Port Ghalib 2014

June 5th - Dancing allowed

Yes. Holidays have started! A hug for our two pats and off we go. Destination Brussels Airport. Stuck in traffic the last 10 km, but still well in time. Too early actually, we need to wait another hour before we can check in. The ground stewardess mentions our hand carry luggage is actually too heavy (13 kg where 8 kg is allowed), but puts the "cabin luggage allowed" strap around it with a big smile. No complaints there.

Oh, no ice in the plane to cool my medication. "And that's not all you are going to miss, this will not be a nice flight for you guy .... neither for us", the stewardess says. The local catering in Brussels is on e strike, so no service. Luckily one of the crew has managed to arrange a bit of dry ice, so I can keep my medication cooled.

It seems they have also managed to arrange water, cafe, thee and a sandwich or waffle outside the normal catering channels. I must say, we have seldom been spoiled like this on a low cost flight!

At the airport the car of the Inter Continental is already waiting for us. "Welcome to your second home".

O? Life music during dinner. Luckily the guy really can sing, and to our surprise he manages to get quite some people to leave their chairs and dance on the terraces. A new experience for us here in Port Ghalib. We enjoyed our first evening a lot (despite the two Dire Strait songs).

A good start! Time to sleep.

// Room 6319, same as last time. Let's ask for 6320 upto 6323 next time //

June 6th - Checking in and having a lazy day

First day is always a lazy day. Sleep in late and a long breakfast. Time to explore. Emperor Divers is on the beach according reception (the IC is promoting them lately). Hmmm, is that all? O, they are also around the corner in the former water sports center. Nah, that's not what we are looking for. Better go to our old friends at Extra Divers. On our way there we try to get some cash from the ATM, which doesn't work?! After having checked in (tomorrow at 10:15 we will have our 1st dive) we try another ATM. Shit, no success either. To our surprise there is an ATM in the hotel as well, but also here no luck.

Aha. Our bank has "of course", without asking nor announcing, blocked all regions, except Europe. So glad we took our login key with us, so I can adjust the settings. And yes ... cash from the ATM! Quickly to the small shop to buy some bottles of water, and than it is already time for lunch. Gnocchi for Petra, Fish & Chips for me. Yummy.

Much later that day, at diner time, we seem to arrive a bit late - or the hotel is really full, as all outside tables are taken. We have time, and a bit later we are escorted to our table. We order a nice Egyptian white wine which tastes very good (Obilisque or so is the brand).

// Every day a Dutch News Paper (a copy of all headlines and main stories), free internet (normally quite expensive), late check out and a free special dinner. Nothing wrong with being an IHG Gold member :-) //

June 7th - House Reef

Today our first dive. At 10:15 we are picked up, very punctual. Of course we have to say 'hi' to all staff we already met before before we set-up our gear. The see is a bit rough today (quite some wind, hence also some waves) so we decide to dive from Crown Plazza (the neighbors) to the Inter Conti jetty. The last one is slightly inside the harbor entrance and hence has lot less waves, making it a lot easier to exit. A lovely dive it is. We see two turtles, one is huge. We're not quite sure what type it is. As always in a first dive our air consumption is quite high. Let's see if we can do better tomorrow,

Jos: 57 [min] / 26.3 [m] | Petra: 57 [min] / 25.6 [m]

After another delicious lunch at the pool bar we run into "Guest Relations". Are we interested in a Lebanese Dinner tonight? We are Half Board so there is a discount for us. No idea. We wonder when the 'Special Dinner' will be arranged. "O. Than tonight is free for you". The complementary IHG Gold dinner appears to be every Tuesday and Saturday. We decide to try it tonight.

The Lebanese Dinner was very good .... and by far too much for us. We ordered less the we were allowed to, and already had no room what so ever for desert. We enjoyed it a lot and really liked this gesture from the hotel.

June 8th - 400

A lovely and quiet Sunday. As we run out of air quite quick yesterday, and hence got a little nervous, we decided to re-do the same dive. Again a beautiful dive. No turtles this time, maybe we stayed too deep. This was dive number 400 for both of us .... yes, a real buddy team!

Jos: 61 [min] / 21.3 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 20.5 [m]

After the dice we sign in for Elphinstone (Wednesday) and arrange a Scooter Course for tomorrow. The rest of the day we spend doing little to nothing, as it should ... this is a holiday.

June 9th - Scooter

We had already agreed before the holidays, we want to have our Scooter License! Today was the day to complete at least one of the mandatory two dives. But first, filling out forms, theory lesson and de- and assembling the scooter. From there we dive Fish Market to CP and back. During the first part of the dive the visibility is quit bad, as quite some boats left the harbor not too long ago, but further on the visibility picked up to become clear as what you expect in Egypt. Time to enjoy the turtles and moray eels, and and and.

Jos: 57 [min] / 21.0 [m] | Petra: 57 [min] / 20.7 [m]

Just before we left we already decided to also do the second dive today. CP → North → IC. And what a dive it was. Crystal clear and as bonus ... two dolphins passing by!! Little later ... two eagle rays! Our guide/instructor (Mostafa) was also very exited and asked for a copy of the photo's and video's of this memorable dive.

And of course ... we passed and got our certification. Hurrah.

Jos: 59 [min] / 27.5 [m] | Petra: 59 [min] / 21.6 [m]

// Funny, all "extra's" were between the IC and CP Jetties. Not really a reason to do different sites than the House Reef. Besides a shark on Elphinestone and a Dugong on Marsa Imbarak (around the corner) than //

June 10th - Lazy

No idea why, but I seem to be unable to wake up today. It is 8 o'clock, so were already sleeping about 10 hours, and still I can't get to open my eyes. Petra, who woke up at 6 and thinks she just dozed off for 10 minutes, doesn't understand what I am talking about. Until she discovers it's already 8. Okay, better do a slow start today than. Breakfast. Pick up our stuff and off to the dive shop. 

First a picture for our new license. And than ... another house reef. Why not. It is soo beautiful, at our door step and full of surprises. Twenty minutes in our dive I hear Petra banging her tank banger, I look around. And yes, they are back. The two dolphins swim by again. To quick to take a picture, but still. We try to swim a little faster to enjoy them a little longer, but run out of breath. Back to the reef to catch our breath and again enjoy the small stuff. Beautiful beautiful beautiful.

Jos: 63 [min] / 25.4 [m] | Petra: 61 [min] / 19.6 [m]

June 11th - Elphinstone

6:20 boy that's early. Shower, breakfast and .. off to the dive shop. Today Elphinstone, which is a 2 hours sail, so we need to be at 7:30 at the dive shop. Fred, the only other diver on the list at our dive shop is already on the boat. And a Swiss couple that also stays at the IC. Looking at the number of tanks set-up on the boat we must be with about 15 divers today.

The first dive is dramatic. Or we have been dropped totally at the wrong spot. Or the current had been under estimated. Result: we lost the reef. After hanging 15 minutes in the water, the dingy picks us up. While I am trying not to get seasick we return to the reef, where we are dropped again. So half an hour later than planned we are at 30 meters deep on the North Plateau. Staring in the blue to see a shark. The intend / plan was to see a Hammer Head. But really, any shark would do. It appears not to be our lucky day. No sharks to see today.

There is quite some current, so we hide behind the reef to go to the South Plateau. Arriving there, to our surprise, Fred is already surfacing. Thirty minutes in the dive he is obviously already out of air. The guide signs he wants to surface. I wish him the best of luck with Fred and signal him that we will continue as a buddy team. We slowly return towards the Northern Plateau. Just as we want to start our safety stop I see a Hammer Head swimming in our direction. We descent to have a better look. What a beautiful shark. And what a lucky dive it ends up to be, despite the bad start.

// Unfortunately me and my camera didn't see eye to eye when the hammer head passed. The shark was so close and I thought I had it on video so beautifully. But I had pushed the wrong button, and so there was only the approaching and leaving part on video. The beautiful 'middle' part wasn't captured. At lest not on camera, the brain has a great movie! //

Jos: 56 [min] / 30.9 [m] | Petra: 55 [min] / 28.7 [m]

The second dive we start from the dingy. Nice and slowly drifting passed this beautiful reef. After half an hour we are at the end of the reef. We peep around the corner, but at that side the current is way too strong. As the dive plan was to return to the boat ourselves, we simply and slowly, return the same reef side, swimming against the current. Here and there we stop and hang on the reef. At that time the Swiss guy has finished his air. He leaves for his safety stop. She stays and teams up with us until the end of our dive. We start our Safety Stop under the boat, but at the end of the Safety Stop the current had pushed us quite a bit away from the boat, so we had to swim quite a distance against the current to catch the line that was hanging from the boat. From there it was easy to pull ourselves back towards to boat and climb on.

Jos: 59 [min] / 23.5 [m] | Petra: 59 [min] / 25.0 [m]

"Beep beep beep" The Captain spotted Dolphins. They are gone before I see them. "Beep beep beep" ... the boat next to us is honking its horn as well, as they also see the dolphins. They return and four dolphins ride our bow wave and jump up effortlessly. A big black spot in the water. A huge turtle. "Dugong dugong"... no. Yes .... the green-yellow spot surfaces to breath. It is a big Dugong. And all that just outside Marsa Imbarak. Our destination for tomorrow. Maybe we are lucky .... again.

// Fred is from Roosendaal //

June 12th - Private Yacht

I expected, as we had seen it was only the two of signing up these Day Boat Dives, the dives to have been cancelled. But no, we go with the two of us. "Private Tour" Marc, the shop owner, cried when we left the harbor,

The plan was Marsa Imbarak (south) followed by Korafi (north). Our guide, Tobi, tells the captain he is going in the wrong direction when he turns north when he leaves the harbor. He should go south! The captain explains that the wind will pick up this afternoon making it impossible to go there than. Marsa Imbarak is wel protected, so we can go there any time. Okay. The captain makes the final decision on this, so Korafi first it is.

Jos: 64 [min] / 30.9 [m] | Petra: 63 [min] / 29.9 [m]

Korafi is a very nice dive site, just north of the house reef. After we finished the dive we immediately sail to Marsa Imbarak. As our guide is not joining us (we didn't book a guide) there are 2 tanks extra. So we could make a third dive .. . To keep that option open we do our second dive before lunch. As we don't see screaming snorkelers in the water, which normally locate something exiting as a Dugong, we decide to skip the boring sea grass and head for the reef. Quite some sand in the water, so average visibility, when we start. But that improves as we get further in our dive, making the reef more and more beautiful. On the other hand it is getting more busy above us. Man, what a noise! despite some discussion on which direction to go we find our boat quite easily.

Jos: 54 [min] / 18.6 [m] | Petra: 54 [min] / 17.4 [m]

Ooh .. my God. There are already ten (!) boats in the bay. And there are more coming. After lunch we decide to call it a day, and skip on our - optional - third dive. There are fourteen boats in the bay now, and number fifteen is approaching. Marsa Imbarak is both a know place to 'hide' on a windy day, so on a day like this many day boats go there as there are little other options, as also the place to hang on the start and end day for many live aboards. A beautiful bay, with - if your lucky - so much to see. But to day it's not that lucky day, and it is way too busy.

Time to say goodbye to our Private Yacht, it was a very nice gesture form Extra Divers!

// Tonight: Cocktail Party //

June 13th - House Reef

Time flies when your having fun ... today is already our last diving day. After a chat with Mostafa, our scooter guide, we decide to do CP → North → CP. Again a very nice dive. Not for Petra, her goggles keep fogging up the last half of the dive. Back at the dive shop they advise us to use plain dish washing soap.

Jos: 61 [min] / 24.1 [m] | Petra: 61 [min] / 23.2 [m]

No, this can't be the last dive with Petra not really being able to enjoy it. So we do another last dive in the afternoon. Man, how incredibly beautiful this house reef is! I could simply lay on my belly in the sand for an hour and just look around and enjoy. Maybe I should really do that on a next visit, because it is clear that we will be back.

Jos: 63 [min] / 27.8 [m] | Petra: 63 [min] / 25.3 [m]

// Very confusing. The air carrier website says departure 19:50, ticket says 18:50. After making a few calls with our travel agent and reception calling the airport it is confirmed: departure is 18:50, as the ticket says [check out at 14:00, taxi at 17:15]. This happens when you fly with a Belgian company. The clock will be adjusted in Egypt for Ramadan, which starts 3 weeks from now. The Belgian air carrier already adjusted their website now .... //

June 14th - All good things come to an end

In the middle of the night the ringtone of a text message wakes us up. T-Mobile finally discovered we're in Egypt. Little later another one. The Netherlands had beaten Spain, the reigning World Champion, 5 to 1, of course we had to know that as well! So we watch the beautiful sun rise and sleep a little more.

It's our last day, so we take our time for breakfast. It's delicious. Next stop is the dive shop: paying the bill, cleaning up our stuff and saying goodbye to the Extra Divers team. Than back to the hotel, for a day of relaxing. First to - and in - the pool. At 13:15 it's time to go to the room and pack all our stuff. At 14:00 we need to leave the room. To reception to pay the bill. And than to the Pool Bar for a final lunch. Fish & Chips with a cool beer for me and Rosemary Chicken and a Rose for Petra.

The rest of the afternoon passes and at 17:15 it is time to go. The private car with driver is waiting for us. About ten minutes later we are at the airport. After "Verona" has left the check in goes quickly and smoothly. Until .... DELAY 19:50 → 21:00 .... it's going to be a long night.