Not diving in Dahab

That appears to be the main reason for coming to Dahab on the Gulf of Aquaba, famous for the Blue Hole. There are dive schools and equipment rental at every turn and hotels galore. It is a very laid back place where Egyptians and many other nationalities mingle on the waterfront and in the cafés and restaurants. By far the largest group are Russians of all ages and many Koreans. It suits us as a place to stop for a couple of days: we can soak up the holiday atmosphere on the seafront at night and people watch during the day. Not for us one of the quaint hotels (the Enterprise could not get through low gates). We are parked in the side yard of a local laundry alongside builders' rubble and dead palm fronds! We are on full view to passers-by but the laundry man is not charging much and we have electricity. As I am writing this Chris has gone to make use of a free shower at a nearby hotel after cleaning the fuel filter.

The reason we have paused our journey north is that we need to check that there is cabin space for us on a ferry from Ashdod in Israel on the next sailing on 18th or 20th with Grimaldi (conflicting dates given). The Israeli office is closed for the weekend until Sunday morning. Chris telephoned the London office yesterday and there is room for the Enterprise but we need to be able travel with it. The Grimaldi ferry goes to Salerno in Italy but there is another option from Haifa to Greece which we may have to take.
The delay here may be fortunate. Rather than cross from Egypt to Israel at the Taba land border which can be problematic, we are planning to take a ferry from Nuweiba to Aquaba in Jordan and visit Wadi Rum and Petra. We have just seen on the BBC news that there has been flash flooding in Jordan and tourists have been evacuated! The forecast is that the weather is improving from now on. Let's hope so.

Our journey from Luxor went really without a hitch. We reached Hurghada mid morning, did some shopping in a supermarket full of tourists and sped on up the coast on good road. We found a wild camping spot with a view of the sea and offshore oilrigs, hidden from view in some trees near a water treatment plant. We were amazed at the number of Resorts strung along the coast between the oil terminals, green oases in the desert. Before arriving at Suez we had removed the winch from the front and hidden the sand plates to make the Enterprise less like a 4WD vehicle.

By noon we had reached the entrance to the Suez tunnel and queued up with trucks to go through the X Ray scanner. In no time at all we had completed the security check, a little hesitation over our gas cylinders but accepted when Chris showed a photo of the balloon. Fortunately he had also made an online booking for a hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh as they wanted to know where we would be staying. By 12.35 we were through the tunnel and into the Sinai.

We have been extremely lucky all the way through Egypt. We have not had to travel in police convoys as other people we've met have had to. There has been no problem for us at the police checks, some even wave us through. A Scottish Australian motorcyclist we spent time with in Luxor was turned back frequently to take longer routes. Maybe it's because of our age and we don't pose a threat.

We had another night wild camping within a short distance of a police post. We had spoken to 2 young soldiers guarding a sea water pumping plant nearby and they reassured us we could park on a track. Nevertheless we were hassled by 2 local men who wanted us to sleep at their house and who sat outside waiting for us to move until dark.

Arriving in Sharm before 10am yesterday morning, and another scanning session, we found the place deserted. Far too early for tourists to be about. We had decided to have breakfast at McDonald's for a change but it didn't open until after 11, by which time we were on our way through the mountains heading for Dahab.

Tomorrow to Nuweiba to see what the next few days will bring.