Egypt - Chillin in Dahab!

After collecting Jon from the airport we headed up the Sinai Penisula to Dahab. The apartment that we had rented was absolutely brilliant and only a minute walk from the beach - perfect! the apartment even came with a gardener/cleaner/valet type guy (Aied) who was there to take care of whatever we needed. He proved very handy when buying booze as he got it all at about 1/2 the price that they were selling it to us for. Anyway upon arriving we were still in a rush mode so it was off out exploring straight away! The main promenade was great with heaps of restaurants and stalls to keep your attention and everything is right on the water - brilliant!
The next day we headed out exploring the other end of the bay and as we got a little bit off the beaten track we found some kids (and their goat) playing football. Within a couple of minutes the boys were into it and there was a NZ vs Egypt football match underway in someones backyard in amongst all of the rubbish. While the boys were mucking around some of the women came out of the house and offered Paula and I bedouin tea while we watched them play. For all of their might the Egypt under 10's team absolutely caned the NZ Seniors division about 25 -2 by our calculations. Fun had by all though. We spent the rest of the day taking it pretty easy as the boys were still recovering both from being sick and the very physical football match.
By day two we had gotten into the laid back pace of Dahab and were quite ready to chill out. We did however get Aied to organise a trip to the Blue Hole. A dodgy old 4WD picked us up and we piled into the back before heading out along the beach and off to the Blue Hole. When we arrived it really is a crazy scene, there were restaurants lining the beach of this top snorkelling spot, people everywhere and you can be bought in by either 4WD or Camels.... so there were camels wandering all over the show. Quite a crazy combination of old world transport and new age dive technology... Anyway it was straight out to the water to go for a snorkel and see what the fuss was about! The sea wasnt as calm which was a bit of a bugger but there were still heaps of great fish to see. There was also free divers and scuba divers there as well so plenty of action under the water to keep us entertained.
We headed back to Dahab that afternoon and after a quick break jumped on quad bikes to head out into the desert. This was sooooo much fun! The guy taking us did get a little miffed by the boys as they were very confident on the bikes and were rucking it up a little more than I think he was used to. They managed to get away with it though and the owner loved Jase and Shane as they did a little motorbike mechanics stuff on one of the two wheelers while we were there - they just cant help themselves! The trip itself was great, we went out to an Oasis in the desert and came back alone the beach. Then hit the road back to the start and we were absolutely flying! Mum you will be pleased to know that they made us wear helmets, which was the first time that that option was presented while we were in Egypt!
The quad biking was followed by another night out, and as they all did invariably we ended at the Tota bar and the Tree bar (Paula made friends with the owners so we were in!). Shane and I left early and when we woke up Jon had bought home a pressie for me which was a bedouin stool that I had been looking at. Yayee for Jon - it is very cool!
The next day the boys went for a scuba dive at the lighthouse which is just off the promenade. It is pretty different watching people just walk in to the water from a restaurant essentially and disappear. There were a couple of times where you would be eating a meal and divers would pop up out of no where - have to admit I got a fright! Anyway the boys rated the dive that they did, apparently the dive guide was excellent and they got to see lion fish which was the aim of the whole dive holiday!
Dahab was very chilled out - New Years Eve we started at the apartment and then headed off to Tota bar which was where the party was happening. It was very funny cos they had hard out security on the door - you had to go through about 5 checks and metal detectors etc but once you got in there and walked into the garden bar there were local people wandering over the roofs of the neighbouring buildings and jumping down into the bar... very dodgy! We saw the new year in and continued to party to the wee hours there. The whole place was pretty packed with tourists but proved to be fun none the less!
New Years day was another chilled out day and I used this to do a spot of market shopping and purchase a few things to take home. The boys headed back out to the Blue Hole and went for another dive - this one was better than the first and they were all on a high after a brilliant dive when they got back. Our last night in Dahab was pretty tame as we had to get up at 4am in the morning to get back to Sharm El Sheik for our flight to Cairo. Next stop - the big city!