cushions and low tables are placed next to the sea, and decorated with colorful cloths. Most of these restaurants have fish stalls in front, where you pick the fish of your choice and get it prepared according to your wishes. Delicious, quite affordable, but a bit up from the price level of the average Egyptian restaurant. After finishing your food, you just lean back in the cushions and rest for as long as you wish.
While Dahab quickly runs out of daytime attractions, there are plenty of small companies offering a wide range of day trips.

We ate some excellent seafood, and enjoyed the relaxed ambience at the open air restaurants. With the sound of the waves crashing and the relaxed pace, it feels like an oasis from our hectic journey in Egypt thus far. That evening we enjoyued a beer with James at a beach front restaruant. He is from Ireland. It was a full moon that night. We had to sleep with the doors and windows of our room open because it was so hot.

We went to the Blue Hole with James today. The Jeep we took picked up a few other people on the way out of town. It was a bumpy ride along a cliff to get to the dive spot.

The Blue Hole is a diving location on north of Dahab on the coast of the Red Sea. It is a submarine pothole around 130m deep. There is a shallow opening around 6m deep, known as 'the saddle', opening out to the sea, and a 26m long tunnel, known as the arch, the top of which lies at a depth of 52m. The hole itself and the surrounding area has an abundance of coral and reef fish. The Blue Hole is notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred there earning it the title, "World's Most Dangerous Dive Site" and the nickname "Diver's Cemetery". The Blue Hole is not only for divers, it is excellent for snorkelers too. The corals are colorful, fish abundant, and you can test your nerves by swimming along the edge of this hole which has no visible bottom. This is a good spot to find Yellowfin Tunas, Orangespotted Trevallies, Scorpionfishes, schools of Red Sea Fusiliers, Napoleon Wrasses, Octopus, and Starfish. That evening we kicked back at the Green Valley Restaurant.

We left Dahab at 11pm in a van and drove across the desert for a couple hours. We were inspected at a security checkpoint with soldiers carrying automatic rifles.

We were dropped off at the base of Mount Sinai at 2am. Then we rode camels on the longer and shallower route called Siket El Bashait for about an hour, then we had to hike the rest of the distance to the summit. There were about 20 other people at the top and we waited in the cold early morning for the sunrise.

Mount Sinai is the name of a mountain in Saint Katherine city, in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. This is the place that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God. Also, for Muslims, there is a chapter named after this mountain in the Qur’an, in which God swears by the fig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by the city of Mecca.

The summit of the mountain has a mosque and a Greek Orthodox chapel (which was constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th century church) neither of which are open to the public. The chapel supposedly encloses the rock from which God made the Tablets of the Law. At the summit also is "Moses' cave" where Moses waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

We hiked down on the steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery. We were told this was the path that Moses had walked. It ended at monestary that looked like a fort.

St. Catherine's Monastery was built at the site where Moses is believed to have seen the Burning Bush, which is alive and on the grounds. Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the actual name of the monastery is the Monastery of the Transfiguration. It is sometimes also known as the Monastery of the Burning Bush. It is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.

The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I between 527 and 565, enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery is still surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. From the time of the First Crusade, the presence of Crusaders in the Sinai until 1270 spurred the interest of European Christians and increased the number of intrepid pilgrims who visited the monastery. The monastery was supported by its dependencies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Crete, Cyprus and Constantinople.

We went to the city of Saint Katherine to take a local bus to Cairo. It was a long 10 hour trip. I ended up sleeping through the crossing of the Suez Canal.