MinaMark Beach Resort El Gouna

... sun rises and falls, and what little vegetation there is appears to grow magically out of the rock. Bedouin still wander through the wilderness, and camels are the best way to travel (or so they say… but more on that later!). The terrain is too rocky even for a 4WD! Against this desolate backdrop, some of the most sacred events in recorded human history took place, immortalizing Sinai in the annals of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Mt. Sinai is ...

... soup, pita and dips, eggplant, marinated pickles and jalapenos, and potato and squash in a tomato-based sauce side dish – grilled chicken and rice for mains – and ending with a dessert of honey-soaked sweet corn cake. After lunch, we did make a quick stop at a local alabaster factory – but I stayed on bus for a much-needed little nap!

After that, it was onward and upward for our three and a half hour bus ride to ...

Not much to blog today except that I managed to find the Singapore GP
on the TV. Unfortunately on a German station but at least I managed to
watch it at least.

Can't remember if I mentioned on the diving days I spotted an Osprey
nest on one of the marina entrance marker bouys. On the second day
both Ospreys were standing together ...

Our 20th wedding anniversary today which started with some shopping
and then the hotel offered us a free meal tonight mainly because of
the problems at dinner last night but also because of our anniversary.

Rest of the day is quiet with a relax by the pool this afternoon
because it is has been really hot today and it helped us cool off.

Dinner tonight was excellent in the hotels al la carte restaurant
which was all the better because it was free!

Meryl's Birthday and we spent the day on the dive clubs boat going out
to Dolphin Point to do snorkelling. It was pretty good to see the fish
again like yesterday plus we got to see a few dolphins as well.

Got back to the hotel around 5pm and guess what? Another cake has
arrived! Woo hoo!

Going for dinner tonight on the side of the marina with a show as well.

Wow and wow again, that diving lark was spectacular. I saw all sorts
of tropical fish including scorpian and lion, rays and moray eels, BIG
moray eels. Plus I got to swim with Nemo, a couple of clown fish came
up and said 'hi' it was truly amazing.

Had a Dutch instructor called Zietza who was just as crazy as his name
suggests but he was good ...

... for some reason
my instructor thought it would be good fun to make me sink straight
away which caused me to panic slightly and I did for one brief second
think i couldn't do it but we did a couple of surface swims and I got
used to breathing under water without drowning. After that it was no
problem and I can't wait for tomorrow to do the proper dives.

We were now in Hurghada, which is on the Red Sea. When we had arrived at the hotel we were all looking forward to it as the bus pulled up in front of a rather nice looking resort-style hotel. However, our hotel was across the street. It was the budget option. Mina, our tour leader, had warned us that it was probably worse than the ****** hotel in Cairo. I think he may have said that just to lower our expectations to the lowest they could be because the hotel was alright in my ...

... that THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THE HOTEL! When you see an hotel in a brochure, with information about childrens activities, doesn't that suggest that there might be some children present? My last word on this is that if you want a child free holiday, pick a hotel or resort from a brochure that is aimed at couples only and if you've chosen to book a holiday at a family friendly location when you don't like children around then more fool you.

... like reality TV... just w/o the cameras, haha), but I did end up making some friends by the end of the weekend. One night I went to a karaoke bar, too! That was fun, but the beach was by far the best... I just spent the whole first day on this floating raft out in the sea... And my giant sunburn at the end of the weekend was totally worth it ! :-) Our bus ride there and back was also noteworthy... We drove through the desert for over 5 hours (I think -- I slept most of ...