November 12th, 2019
Today we got to sleep in because we were not diving and enjoyed one last amazing buffet breakfast at the resort. We checked out at noon after a little time at the pool and were headed to the next beach town called Dahab that was only an hour away.
For those interested in diving, just FYI our bill (for two people) for five days in the resort with breakfast and 18 dives between the two of us, one lunch and an extra $200 for Thistlegorm wreck came to $1,250. Not as expensive as Australia, much more so than Asia, but the best diving we have done. This of course far exceeded the backpacker budget we have been living on, but we did really well budget-wise all through Asia, not spending as much as we had planned. We thought since we were here to dive, it was okay to have a splurge week even if it put a big dent in the budget. Diving is not really a cheap hobby so I felt this price was actually pretty reasonable for having world class dive sites.
Dahab is much more popular among backpackers than Sharm El Sheikh. It is more laid back, cheaper, and has a less resort type vibe. More backpackers, less families and wealthy older people. There are also many places to camp in Dahab as well as a “blue hole” which is what draws a lot of divers. We had a new friend from Belgium that we dove with for the last several days who was also on his way to Dahab. We decided to share a private car for transportation. Our friend Pascal had found a travel agent who arranged a car for 500 Egyptian pounds ($31). We got all our stuff and walked through town to the tourist office where we would get the car.
We got there, waited a while for the guy to show up and when he finally did, the price of the car doubled. Just typical Egypt and very frustrating… it’s not even the money, more about the lying and everybody being okay with completely screwing you. They know they have you in a vulnerable position when you’re sitting with all your luggage waiting to go, already checked out of your hotel etc. After a nice, relaxing week of resort life, I immediately felt myself return to the point of zero patience and was fed up with people being so deceptive. I stormed out of there telling the guy he wasted our time because he wasn’t honest about the price to begin with. We then spent the next two hours figuring out what to do. Fortunately, Brendan and Pascal stayed in a good mood and ended up finding a taxi who would take us to Dahab for 600 EGP (still 100 more than what the meter says). Always fighting a losing battle with these guys, most of the time it is just not worth it. We enjoyed a nice drive through the mountainess desert.
My frustration was gone by the time we got to Dahab and it was indeed a really cute little beach town. I could see right away why so many backpackers say, “go to Dahab”. We easily found a good hotel room from a guy offering it on the street. It was a great location with a pool and close to the dive shop we wanted.
We put our stuff down and walked the two minutes to Sinai Divers, a shop Pascal had read about that had good prices. The owner was a super nice German guy that spent a lot of time with us. Our plan was to spend two nights here before moving on to Israel or Jordan since our time was running out. However, Brendan saw that this guy offered some specialty courses and got very interested in doing the “deep dive” advanced certification. Right now, we can both go to 30 meters (just under 100 feet). If Brendan gets the new certificate he can go 40 meters (just over 130 feet). He also wanted to get the nitrox certification that we had the introduction to a few days ago. It was a little cheaper here and he thought it was good to have. If Brendan is diving with nitrox and I’m his buddy, it makes sense that I should be certified too, so we agreed to both do that certification (which is just review materials and a test). I don’t have any desire to go below 30 meters at this point, so I told Brendan he should do it if he wants to, and I will take a day off from diving tomorrow and relax by the pool. I was kind of tired anyway and could use the break. Brendan and Pascal both decided to do the deep dive certificate which means we will stay here three nights minimum. It is a nice place to stay, but this does mean we will be more rushed through the rest. We got our nitrox and deep dive study books and went to find some dinner.
We had heard about a local dish called kushari, which is a mixture of rice, pasta, lentils, chick peas, crispy onions all in a tomato sauce. It is supposed to be a good “poor man’s” dinner and it just so happened we walked by a kushari shop where that was the only dish they served for 25 EGP ($1.55). We all thought this sounded good especially after just spending more money for diving. It was actually quite good, and something I would have again tomorrow.
We walked all through town to find an ATM (that worked) since we were out of money before heading back to the hotel to get a little studying in before bedtime.