Roadtrip to Sharm

After three months of living in laid back, beachy Dahab, Nigel and I decided to take a road trip to the 'big city', Sharm El-Sheik, and see what it's all about. Viv, our manager at Sinai Divers here in Dahab hooked it up with the dive center in Sharm so that we got to do all of our diving for free (saved us about 200 euros)! We had to be in Sharm at 3:45am and we had two options of getting there; either pay a taxi 150LE each way or take the bus for 11LE so obviously we opted for the bus. The last bus leaving Dahab though was at 10:30pm so we arrived in Sharm a little after 12am. We took all of our stuff to sleep on the sunbeds at the public beach but it wasn't long until we started getting harassed by security guards and so we went back to the dive center where we had to then convince the guards there that we were allowed to hang around until the morning. Morning finally came and we were both exhausted from staying up all night but we did get a chance to nap on the 3 hour boat ride out to sea. We were diving the Thistlegorm which is a British warship that was bombed during WWII and eight people died. It was discovered in 1950 by Jacques Cousteau who kept it a secret til 1993. The first dive we went along the exterior of the ship and you could see where the bombs had hit. We saw a big tank on its side and the conditions were awesome- no current and great visibility which is rare. On the second dive which was only an hour later, the current was really strong and the vis had deteriorated but it was ok because we were diving the interior of the wreck. It was full of motorbikes, bombs, jeeps, tractors and boots. It was a little scary though because it is very dark and claustrophobic! The wreck itself isn't covered with much coral, no where near as much as the Yongala Wreck in Australia, but there were lots of fish around and we saw a big crocodilefish. I couldn't dive the third dive of the day at another dive site because I wasn't using nitrox but Nigel did it and said it was beautiful coral. When we got back to land at 5pm, we were going to go check into the cheapest hotel in Sharm but was told it had closed down and given another recommendation. With all of the 5 star resorts one on top of another budget accommodation is hard to find there. We walked all the way to the hotel we had been told about to find out it was closed down as well so we took a taxi to the youth hostel on the other side of town. Before we got into the taxi I showed him my map and asked him if he knew where this place was, which he said he did, and we agreed on 10LE. Ha! What should have been a 5 minute drive turned into forever! He stopped and asked people on the street directions and they would explain and he'd say he knew but then would stop again...obviously he had no clue. This went on forever and we were tired and hungry. He had stopped at a big group of taxi drivers and I said something to Nigel about the 10 LE and the driver flipped out screaming "no 10 Le, 10LE bad!". Nigel and I both stared out the window but then he flipped out again and turned around while driving screaming "Where do we go?" like it was our fault we were lost. I was scared of this crazy driver and Nigel made him pull over and we got out and didn't pay. We went into the police station across the street to ask for directions and the driver followed us in there and tried to get the police to make us pay for our long ride around in a circle, which we didn't end up having to. We got directions and walked off but still managed to miss the place and luckily this foreign woman picked us up and drove us there. Things got better for us though...right across the street from us was a mall with McDonalds, KFC, Hardees, Starbucks and Pizza Hut! We don't have any fast food in Dahab so we were very excited! We stuffed ourselves and slept like the dead.
The next morning we were back on the boat at 8am setting out for Ras Mohammed National Park. Once again we were the only non-Germans on the boat. The first dive was at Jackfish Alley. We saw a huge Napoleon Wrasse and a few large moray eels. The second dive was at Shark and Yolanda Reef and was the best dive of the day. At the very beginning we saw a school of giant barracuda, lots of spotted rays, moray eels, scorpianfish and the yolanda wreck which was carrying toilets so there are toilets all over the sea floor. The last dive was at Small Canoe. The diving was really good but it wasn't as spectacular as everyone talks it up to be. When we got back to land we walked around Sharm for awhile. It is so much bigger and busier than Dahab! We had another fantastic, healthy fast food dinner and then took the night bus back to Dahab. At the bus station the guy called Nigel off the bus and asked him what was in our suitcase and when he told him dive equipment the guy said he had to pay 10 LE because it weighed too much. Nigel told him "nicely" that he wasn't paying that when the bus ticket itself only cost 11 LE plus Nigel put the bag on himself. They will do absolutely anything over here to try and scam you! We were grateful when we got back to our little house in quiet Dahab. I've only worked a few days since we've been back but thats ok, we have been laying out at the beach and enjoying our last few weeks here. I can't believe it has gone so quickly! I am definitely ready to leave though. I feel like I've gotten to know the place, culture and diving and now I'm ready for some air conditioning and real food and all those sorts of luxuries!