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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TESSA!!! We are now the proud parents of a teenaged daughter! She is such a great girl and we still can't believe she's been as tough as she has on this trip, adapting to everything and being gracious and fun the whole time.
We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel, the best breakfast in Egypt so far, and at 11:00 am we headed for the Blue Hole, a world class snorkelling spot, 30 minutes outside of Dahab. The ride there was less than world class, as we were packed into the back of a pickup truck with some other adventurers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, 4 facing 4, with another 3 people packed into the front seat! Eek!
The last few kilometres of the trip was unbelievably bumpy across a washboard winding road, and we passed many camels along the way. At one point, we met two other trucks and passed mere centimetres from each other. We must admit, though, that it was fun and we passed the time chatting with the other passengers. At last, we arrived, around a bend and through a hole in a cliff. Minutes later, Barry, Connor and Tessa were all geared up and ready to go in. Their first glances underwater brought them all up, exclaiming with delight over what they'd seen. Black, blue, green and multi-coloured striped fish of every description were a metre or less below them. They worked their way around the Blue Hole twice, coming up again and again to share what they'd see, before coming out for a break. Tessa claimed it was the best birthday present ever and Barry and Connor had to agree that they'd had an excellent time! After quick refreshments and some first aid for Barry (he scraped his leg on some coral), even Margaret decided to give it a try and she was extremely happy that she did. What a contrast from the high-and-dry barren rock hills all around. The deep blue water teemed with life and the coral reef, illuminated by the sun, created a seascape like no other!
After our second swim, we sat upon cushions on the 2nd storey of our wooden dive shack, looking over the Blue Hole, the Red Sea, and the silhouette of Saudi Arabia across the water. The staff brought Tessa a chocolate crepe and they all sang "Happy Birthday" to her in Egyptian and then in English! Hopefully, this will be a birthday she will never forget. We got back about 4:00 pm and decided to shower and then walk around town. We were very glad we did. Dahab is a very laid back town and people invite you into their stores, but there is very little pressure and we could actually browse around and look at the art and clothing. There are plentiful restaurants along the shore, and at dusk we settled on one called Friends which was recommended by the Calgarians we had met on the train between Aswan and Luxor. It was an excellent evening beside the sea, and the only thing that put a little bit of a damper on it was that the waiter really pushed us to have a much bigger meal than we wanted. We don't eat that much these days and we, of course, have to watch our money, so we stayed firm and ordered only what we wanted. It was excellent. Three of us enjoyed fresh seafood (he brought a tray of fish and shrimp to us so we could make our own selection), and Tessa had spaghetti and a milkshake for her birthday. They also brought soup, bread with six different dips (baba gounash, etc.), and a lovely plate of watermelon for dessert. We were surrounded by cats all night, which the kids liked; and we even saw the flash of an underwater camera just offshore, so that was cool. Barry finished the evening by smoking a shisha pipe and drinking Egyptian tea, just like Roshdy taught him. Back at the hotel, we checked messages and Tessa was very happy to get birthday messages from home! Thank you to everyone who sent one! It meant a lot to her! Then, we finished the evening with a card game. Excellent day in Egypt!!
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