I departed Petra early catching the 7:30am bus to Aqaba on the Red Sea. The plan was to make it to Egypt today – but no final destination had been decided. Today was a special day in the Islamic culture – Eid – the end of the month of Ramadan and the end of fasting. As I left Petra, mosques all around were chanting, and had been chanting all night.

I arrived in Aqaba and hopped straight into a taxi to take me to the port. My switched on driver asked if I had a ticket (which I didn’t) and took me via the ticket office in town to get one. Lucky for me there was a departure at midday to Nuweiba in Egypt. I bought my well overpriced (50JD) ticket and was off to the port. There was a lot of running around (another story for another time) but in the end I made it to Egypt and loaded myself on a mini-bus to Dahab with my new friends Jo and Ros who I met waiting for the ferry.

Dahab is known as a bit of a backpacker’s and diver’s paradise. A tiny Bedouin town with a coral reef meters from the waters edge has grown into a destination for licenced and wannabe divers alike as well as backpackers looking for an out of the way place to relax by the water.

As we pulled into town we passed a large amount of unfinished construction – an interesting welcome to the town. Big business is starting to move in and there is already a resort a kilometre down the beach, but for now it is mostly a casual, relaxed place. Most of the town is centred around the bay – a collection of waterfront cafes and restaurants on the water’s edge with dive shops and backpackers lined up behind them.

First I needed to find a place to stay, but after talking to every backpackers in town I was finding that quite difficult. I was with Jo and Ros and together we got a 2 bed room for the night.

I spent my first day in Dahab just relaxing on the waterfront – sitting around in the comfortable chairs reading books, catching up on blog posts and just watching the world go by. In the afternoon I rented a snorkel and went snorkelling around the reef that starts at the end of the bay. The reef was amazing – full of colour and thousands of fish swimming around. I wish I had an underwater housing for my camera to capture some of it. The reef was also a popular diving spot for beginner divers and looking down into the deeper sections of water I could see the divers move about.

I moved to a hostel that evening and found out that accommodation was free if I dived with their dive centre. I had been putting it off because I unfortunately don’t have my PADI certification and didn’t have the time to do the full course – but the diver centre there offered introductory dives so I jumped at the chance and booked myself in for one. The only problem was that I was suffering the lingering effects of a cold – so I had to take myself of to a doctor to get the all clear. $10 and a trip to the pharmacy later and I was all set for my dive in the morning.

In the morning I suited up and was taken for a dive with Dive Master Paddy. I literally didn’t have to do anything except sit there and watch the world go by. Unfortunately we stuck to the beach instead of checking out the reef, but the experience itself was fantastic after I worked out how to equalise my pressure underwater. Having done a dive I am very keen to get my PADI licence now – and an underwater housing for my camera too!

When I went to pay for my dive I pulled out my wallet and found that my trusty credit card wasn’t in it’s usual spot. Confused, I payed with my backup card and went to my room to look for it. I looked everywhere and went back to everywhere I visited in Dahab but could not find any trace of it. Reluctantly I called my bank back in Australia and organised a lock on the card – relieved to hear that the last transaction was a few days previous and one that I recognised. I wasn’t particularly worried about it, but it was a minor inconvenience to what was otherwise a nice relaxing few days.

I tried to book myself on the 10om overnight bus to Cairo, but was informed shortly afterwards that the bus was full and I would have to take the 7:30pm bus instead. It just so happened that my travel buddies Ros and Jo were also on the same bus to Cairo – so at least I had some company.

I had a great time in Dahab. I wish I had gone to get my divers licence earlier in the year so I could have taken full advantage of the beautiful reefs of the Red Sea but it is only an incentive for me to head back there again some day.

This post is tagged Dahab, Egypt