Dahab Part 2

The next day we woke up late and had a typical Egyptian breakfast – fuul (mashed beans and lettuce inside pita bread), but it was more expensive and not as good as it is in Cairo.

We signed up to go snorkeling at the Blue Hole, outside Dahab, so we piled into the back of a covered truck (think smaller World War 2 army transport) that reeked of gas fumes and took an adventure-filled ride up the beach.

 
It is kind of hard to see from this picture, but the road was a lot like a dirt racetrack with banked walls and rock obstacles, and the driver was gleefully banking the car into these walls as he zipped along the beach. This continued for quite some time even though there was a PERFECTLY GOOD, FLAT ROAD 20 feet farther inland. But we decided this was part of the experience.

 
After about half an hour, we reached the very Euro-touristy Blue Hole. It is incredibly popular among Europeans, which meant a prevalence of man-thongs. Avoiding these as much as humanly possible, we got our snorkels and fins and jumped into the not-so-refreshing December water. I know I’ll get some flak for complaining about the cold because of what everyone is going through at home right now, but the water was not exactly bath temperature.
The snorkeling was great; there were a lot of the same types of fish and coral that we saw in Nuweiba (since it’s only a few hours north of Dahab).


 
I ran across this guy on the beach and snapped a few pictures.

 
He was mid-chew when he looked towards me inquisitively.