November 6th – 7th, 2019
After breakfast we got our transportation back to Cairo. They shoved us in the backseat of a three-row car that was completely full.
It felt like a long journey back through the desert to reach Cairo. We went back to Dahab Hostel after we had to jump out of a moving cab because they guy was such a shyster. We finally made it and figured out a plan to go to Sharm El Sheikh which is a resort town in the south of the Sinai Peninsula. We decided to take a night bus as the journey was supposed to be between 6-12 hours (no one can seem to give an exact time).
We walked to our bus at 2am and boarded. The bus ride ended up taking close to 12 hours. There is very heightened security around the Sinai Peninsula. North Sinai is not a recommended place to travel through but we were only in the South. They still take security very seriously and there were probably seven or more checkpoints. The bus would stop, and several times we had to get off and take out our luggage from the bottom of the bus and open it for the guards. Other times, someone would get on and check everyone’s passport on the bus. This made the journey very slow as sometimes we would have to wait behind a big line of buses while they all got checked out before it was even our turn. After a night of not sleeping and half of the next day, we finally made it to Sharm El Sheikh. There is no Uber in this town so we got ripped off by yet another taxi driver in Egypt who gave us a super inflated price and then dropped us off 15 minutes away from our destination to walk with all our stuff.
We got to Camel Dive Resort where we had seen them advertise a package deal that included the stay at the hotel as well as 2-3 boat dives a day. We had sent them an e-mail request several days before but never heard back so we just showed up at the hotel. The hotel reception sent us to the dive shop, then the dive shop sent us back to the hotel reception. I felt that I had arrived at a point where I had zero patience left. After being hustled by every cab driver in Egypt, and everyone constantly trying to get money from us, and changing the agreed upon prices and the long bus ride with no sleep… I was in no mood to be further jerked around. They basically did not want to honor their advertised package deal because we did not book 48 hours in advance (although there was no place that said you must book in advance, and when we tried to contact them ahead of time, no one responded). I told them if they didn’t want to honor the package, no problem and I will just go to the dive shop next door (there’s about 8 billion in Sharm) and spend my thousand plus dollars somewhere else. On our way out the door, a very nice manager came down and gave us a package that was five nights and four days of diving that will start tomorrow. She displayed some common sense and said she hopes she can turn our experience around. After that, everything at Camel Dive Resort was great.
This may seem incredibly spoiled and privileged, which I admit that I am. But we both needed a “vacation” from our vacation. It was very nice and such a relief to be in a place where we could just relax for a while. The hotel had a great location, a pool, a private beach, a nice bed where they clean your room for you. All the normal hotel and vacation stuff that we haven’t had in a long time. Aside from the initial interaction, the service was really good and my frustration began slipping away. I had a nice shower and felt super happy and content to be here. This town is a complete resort town and much different than anywhere else we have been in Egypt and other places on our entire trip. This is not somewhere you go for a cultural experience but somewhere you can relax with all the amenities.
After settling in, we went out walking around the town. This is a very popular place for European vacationers. We were so tired we decided to get a pizza and wine/beer and take it back to our nice room. Minus an apple cider at the end of our Nepal trek, we hadn’t had a drink since Thailand. I had one glass of wine and Brendan had one beer before we both completely passed out. We were so exhausted we needed to rest before our first day of diving that starts tomorrow!
