House Guests

For the last three weeks friends from Boyne City, John and Sue McCahan, have been visiting. They took a Nile Cruise from Luxor to Asswan and a side trip to Abu Simbel. Monday my daughter arrived, with a family friend, Rick, in the wee hours of the morning, for a week visit during her spring school break. Later in the day my cousin, Catherine and her husband arrived for the week. Now I have a housefull of friends and family. What fun! John and Sue are leaving soon to continue their travels for another three weeks in Turkey. Liz and Rick, Catherine and Bill will be here in Cairo for the week, with, hopefully, a side trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

This is my daughter standing along the Nile on the Corniche in downtown Cairo.

Here is Rick with John McCahan in baseball cap standing behind. No pictures of my cousin and her husband yet. Today they were off to discover the Egyptian museum.

Sadat Memorial

In Cairo there is a memorial to the late President Anwar Sadat who was assinated in 1981, by Islamist extremeists who were upset with him for signing a peace treaty with Israel for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. The peace treaty with Israel was very unpoular in the Arab world, and caused considerable controversy. This is the memorial as it appears from the street.

Sadat is buried at the tomb of the unknown in Cairo across the street from the viewing stands where he was assinated. It is a very special memorial here in Cairo.

I have been by this site at all hours of the day and night and there is always someone here.

This is the viewing platform where Sadat was standing when assinated. The security would not let me go up onto the stand to have my picture taken. This was as far as I could go.

This gives you a better view of the viewing stand across the street from the memorial. It is a very quiet and solemn place. I had to hand in my passport to be allowed to visit the memorial. The Egyptians are very concerned that someone might desscrate this memorial and by handing in my passport I could be traced.

It was an interesting place to visit.

Dahab

Dahab is a delightful Egyptian resort town on the Gulf of Aqaba, that, along with Sharm el Sheik, is renoun for its coral reefs and dive centers. It is preferrable to Sharm-el-Sheik for snorkelers because the coral reefs are accessible from shore, making snorkeling much easier. However it is not as upscale as Sharm. Dive centers abound here and in Sharm that will take the intrepid farther offshore and to deeper and more splendid coral. Sharm is only 60 kilometers away, and busses run regularily between the two towns.

The Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, are the two bodies of water off the Red Sea that frame the Sinai Peninsula. From your beach lounge chair you can look across the gulf and see Saudi Arabia. At this point the Gulf of Aqaba is not very wide.

Most hotels are along the shoreline, so Dahab spreads out along the Gulf , but only a few blocks inland. The mountains come close to the sea here and one of the activities available is to rent an open, 4-wheel- dune buggy and go for an excursion into the canyons nearby. There is a well known blue hole here in Dahab that is a must see on everyone's snorkel/dive list. This picture may not give you much of an impression, but when you are in the water, snorkeling over the hole, it is very impressive. You can see the difference in color in the picture. The darker blue is the hole.

This hole is heavily dived because of its close proximity and easy access from shore. Th best time to snorkel/dive here is in the early morning before the hords of dive tourists arrive. I came here about 9:00 a.m. There were a few others, but by noon it was chock-a-block with swimmers andI had to be careful because not everyone is as good a swimmer as I. They did not look where they were going and ran into people. So I left just after the crowds ascended transported from the various resorts.

A blue hole, as I understand it, is a more or less circular area with steep sheer sides that could extend down hundreds of feet. The coral growing/ clinging to the sides and the fish and other acquatic life is spectacular to see. It is much like diving--in my case snorkeling--in an open acquarium. I only swam over the top of the hole, but I could see divers below me and their bubbles would ascend.

I didn't have an underwater camera so I borrowed these pictures from the internet to show you how impressive the coral and fish are. This is just like what I saw as I snorkeled around the blue hole and another area called Eel gardens. Yes, I did see some eels.

The entire area is showing signs of stress on the coral reefs. I think Egypt is in the process of trying to do something to protect these reefs, but is moving slowly. To this end just offshore from Sharm there is an underwater national park recently established. The dive community is very concerned about the abuses to the coral by some tourist groups and is attempting to self-regulate so as to protect their livelihood.

This entire coast is world famous for its diving and attracts millions of tourists. All that activity has to take a toll on the environment. Never the less, it was a wonderful way to spend a long weekend and I am glad I found the place. Next time I plan to stay longer--whenever that might be??!

Back writing

Hello there,
I have not been writing lately. Quite frankly, I have been lazy and just not done this blog as should have. So now I am back at it and will post right away. So sorry to all who follow me for the delay.