Well it has been something like seven days since my last confession and my sins have been entirely too numerous to list in any detail.
We arrived in Dahab three days ago. It's a resort town on the north-western bank of the Red Sea with the most incredibly diverse and accessible aquatic life. In some places the seabed drops from two feet to over 400 metres in depth in the space of a few paddles. Yesterday we went snorkeling at the Blue Hole, an 860 metre deep abyss, the deepest point of which is just fifteen metres from the shoreline. It's an incredible feeling floating above a vast expanse of nothing and peering down into the deepening gloom.
An enormous coral reef stretches for kilometres along the length of the sea wall, sustaining the most splendid array of sea life, from massive schools of tiny neon-blue fingerlings to giant moray eels. I've never seen so many fish in my life.
Dahab is relatively underdeveloped compared with the alternative resorts of Sharm El Sheik and Ogado to the south. MacDonald's hasn't made it here yet and the centre of town is still relatively neon-free. But the first signs of encroaching development are already apparent. Our hotel is a twenty minute drive from the town. In the no-man's land between the road and sea at every point along the journey you can see footings being dug and concrete shells of hotels and time-share apartments going up. Russian money is coming and it's going to put every inch of Sianai sand along this narrow strip of coast under Ches lounges. This is going to be their Spain.
The days are starting to roll into one and I've already forgotten the names of half the places I've visited. Abu Simbel, Luxor, Com Ombo, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens are still fresh in the mind but others are lost, fortunately my new camera is recording most of it and my notebook is full of notes. I'll write a bit more about the sights when I get a bit of down time later in the tour. And I'll let you know about the feluka trip along the Nile, which has been undoubtedly a highlight of the journey so far. Traveling down one of the biggest water-courses in the world powered by nothing but a warm breeze, a strong current and, judging by the little black box which was handed around between the captains, industrial quantities of hash is something that everyone should experience at least once.
That's it for now.
Dale Atkinson
ps. Buddy Hayes, of course the Nepos count mate.
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I have finally escaped from those two tyrants Steve and Dale and am on the run. I've managed to dash across the sands of time, high on hash of course, but not by self-will, only from secondary smoke that fills the small confines of the ridiculous little Egyptian boats that ferried us up the Nile.
I gave them the slip as they slept, snoring like camels. But they will now be sober and I think the tyrants are hot on my tail, they’re after me. But I won’t go back, not to that pack, not to their singing, not to their nakedness.
I’ll write more soon, but for now, I must flee.
Love Bubbles.
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