a Tramp in Paradise

This was wasteland not long ago. Now Port Ghalib, a divers and longdrinkers paradise.

Port Ghalib is not my kind of place. Well, the above water part is not. Everything is designed out of sand to facilitate the tourist's needs and desires. It took me a couple of days before I could see that this is actually an important part of Egypt's industry and that a lot of Europeans actually enjoy and maybe even need to come to such a non cultural ghetto to warm up or just do nothing.
    Some of the visitors in Marina Lodge do not even snorkel. It is madness to me. But I do realize that they appreciate the stay, for one reason or the other. I mean, they actually seem happy to be here, doing pretty much nothing except sipping a drink and stretching by the pool - and I am the only grumpy one.

I am ... a snob.

I am realizing that I am a snob, much more than them. I am a cultural snob, not wanting to mix with the touristic underclass cramming uninteresting places like this, which is unworthy of my refined and experienced presence.
    Actually, I am more and more avoiding to enter conversations with climate travelers. I am the odd one staying to himself, or being seen communicating with the pool-guy, hoping to find traces of a real story, not just plastic-fantastic.

A friendly talk and a cup of tea - even with no business. Very good guys. Look for their kind!

Being the snob I am, I  complained about the stupid guy in the water taxi, about the hilarious fee for internet usage and about the ignorant male receptionist who could not make easy decisions. I was also not pleased by the fact that it was too late or too early the two first times I ordered shisha. So I was the difficult one.
    Well, to tell the truth, even I softened up somewhat during my stay. A couple of the guests were really nice and we had some good conversations - enough for a russian guy to think I was hitting on his wife and daughter and for a sweet elderly German couple to share their stories.

confusing non believer

Before I leave, I also have a wonderful talk with Dalia and Fatima, working in the reception and everywhere else. They appear to be the only ones to speak good English in this place. I am told that the staff really wondered who I was, when I arrived. I had noticed a curiosity among them. My beard first brought them to believe I am Muslim, so they respected me.
    "No, I am not," I answered when a guy dared ask.
    That made them assume I was Israeli, and they stopped liking me.
    "No, I am not," I answered when another guy asked, and I added "I actually do not stick with a religion."
    That completely confused them. So without knowing it, I had been the talk of the hotel. But not only the hotel.

When the end is good, everything is good (Norwegian saying...)

The last night on the shuttleboat, a local passenger told me that he had told another guy on land about me. There are some nice fellows working in this place (especially my cap-man).
    "A Norwegian?" the other fellow had asked, not sure who he meant. "Well, I only saw one guy as you describe, he was talking with everybody..."
    "THAT is the guy!" my fellow passenger had said.

So, that was just a small report from the talkative non believing snob... ending his stay in Marina Lodge, a clean and fairly reasonable hotel in the artificial and half finished oddity of Port Ghalib.


Welcome to ... Cairo!

Last dive in Marsa Alam

A BIG Puffer!

The first two days were right out cold. It is less fun diving when you end up with a headache and a shivering body. I was hoping for better conditions, and got it. Yesterday was good and today was great.
There were only two Swedish girls and I on the boat, and we saw no other divers under water. The sun was shining and added good color and light to the scene.

take off

the small is "normal"

One of the girls were less experienced, so Muhamed took special care of her, while Hanna and I stayed as buddies not far from them. We started out at first dive running into the biggest puffer I've ever seen. It turned out to be a puffer day, as we saw three different kinds, and Hanna was the first to spot most of them. That is what buddies are for... ;)

Before turning at the point of the reef, we were circled in by a school of barracudas. They are graceful and elegant, among the fastest in the neighborhood. We then floated over a landscape of corals and abundant fish life before returning.

A find school of Barracudas. Checking us out.

I try to breath deeper to avoid the annoying headache. I do not use much air anyway, so I actually practice in using more, rather than less. And it seems to work.

Add caption

Second dive was across the little bay in the reef. We swam over a giant mussle, by far the biggest I've seen, and was led out to some freestanding corrals, like an underwater island of life, rather big.
    The deep blue stretched to all sides, but Muhamed knew the way. All in all a great guy, who took just as much care as he had to, to keep us under control. The least experienced of the girls was led to the boat finishing her dive while Hanna and I could have some more time around the boat, where fish just crowded the place.

It is important not only to look for fish, the corrals are awesome!.

    The second oversized puffer - a Starry Puffer this time - swam along with me before we ended the dive, in just over 40 minutes. Not cold, only a vague headache after surfacing.
    I jumped in again, only in my swimwear, just to have the "nude" feeling. Wonderful.

I look forward to returning to this sea, maybe on a liveaboard next time.



On the two last photos you see todays Masked Puffer and a small red fish that was previously a female! He now has a harem of dozens of orange females, of which he was the mightiest one when the former male died. What a world!


Welcome to Egypt!

Dykking i Egypt

I have had three days under water in Marsa Alam. This is an "all inclusive resort" of the kind I normally  avoid, but if you want to dive, this is the way to do it. I will let the photos speak for themselves and make another post soon, about this place, the dive company and the way to get here from Cairo.

"alt OK!"

Muhammed guide

En flott musling ...

... og en til!

blue-spotted skate

Ferdighetsnivået mitt holdes på et nøkternt nivå av de ganske lange pausene jeg har mellom hver gang jeg dykker. Siste gang var i Lofoten sist vår. Jeg har derfor bestemt meg for å operere med en erfaring på 25 dykk, permanent. Slik får guidene ikke for store forhåpninger og kan heller dømme meg ut i fra det de ser.
    Her har jeg Muhamed, en egypter som virker veldig grundig og pålitelig. Det går ikke lenge før det ser ut til at han trives med å ha meg som klient.

Bortsett fra å ivareta sikkerheten omkring dykket, vil en god instruktør/guide kjenne området godt, og peke ut spesielle plasser hvor fisk eller koraller av spesiell interesse holder til. I tillegg vet de hva de skal se etter, slik at de ofte får øye på ting som ellers ville gått meg hus forbi.

Tostripet Klovnefisk, også kalt Anemonefisk.

De vokter anemonen, som beskytter dem.

Det er kjempegøy å ligge å kikke. Her en Masked Butterfly Fish.

Surgeonfish - med gule "skalpeller".

Lionfish skal du ikke kødde med.

Yellow Butterfly Fish

Blekksprut i skjul

Gunnar - min "buddy" i dag.

Det er få dykkere her i januar, så jeg hadde Muhamed for meg selv i går. I dag var to herrer fra henholdsvis Sverige og Norge med, og jeg fikk svenske Gunnar som buddy, mens Muhamed tok seg spesielt av norske Ivar, en kul fyr på 70, som lærte seg å dykke for få år siden.

    Muhamed så at Gunnar og jeg greide oss fint alene, så vi avtalte svømmemønster, trykkrutiner og rute, og var litt for oss selv langs revet. Gunnar fulgte meg som en skygge, også interessert i å fotografere, så vi passet fint sammen.

    På vei tilbake hadde vi kommet opp til omlag ti meter da jeg fikk øye på noe som først så ut som en stein nede på tjue meter.
    Jeg måtte se flere ganger, og var litt stolt over at det for en gang skyld var meg selv som fikk øye på noe spesielt et stykke unna. En vidunderlig flott skilpadde lå der nede, så vi seg langsomt ned, med tid for kameraet til å finne fokus og holdes i ro.

    Etter et par sekunder lettet den massive kroppen, vektløst, og fløy langsomt utover i det store blå. Virkelig et flott syn. Nå har jeg en dykkedag igjen, før jeg returnerer til Kairo. Jeg savner en skikkelig shisha nå ...

... er den ikke fin?

Welcome to Egypt!

an Islamic deal

Not a big deal, you might say, but one I have never experienced before. I am in a tourist trap called Marsa Alam, about wich I will share my grumpiness later, but even here, among ridiculously overpriced suvernirshops in the "souk" (tourist trap shops), I had an interesting human encounter.

I was looking for a cap, as I seem to have forgotten mine on the bus. The first shop in the shoppingstreet (sorry "traditional style souk") had one to my liking. Price 75 Egyptian pounds, about 10 Euro.
   "OK," I said, and left, without the cap.
    "Wait, do you not want the cap."
    "Maybe, maybe not, but I believe that you will think about this conversation and remember the right price when I return later."
    "OK, you will get it for 50."

That is the lowest price I expected, so I agree without further ado, but he invites me to sit and begin to discuss politics and religion. He is on the hard core side of views. Women must be covered, and all that. And Allah is all merciful. Muslims do not condemn anyone. Islam is open and tolerant. I have heard all this a few times now, and I sincerely agree in that the religion is open and tolerant, especially as it is performed here in Egypt. That is one of the reasons why I like the country.
    But the view the guy has on women provokes me profoundly. Maybe even more because he works in a place like this, where bikinis flourish.
    "I do not really want to work here," he honestly admits. "But I have to."
    Times are hard, and will get harder, so I understand him. He is a very nice guy, except for all his conservative opinions concerning women. I deeply recommend sex before marriage, free flowing hair and claims that it is on high time to take another step in equal rights in Islam. The first and only step so far was great and important - but was made about 1400 years ago. Time for an update, a 2.0 version of the Koran, maybe. I have been told that scholars are actually working on a new interpretation, and that the Koran gives room for a lot of improvement in this matter, but this is not at all necessary, according to my new friend here.

Back to the deal. He tells me that he would work with cows, rather than attend the needs of tourists. This is why I like him. He is straightforward and honest. More honest than I first imagine.
    "You know, I hate this job. It is against the Koran to be unfair and unjust with people."
    I have no clue what he is talking about.
    "I will not let you pay fifty for that hat," he then says. I would feel terrible if I do that.
    "What do you mean?"
    "We do not pay more than ten for it. You should pay fifteen."
    "Come on! This is a tourist trap, Europeans who come here can afford fifty. It is OK."
    "No it is not. It is unfair and against Islam."
    "You mean it is Haram?"
    "Yes, if I take those money, they will disappear quickly. I will rather earn 40 honest pounds in a day, than 200 in this way."
    "You really mean this?"
    "Yes. Those 40 will help me more than the 200."
    "Lets say 20 then."
    "No. 15. Not more."
    "Can I leave five by the side, as a gift to your children?"
    "No."

He means it. I have just been "counterhassled" downwards to a very, very low price for a cap that fits me perfectly. I leave promising not to add his name to the story, as he would be fired if is boss found out.

My fascination of this country is watered and fed once again. The contrasts, the human stories, the confusion and turbulence between development and tradition ... but the last place in Egypt I expected to find such a good Muslim, was here, in Marsa Alam. I will complain about the place later, as promised above.


Welcome to Egypt!