The Blue Hole

Trip Start May 09, 2005

Trip End Aug 01, 2005

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Flag of Egypt Dahab, Egypt
Thursday, May 19, 2005

Today was another impromptu kind of day. Breakfast was at...er, 1:00pm (yikes!) I did good today with just some yogurt and some lovely fresh fruit. I bummed around for a bit chatting and doing the daily ritual greetings and cup of nescafe (because I don't like tea which is what everyone else drinks). Around 3:30 Anwar asked if I wanted to go to the Blue Hole and I said sure. I've been here once before back in January and it's a popular dive and snorkeling spot about a 15 minute very bumpy drive into the desert (bit of advice: don't do the drive on a full bladder as I did today for obvious reasons of comfort). We basically sat around all day and had the yummy drink that Dahab is known for: a fruit blend of guava, strawberry and mango. I lazed away while the boys argued over the winner of each game of backgammon. Before I knew it, I had a massive plate of chicken kebab, veggies and rice put in front of me. And as the Egyptian hospitality goes--it cannot be refused. You especially cannot argue that you are 'too fat' in an effort to refuse--it just doesn't fly (the western obsession with weight hasn't inundated these parts quite so much yet). So I ate what I could and did the biggest no-no of sharing my chicken with the stray cats. You feed one and before you know it you have 20 cats in front of you. Luckily, the same two stayed with me the entire time.

After dinner we went for a short hike along the coast. The wind began to bring in bright violet jellyfish and within a few hours...the sea was no longer visible--just hordes of the jellyfish as far as the eye could see.

Getting Pabsy fresh water

There also is an area with stones and the like in memory of the divers who have died at the Blue Hole. It's basically an underwater canyon that drops off very deep in the middle. Divers have been known to get disoriented and lost in the canyon and well, have died.

We left the Blue Hole around 7pm as sunset began. All around was the buzz of activity of the divers finishing for the day and the camels being loaded up with the tanks and gear. The camels are given a little whip to the rear and off they go. They literally just go on home...with no guide. Another silly thing I was amazed at--how in the world do the camels know the way home? And further, why wouldn't they maybe use the opportunity to make a clean getaway? Well, I'll let you all answer those questions yourselves.

The ride home was beautiful...by jeep of course (the mainstay of transportation here). Out the back of the jeep I watched as the coastline was filled with the Bedouin men clad only in their white shorts preparing their mint green nets for that night's fishing. The women, veiled from head to toe in black where just across the road tending to the campfires and small children. They will stay in the desert all night while the men fish well into the morning around sunrise. Their catch is what will be sold to the beachfront restaurants the next day.

Tomorrow will probably be an early day as Anwar and I are taking the bus up to Cairo for my haircut and to see his family. It'll only be a brief stay of 2 days and hopefully I can find time (between the mass feadings that are sure to be my doom at the hands of his mother and sister) to get to an internet cafe to check in with everyone.