A fairly early start this morning, but fortunately no difficult decisions over what to wear - swimming costume and shorts, and a t-shirt just in case.
We were collected from the hotel in a minibus by a guide, Mohammed, from Travco, Africa's largest travel agency. There was just one other couple from our hotel: I had seen them check in just in front of us on Sunday. We were to see quite a lot of them over the next couple of weeks. It actually took a long time to actually exchange names, but we eventually learnt that they are Aidan and Fernando.
Today's excursion was to Ras Mohammed National Park. We stopped off briefly for some of us novices to hire snorkelling equipment and then had a drive of about an hour. This was initially on a tarmacked road but most of the driving in the park was on sandy twisty un-made-up roads. Being a parochial Little Englander, when I hear the words 'National Park' I think of the lush green rolling hills of the Peak District. Of course, logically, I know that that was silly, but reading the guidebook I found it difficult to imagine how a desert can be a National Park.
I was soon to find out. We stopped and parked up at a beach, and Mohammed guided us to the edge of the coral and instructed the novices amongst us how to don our masks, snorkels and flippers. I had never attempted snorkelling before nor had Jimmy. Neither of us particularly took to snorkelling. In retrospect, part of the problem was that the equipment we hired was rubbish, the snorkel in particularly. Neither of us had even been swimming on this holiday, so had no idea how buoyant the Red Sea is, and how easy it is to swim in it.
Once Mohammed said that beyond the coral, the sea is 60 foot deep, I felt too scared to go out any further. Besides, the instance I put my snorkel in my mouth, it made me retch. I did put my head under the water a few times - without the snorkel - and was able to see fish and coral, and it was beautiful. As it should be, because the coral off Sharm is said - even by people who have been to The Great Barrier Reef - to be the best in the world.Nevertheless, I was pleased to return to the beach. I was quite shocked at how grazed my knees, ankles and bottom were.
We moved on to another beach from where most of our party went for another snorkel but Jimmy and I, and another couple, stayed behind to sunbathe and paddle. It was amusing to watch groups of Italian people doing what Italians do so well: wearing designer swimming costumes (two Elastoplast and some dental floss) and exhibiting their magazine-perfect bodies.
After the beach we were driven to The Telescope. To get to the Telescope required a taxing climb up a cliff face. I say taxing but it would have been a lot easier if my legs were six inches longer and if the need to wear shoes other than flip-flops had been mentioned in the excursion instructions! But it was worth the climb for the panoramic view up the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, across to Tiran Island (controlled by the UN's Multinational Force and Observers) and for miles over The Red Sea. The water was azure and the boats were white, the snorkellers mere specks in the sea. And we were lucky to be the only party on the ledge - on the way down we passed three parties going up.
All that remained was a quick whizz round a few interesting features of the park - the Mangrove Channel, the fissures from an earthquake in the 80s and the Magic Lagoon. It's 'magic' because, apparently, if you jump in and take 7 steps it makes you fertile. Also, if you try to photograph it from a mapping satellite, the water is invisible - due to the very high lead content - which is why I didn't jump in. Plus, an Italian man did and exclaimed 'Mamma mia, e freddo'!
We returned to the hotel and, other than a walk down the road to buy water, we took the afternoon easy, in preparation for a long night ahead!
The photos can be seen in my Egypt album
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