Then it was time to move on to Dahab; the first leg of the trip was by armed convoy to Hurghada on the coast. I'm glad we didn't spend much time here. The hotel offered the best breakfast selection out of all the hotels we'd stayed in but otherwise it was like being in the Russian Blackpool of Egypt! There were hotels upon hotels upon hotels and in between were all the hotels under construction; our hotel was on the outskirts surrounded by what seemed to be a construction site.

The following morning we caught the bumpy Red Sea Jet Ferry from Hurghada to Sharm El-Sheikh (in Asia not Africa, but still part of Egypt), but rather than stay here headed for the more relaxed "backpacker nirvana" of Dahab. It was pretty relaxing compared to the rest of our hectic schedule but we did include some more strenuous activities like quad biking through the desert on a sunset ride and a day snorkelling in the Red Sea at a place called the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole is an amazing dive and snorkel site - or rather it would be if it isn't accompanied by litter, rubbish, broken coral and who knows what else floating around. The coral garden is stunning, the fish numerous and colourful but in places the coral is damaged; the very thing people are going to see is being damaged by the people seeing it. Although it's a conservation area, there's a long way to go to reach the same standard as other conservation areas. Fortunately we opted for an early schedule; by the time we left the wall of coral was swarming with people. But I guess the Great Barrier Reef is similar.

We were planning to go snorkelling again on another day off the beach outside of the hotel, but there was a lot of swell and the water was very rough so we went for an Egyptian Massage instead. :-)

Intro | Museum & Pyramids | Aswan | Felucca | Luxor West Bank & Temples | Dahab | Mt Sinai & St Catherine