Today was all about a boat trip to Ras Mohammed, a protected parkland covering the Southern most tip of the Sinai Peninsula and an area of the surrounding water too. This is because the coral is so important to the balance of life and takes so long to grow, it has to be guarded.
We managed to squeeze in breakfast before we jumped on the coach to the harbour. Despite getting up at 7am for the coach, we didn't get to the boat until about 10am due to other pickups.
We boarded the (boat name 3) and headed off down the coast. We made three stops for guided snorkelling tours of the shallow lying coral with lunch provided between the 2nd and 3rd sessions.
The first session was a mixture of utter chaos and the coolest thing I've ever seen... The crew urged us out into the sea once kitted up (we were using fins, snorkel and mask on each session) which we all did as instructed (not that we needed it as our BSAC training had taught us how to fit things properly). One of the guides was already in the water with a buoy and line tied off on the boat, which we were supposed to gather around... However most people were inexperienced, and as their kit was hired and not checked individually for fitting, there were a lot of people understandably panicking when their masks leaked. People made a grab for the line and clung on whilst trying to refit masks and snorkels.
I'm no expert with my fins but I know to stop kicking if I hit something... Other people didn't quite have that basic level of common sense and so there was much kicking in snorkels, so to speak.
Incidentally, flippers as everyone else called them, are what Dolphins have according to the diving community - who incidentally get all bent out of shape and beer fines start pouring in your lap... So, if you want to annoy a diver, call his fins flippers, then stand on the end of them and push him backwards... Priceless lol.
Anyway, once we distanced ourselves from the crowd a little, things got more pleasant and relaxed. We saw so many fish it's hard to remember them all... Parrot fish, anemone fish, glass fish, angel fish, wrasse, butterfly fish of various kinds.
We moved around a coral wall for quite a while before heading back... We noticed the smaller fish moving a bit quicker, followed by some bigger fish that were moving pretty fast too. Then from the depths, we saw them... Three shapes, bigger than anything we'd seen so far, easily as big as humans and gliding effortlessly along and up the coral wall... Three sharks moving so gracefully it suddenly sank home how unsuited to the water humans are, and why sharks haven't changed in evolutionary terms, for a few million years. With a barely detectable flick of their tails, they sailed underneath us, along the wall and beyond the reach of our underwater visibility.
The people that realised got excited, told others in the same area, some of who eagerly tried to find them, others panicked and headed off for the boat. Of course we stayed were rewarded with a return viewing as they doubled back along the same route and off into the distance. It was the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen and hopefully I captured some on camera.
Back on the boat we chatted about what we saw but all felt a bit sea sick due to swallowing the water and the sea getting a lot choppier. The others got to sleep but I didn't have enough room so tried to keep watching the horizon... When we finally reached our needy stop I wasn't convinced I wanted to go in as I felt so sick but I thought I'd notice the swell less if I was in it.. Sam thought the same so we both went back in but the twins stayed on board, as did a lot of other green looking people. Their loss was our profit as with less people it was easier to move around and not get hit in the snorkels. The water here was shallower, warmer and calmer too so we now had the best of everything. We saw just about the same stuff and some other new fish like the trumpet fish (3 together) and a 4 foot long eel of some kind snaking it's way along the bottom thru the coral.
Back on the boat and off again to the final stop... The boats here try to clump together when "parked" to allow people to swim. It looks odd when there's so much space all around them... And the Arabic language is hard to understand as well as interpret... The boat captains often had animated, shouty and angry looking discussions whilst parking up next to each other, but then broke into laughter at the same time. It's hard to know when they are actually annoyed with each other!!
Our captain looked a bit of a veteran so allowed a slightly smaller boat thru when it was trying to push in ahead of us. The smaller boat reversed in and promptly crashed into the boat next to it, as the bumpers on each boat were at different heights and the bigger boat had an upper level that completed cleared the smaller boats bumpers... Oopsie!
Our captain left them to it and moored up a little way up the coast. Food was served - fairly basic rice, potatoes, fish, pitta bread and kebab type beef but at this point we were starving so enjoyed the lot.
We all decided to go in for the final session which was more of the same amazing stuff but I spotted a box fish which is a crazy looking fish... It literally looks like someone has taken a normal fish and stuffed a small square box skeleton inside it... The result is a permanently surprised look, with pursed lips, on this cute little box shaped fish, with hugely undersized, teeny tiny fins flapping manically LOL.
The last thing worthy of a mention was some kind of manta ray that just barely came into our visible range before scooting off along the bottom. It was small but definitely a ray!
Then it was back to the boat, to harbour and on to the coach for home. All in all, it was a great day out, one of the best boat trips we've been on in all our trips abroad.
The evening was a lazy night where we just chilled in the hotel area, grabbed dinner and interrupted a game of cards and a PSP quiz game, with a number of cold beers. I've tipped a lot in the first few days and it pays off as we get drinks brought to our table before others and even before we've ordered them lol.
By about 11pm everyone was tired so the twins headed to bed as did we. Sam was tired so just read for a while before getting to sleep, but I went out on the balcony. Across the central pool area I saw a giant projection screen, showing Ghana vs Uruguay in the world cup quarter finals. The screen was blowing about a bit and quite small to the naked eye, so I grabbed my new video camera (bought at the airport) and zoomed in 20x magnification and it was perfect! I saw the handball & sending off of the Uruguayan player... The Ghanian striker missing the penalty, and finally, Ghana missing their penalties allowing Uruguay to go thru... What a shame...
Bye for now!
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