The date is February the 2nd 2012 and against family and government advice we take a trip to Egypt, 12 months before the Arab spring had started with major protests in Tahrir square followed by violence in which hundreds lost their lives. These protests would continue for a number of years resulting in the overthrow of
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and later his replacement Mohamed Morsi.
This was not the first time we had traveled to a country with political problems some years earlier we had flown into Sri lanka a short time after the Tamil Tigers had attacked the international airport, in fact so soon after there were still the bombed wreckage of planes scattered alongside the runway, A strange and slightly worrying sight indeed.
None the less although some would see our choices as risky we made them knowing full well the situation on the ground. So back to Egypt on arrival at the airport security was at a high for obvious reasons and we had it made clear to us that the protests were continuing all over the country but Sharm el-sheikh was considered safe, that was a relief as it confirmed what we had managed to find out prior to traveling.
On arrival at our hotel it became apparent that we were in the minority of people that thought a holiday in Egypt was a good idea at this time, the large 600 room hotel was deserted, it turned out only 30 or so guests were staying there which gave the place a ghost town feel. Unperturbed we settled into our room and unpacked for the 10 day stay, a nice room with a peacock towel display on the bed, what more could you need.
And from the balcony a stunning view across the Tiran straits with Tiran island glowing in the distance.
As evening fell we decided to go to the restaurant and make the most of our all inclusive deal, what a strange experience that was, there must have been no more than 12 people in a space that could easily cater for 150. This hotel had 5 restaurants all open despite the low numbers, we had gone to the main buffet and the spread of food was enormous and with virtually no guests the staff were super attentive and constantly trying to feed us we left there fit to burst after eating twice the amount we would have chosen to, totally stuffed we returned to our room to sleep it off.
On this break we intended to go diving but with 10 days to hand we opted to chill for a couple of days and spent that time around the pool or snorkeling in the sea.
Even in the pool they had a swim up bar where they constantly tried to feed us and with delicious "Hawawshi" available on tap who could resist.
Chatting to the pool bar chef Hesham he told me how thankful they were that some tourists were still coming as 6 months before they had all been layed off without wages and had only returned to work a few weeks before our arrival. I would guess that even with a some returning tourism that the hotels were probably operating at a loss.
After a couple of days lounging around and eating way too much food we arranged to start diving, the hotel had a in house dive centre so we decided to do a few local dives to get back into the swing of things as it had been a while since we had done any scuba. Like fish to water we soon felt at home beneath the surface and I got to take some photos in the amazingly clear waters.
It was great to be back blowing bubbles and the conditions were perfect plus the diversity of sea life was amazing. We spent the next couple of days diving sites around the Sinai area and also took a trip to Tiran island which was exceptional diving.
On about day 7 of our trip we headed out for the day on a boat to dive the world famous SS Thistlegorm, one of the best wreck dives on the planet. The ship was a British cargo ship employed to bring supplies to Allied forces fighting in northern Egypt, by this point in WW2 the Germans had control of most of the Mediterranean, so the ship had sailed around the cape of Africa and was on the final stretch of it's journey. While on a "safe" mooring it was spotted by the German air force and bombed, due to a large part of the cargo being ammunition and bombs the ship exploded and was sunk easily.
Many of these items can still be seen at the site, BSA and Norton motorcycles, Morris and Bedford trucks, Tanks, Railway locomotives and hundreds of bombs. We set sail early in the morning to dive the wreck twice, conditions were perfect and nothing could spoil my day, I was very excited to go there, more so than our captain who wasn't the most smiley of chaps, maybe he just didn't like the camera.
Arriving at the dive site the disdain of cameras was felt by myself also, just as we were about to enter the water for no explainable reason my camera would not turn on, the battery had been fully charged and even swapping it out for another yielded no result. I was gutted I had waited years to dive this wreck and at the last moment my camera lets me down, oh well i'm going to enjoy this anyway.
Well camera aside it was one of the best dives I had done in years, as the day started to fade we sailed the 2 hours back to port happy with our lot.
On getting back to the hotel there was a big kerfuffle in the reception area, "whats happening" I asked realizing something was amiss, "we are going to be attacked" was the response, well after much digging I found that a large number of Sinai tribesmen had gathered in Old Sharm town a few miles away. A rumor had been started that hundreds of men on camels were about to raid various hotels in the area, this of course was not something to be ignored as the nation was in turmoil but it seemed unlikely, as the hours passed the furore died down and it seemed that it was all a bit of a flash in the pan. The next morning we found that there had indeed been a gathering of tribesmen but it was to discuss the current situation and no thoughts of attacking anywhere were on their minds, what ever the case it made for a little excitement.
For the final two days we went back to the lazy tourist style of laying about on sun loungers, eating, drinking and acting like idiots in the pool and taking in the view from the comfort of our balcony.
As with everything it has to come to a end, despite what the country was going through we were pleased we chose to visit at this time, the everyday citizens were struggling and being there aided a little and as budget was not a major concern on such a short break we were able to tip generously and get the cash into the right hands. We have visited Egypt many times it's a beautiful country with great people, the tyrants that get to run the country are a poor example of true Egyptians. Lets hope that one day soon this stunning country can get back on track.
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I love SS Thistlegorm, I was there few years after you, but wreck itself and its content were still in great condition. The only downside is overcrowding. There was constantly some in front of me, someone behind me and sometimes over and under me.
Iv'e been there many times and some of them have been a shit show, when it's busy and you have people with poor buoyancy kicking all the sediment up it can be awful.
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #897.
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Hi @LivingUKTaiwan thanks for your continuing support, hope all is well with you. How is my tree doing has it started to flower yet:)