Dahab

Dahab is windier and cooler than normal. No problem when wearing long sleeve shirt but always worry about the camera when the sand starts blowing. Dahab is not an upscale beach destination like Sharm El-Sheikh, its origins go back to the hippy days and now seems to have a lot of divers from Russia and Eastern Europe. It does have great diving and budget places to stay. Saw a sign for a house for sale, less than 15,000 dollars a couple blocks from the beach. Lots of local markets, you can even buy frankincense and mure at the market down the street.

It's now Friday in Dahab and the wind is still very strong, to strong to go boat diving. We have a couple taking the certification class and they are shore diving in a cove protected from the wind. I hadn't planned on diving this trip but did wanted to rent a car and drive back into the mountains. With the sand that is blowing out there I will stay in town, after all we have driven through enough blowing sand already. We have one more day here so tomorrow may be better and this was set up as a rest stop after all we have covered in Egypt. Sunday we take the large truck ferry from Nuweiba to Jordan. Its a 4 hour trip but with loading and unloading normally takes 10 hours. A driver reported he was on the ferry 36 hours a few days ago partly because of the wind. It has to be one of the most complex customs points in the world with trucks, cars, and people from many countries. Last time met an Italian on a motorcycle that couldn't get into Egypt at he did not have Egyptian plates on his bike and was not allowed to go into Egypt to get them. He also could not go back to Jordan due to a visa problem and had been there several days trying to resolve his situation.