Delightful Dehab

Situated in a picturesque bay, full of coral, Dahab is a red sea diving paradise. We had plenty of time here and there was only a few things on the itinerary: dive, eat, drink and chill out. After a few more dives in the red sea (including the famous Blue hole) we really were convinced that this was one of the most spectacular places to dive in the world. I believe that together with Sipdan island in Borneo and the far reaches of the upper great barrier reef off far north Queensland it is the best in the world. The abundance of fish and brightly coloured coral make it hard to know where to look during the 50 minutes you get moonlighting in their underwater world. (Photo: Author, Pasq and our tour leader Neil celebrating)

The bay, while flush with fish and coral, is also completely flanked by waterfront restaurants. And unlike a lot of the rest of Egypt, the food is quite good. Breakfast in particular was a surprise as we got a merciful rest form the ever present sweet, stale bread, eggs and jam. With eating and diving taken care of, the only thing left was to celebrate and my (belated) birthday provided the (seldom needed) excuse. Churchill’s Bar provided an ideal location, especially from my friends point of view, as shouting me a drink would never cost them more than three Australian dollars. A thoroughly enjoyable night was had by all, perhaps apart from Dan, an young, rowdy, Aussie travel agent with dreds who fell over at the bottom of the stairs and rolled his ankle so severely he couldn’t walk. Despite the late hour and a blood alcohol level which in any other country would preclude any kind of Doctoring, we strapped up the ankle and sent him off to bed. Adam was missing, and it later became clear he had joined an unknown Russian sailor and driven around in a taxi until it was abundantly clear nothing else was open. A quick visit to the local Doc the next morning and Dan returned with the words, “I’ve broken some bone in my foot”. Despite being unable to spot the break from his xrays we all concluded a bit of plaster wouldn’t hurt and so he continued the trip on crutches.