November 15, 2006 Sawa Beach Camp, Egypt

November 15, 2006
Sawa Beach Camp, Egypt

Though I had nothing (and no reason) to wake me up, I was out and about just after 6:00 (and not at all tired!). I think my body has become accustomed to getting up very early. I was up in time to watch the sunrise over Saudi Arabia.

I contemplated going for an early morning snorkel but decided that it was still a little bit cold. Even so, George (the Irishmen from Derry) headed out. Instead, I lay in the sand and returned to my book.

As I at breakfast (nutella pancakes w/ banana), George returned and reported that he had seen a sea turtle (he repeated the story all day). I excitedly lathered myself in sunscreen and waited for the day to warm up.

Just after 10:15 Travis, Cameron, and I grabbed some snorkel gear and walked out to the reef. We had to walk about 50 meters until it go deep enough. Even then, it was so shallow that I scrapped my knee on some coral. It did not hurt and I didn’t think much of it for a while.

The reef was absolutely incredible. It was some of the best snorkeling I have done. There were tons of tropical fish and awesome coral formations. The colors were breathtaking. After about ½ an hour I became concerned because my scratch had not stopped bleeding. I was forced to make the long trek back to the shore and take care of myself.

By the time I got back to the sand I realized that I had a fairly nasty cut on my knee. Though it did not hurt much, it was surprisingly deep and would probably be worth a couple of stitches if that were a possibility. Instead, B got out his first aid kit and cleaned me up. Once everyone in the group had had a look at my injury and helped me take care of it I could not move (from the wrap job on my knee). Once again, I got back to my novel.

At 11:45 I took off some of the bandages and joined the rest of the group. We ordered some lunch and then played cards as we waited for our food (this time I got schnitzel). After lunch I chilled out in the shade for a while.

Eventually, I decided that I had to get back out on the reef. Just before 14:00 (and after make sure I had completely stopped bleeding) we headed back out into the water.

We had a long snorkel session. I was particularly excited when I spotted a large dark-blue triggerfish (reminding me how similar the entire area is to Baja). Other highlights included seeing two different species of lionfish and numerous other species (I will have to look at the species charts before naming them all…). On the way back in we swam over most of the shallows (covered in seagrass). As I sped along I was shocked (and a little scared) to come face to face with a medium sized eel that looked kind of angry. I back off, called B and Cameron (its his birthday today) over and the spent some time watching it squirm through the grass.

The entire experience made me wish I had someway of taking my nice camera underwater!

We returned to the camp at about 13:00. I took a quick shower (warm saltwater) and then sat in the shade and finished my book. As it began to get dark we gathered around the fire and played some cards. We played a game of 500 that lasted until dinner.

At 19:00 we had a traditional Bedouin dinner. It was very interesting food but I found it quite fun that large pieces of chicken were buried in a large mound of rice. It made getting food sort of like a treasure hunt. Anyway, I don’t know what most of the stuff was. After dinner the cooks brought out a special birthday cake for Cameron. It was filled with fruit and chocolate and was very tasty.

Once again everyone made for bed quite early. I sat by the fire for a while and then turned in at about 21:30.