Hurghada (April 27-30)

We arrived in Hurghada after a 6 hour bus ride from Luxor.....with a few interesting events along the way - once to boost another bus and another to check on the driver of a truck overturned on the side of the road. We were the only foreigners on the bus so we were promptly offered drives to hotels upon arrival - we took one guy up on his offer and landed a clean, bright room with a balcony facing the ocean for a good price, so we figured it was a no-brainer .... oh yeah, John thinks the bed is very comfie too! :)

Hurghada seems to be in a state of flux. There are older hotels needing TLC, and many new resorts with numerous brick shells waiting to be finished. While there are tourists here, it does not seem to warrnant the number of hotels and restaurants that exist and are in process. Maybe its the global economy bringing some things to a halt and others to a slower pace? It is hard to get a feel for this town because it seems to have grown so quickly due to tourism and with not much organization - we kinda feel in a state of limbo of sorts. That's not to diss the beautiful ocean views.

The orginal plan (as there almost always is a modification eventually) was to stay two nights and catch the fast catamaran ferry to Sinai. Well, the wind doth bloweth here just about all the time (kinda like Newfoundland). The Newfie readers will remember how we experimented with the fast cat for the Port aux Basques to North Sydney crossing and it didn't work because of the wind and waves...it seems they haven't figured that out here yet ;) So, after the ferry cancellation, we decided we would extend our visas to allow us a little breathing room before leaving Egypt.

Okay, for proof that it was indeed windy - Lori is wearing a fleece and John a windbreaker! But isn't that water gorgeous!

We had already enjoyed a day of snorkelling - boy oh boy was the wind blowing but we did manage to enjoy 3 different sites without shivering too much. There was a school of about 6 dolfins swimming by the boat unfortunately we were not snorkelling there - but oh so very nice to see them.

With visa extensions in hand, we decided we should check out the diving on this side of the Red Sea so we booked a day of boat diving. This proved to be a very good idea. The wind wasn't howling therefore allowing you to appreciate the warmth of the sun. Diving from a boat into blue-turquoise water is amazing! The water visibility was great - about 20 meteres - and the coral was plentiful. There does not seem to be as great a number of fish as in the Gulf of Aqaba but they are there! We watched two 2 meter long moray eels have a little fuss over who was boss - they were huge - impressive! Of course, it was a treat to watch a turtle gently swim its way through the expanse of salt water above us - beautiful! There were other fish of various shapes, sizes and colors - its hard not to feel as though you are in an aquarium with them. To take your time and slowly swim... alongside the reef, looking up toward the surface, taking in the many coral formations and watching the fish: eat, chase after one another, fight for territory, sleep on the coral, hide in the coral...is incredible...like nothing else. If you enjoy swimming in the water, this is the bees knees!

We are looking forward to returning to the Sinai peninsula, but we will have to see if the ferry cancels tomorrow....if so, a 10 hour bus journey may have to be considered - yikes!