Photos: With Gabe, one of my Canadian students and our charter boat 'Tiny'.
Thursday after school we were met at school by a bus/van to taking us to Hurghada. It was a 7 hour drive but the bus/van was comfortable and the company good. We arrived around 10 PM and stayed at the Santa Maria Hotel, impressive from the outside but not so swanky inside, but it was $20 a night for my share of a double room. Had a choice of going to the beach or going out to try snorkeling while the others did their diving. I opted for the snorkeling and it was an excellent choice. We had a charter boat with upper and lower decks and rented snorkel gear. The water was turquoise and although there was a little breeze it was very warm. We drove about 45 min to the first reef and the convoy of boats all anchored in a row. When the divers went down, I went in to have a look at the fish. The water was like Judique in August and very clear. The reefs have such beautiful coral formations, of all colours. The fish are unbelievable, flute fish, clownfish (Nimo), brilliant blue fish, yellow and black fish, yellow stripes, orange, rainbow, pink, turquoise, black and white, brilliant blue Angel fish and many more. The fish just swam around me and went about their business as if I wasn’t there. I’m not sure what they eat but they didn’t seem to be bothering each other just occasionally nibbling on coral, or what looked like coral. In all I was snorkeling at 4 different reefs and each was more amazing than the next. I felt safe for the area where the snorkelers were, was close to the reef where the boats wouldn’t go. The boat ‘Tiny’ was comfortable and we had our noon meal served on board, very good food all made in a small Galley. The whole 2 days was amazing and well worth the trip. We arrived home at 11:00 PM tired and well roasted, the Egyptian sun is strong. I’m sitting one sunburn area and leaning on another. The sun is magnified when you are on your belly looking down in the water. On the way home we had to go in a convoy (which is the norm) with a police escort.
For photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27
Photos: With Gabe, one of my Canadian students and our charter boat 'Tiny'.
Thursday after school we were met at school by a bus/van to taking us to Hurghada. It was a 7 hour drive but the bus/van was comfortable and the company good. We arrived around 10 PM and stayed at the Santa Maria Hotel, impressive from the outside but not so swanky inside, but it was $20 a night for my share of a double room. Had a choice of going to the beach or going out to try snorkeling while the others did their diving. I opted for the snorkeling and it was an excellent choice. We had a charter boat with upper and lower decks and rented snorkel gear. The water was turquoise and although there was a little breeze it was very warm. We drove about 45 min to the first reef and the convoy of boats all anchored in a row. When the divers went down, I went in to have a look at the fish. The water was like Judique in August and very clear. The reefs have such beautiful coral formations, of all colours. The fish are unbelievable, flute fish, clownfish (Nimo), brilliant blue fish, yellow and black fish, yellow stripes, orange, rainbow, pink, turquoise, black and white, brilliant blue Angel fish and many more. The fish just swam around me and went about their business as if I wasn’t there. I’m not sure what they eat but they didn’t seem to be bothering each other just occasionally nibbling on coral, or what looked like coral. In all I was snorkeling at 4 different reefs and each was more amazing than the next. I felt safe for the area where the snorkelers were, was close to the reef where the boats wouldn’t go. The boat ‘Tiny’ was comfortable and we had our noon meal served on board, very good food all made in a small Galley. The whole 2 days was amazing and well worth the trip. We arrived home at 11:00 PM tired and well roasted, the Egyptian sun is strong. I’m sitting one sunburn area and leaning on another. The sun is magnified when you are on your belly looking down in the water. On the way home we had to go in a convoy (which is the norm) with a police escort.
For photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27
