5 days in the gulf of Aqaba

Living in the semi clean and ordered suburb, you tend to forget what Cairo looks like. I have only seen it once on my way from the airport and this was the second time. On this occasion, the same adjectives come back to me: dirty, disorganised, unfinished and chaotic.It is sad to say that the driving culture in Cairo is just as bad anywhere else and that the local Egyptian foot is quite heavy on the accelerator, whether it is a straight road or a curvy and bumpy one.

A friend of mine qualified it all as apocalyptic and I think that it is a really good way to describe it; yet once again, I want to stress on the fact that there is something here, something that feels strangely pleasant.

After landing in Sharm el Sheikh, we headed north. Some things you expect, such as the beige rocky decor, empty and desert like, but I didn’t anticipate the presence of so much trash scattered all over it, a present from Eol I guess. Besides the litter, some men with their guns at the checkpoint also punctuate the landscape from Sharm to Dahab.

Once we arrived, we were warmly welcomed at the happy land hotel.

Dahab, I was told, has a bit more of a local feel compared to Sharm and also is THE place for diving. It is indeed a lovely town, right on the gulf of Aqaba. The shops have clearly been laid out for tourists purposes with anything from small pyramids to relaxed outfits, swim stuff and diving equipment. The restaurants are also catered for tourists, from the Thai to the Indian, passing by the shisha bar.

So, there you have it, the perfect holiday resort town, with its pretty friendly shop keepers, amazing diving instructors and staff, varied restaurants for all taste and expectations; nevertheless, I walked around Dahab with a true feeling of sadness. One thing that was going well for Egypt and bringing a lot of money was tourism, across the country. I can almost imagine Dahab, buzzing with hundreds of tourists, shops and restaurants doing well and being super busy, but this picture doesn’t belong to now.

Dahab today feels very desolate and quite abandonned place, in the middle of the desert.

I admire the people, who keep opening their shops every morning, knowing that there may not be any customer. The tenacity is inspiring and makes me hope even more that Egypt settles down.

I was extremely happy to be there and feed in some businesses. One of them was the adventure spot shop and despite my will to keep this blog objective and unbiased, I will make a point in mentioning the diving shop and all the people who work for it: Absolutely amazing!

About the actual diving experience, it is simply magic!

The most striking thing is the paradox between the land and the underwater landscapes.

On the surface, all is barren, beige, chaotic and noisy whereas the life down there is astonishing! It is colourful, calm and exotic, varied and somehow organised. In addition, it helps you focus on your breathing: an automatic activity which we take for granted and never focus on. It all creates a beautiful sensation of serenity, of inner peace (except for when you have to flood your mask repeatedly!). Also, once you emerge, there is the social side of diving, which involves relaxing, reflecting and enjoying yourself.

This trip was a success, as we now qualified, a good trip for the soul, however, it was also a reminder of how much Egypt is suffering from the situation and how much we all hope that things will work out.

If my word holds any weight to you, you ought to visit Dahab and on the grand scale, try to give a chance to Egypt. It may not be the best place where to be right now, but the people are still here.