Dreaming Down the Nile

by Andy and Fiona Boorer

Personnel - Cairo and Luxor - Andy and Fi (me) Boorer, daughter Cathy Boorer, family friend Bruce Collier.
"Dreams" - Andy and Fi Boorer, Bruce Collier, Bruce's mother Cheryl Hadland, family friend Nicholas "Fox" Schofield (no Cathy, she had to get back to work!).

Just for a change, we decided to take a boat (MY Dreams, the baby of the Sea Serpent Fleet, still arranged through Tony Backhurst) operating from Hurghada. This meant we were on the "right" side of the Red Sea to indulge in an extra week spent "doing" the sites in Cairo and Luxor.

Tony Backhurst's crew arranged the flights, and we were off! We flew (nearly....) Astreus from Gatwick to Hurghada - an hour into the flight, there was a bump, more bumps and the plane started to go downwards - and the oxygen masks deployed! A minute later there was an announcement from the cockpit that we were supposed to put the masks on, not just stare at them! The plane had "a problem" - you don't say! Slight smell of burning, too. So, we returned to Gatwick (minor hitch, one of our party - our daughter Cathy - had gone out on a different flight and was now twiddling her thumbs in Hurghada at the hotel we had booked but were now not using! We checked she hadn't been sold into slavery or anything - no, she was just bored!). There were no planes available, so they transferred us to Stanstead, where we stayed overnight - if we'd been just doing a week, we'd have missed a day's diving - there were some very unhappy diving bunnies on the plane! So, we set off on Saturday, and there was a funny moment during the safety presentation when they got to the bit about the oxygen masks ("guess you all know about these!").

On arrival at Hurghada, we left our dive gear with the Tony Backhurst rep (thanks for organising that!), collected Cathy and set off to catch the bus (yes, a bus) up to Cairo - instead of the nice leisurely daytime trip we took the 2100 bus that got in at 0230! However, we hadn't missed any of our planned excursions. A wrestle with the taxi drivers at Cairo bus station later, we got to our hotel (Oasis Hotel, Giza, nice and handy for the Pyramids) bright and early to meet our tour guide at 0930! I booked all our excursions through a company on the net - Do Something Different Website - excellent!

The actual tours are run by Thomas Cook in Egypt, and we had a private car and guide in both Cairo and Luxor - all for a very reasonable price - much better than the big "cattle" tours we saw some people on! We saw the Pyramids, and did a camel ride, visited Memphis and Saqqara, and the Cairo Museum - Cairo traffic is MANIC! The road and markings are a guideline......

We had planned to take the train down to Luxor, but there were no seats (memo to self, book trains - you can book them before - you can't book buses in advance). Thomas Cook to the rescue (couldn't fault the service) with some very reasonable flights - we missed the scenic journey, but gained most of a day to relax. That is, until we arrived - we got the "ghetto taxi from hell" from the airport - Bruce's door opened as we went round a bend and the back estate door flew open at speed - hmmmmmm.

However, our nice hotel here was the Sheraton - right on the Nile (I booked the hotels through a site I have used several times - Hotelclub Website who do fantastic discounts - our stay in Luxor worked out at £17 per person per night!). Here, our guide, having ascertained we were really into history, gave us an immersion into Egyptology and taught us so much! We did Karnak and Luxor temples, a felucca ride down the Nile and the West Bank with the Valley of the Kings. Highlight here was the balloon flight at dawn (up at 0500!) across the West Bank - awesome!

















Again, we had planned to take the bus back down to Hurgahda, but were sidetracked by Thomas Cook's offer of a private transfer in the "convoy" leaving in the morning. So, we took the easy option. The convoy is fun - goes very fast and must p*** off the locals as they stop all other traffic on side roads. I must say, I do prefer my blind bends to be taken on the correct side of the road, however! We arrived, again, earlier than planned, but sat comfortably in the Marriot (the overnight hotel the boat uses) until everyone else arrived - the boat, handily, leaves from the Marriot jetty. The flight, this week, had gone smoothly! Poor Cathy had to go back to work so missed the diving!

"Dreams" is showing signs of age round the edges such as sticky doors and loose fitments - but the crew etc more than made up for that. They were very helpful, and the dive guides (Mo and Hamy) knowledgeable and friendly. Food very nice! Tea time mainly desserts - I personally prefer the savoury snacks I've had on other boats, but judging by the way they vanished, I was in a minority. Don't expect the same luxury as on the Tornado Marine boats, but there were nice touches - they still do free fizzy drinks (including diet ones- which I approve of) - I find the sugary fruit drink available on other boats too sweet. The towelling robes were big enough!

The dining area is big enough for the "guests" but not the dive guides as well, which I think is a shame - it's nice to sit with them (though maybe they'd rather have their space!). The advertised program was the "Get Wrecked" tour, but the guides seemed to think we were doing "Wrecks and Reefs" - but we did do lots of Wrecks. Need to check that out...

It was nice to concentrate on "this" side of the Straights of Gobal. We crossed them and did Shark and Yolanda (too much current to actually do the loos!), the Dunraven, the Alternatives (vis nasty!) and, of course, the Thistlegorm (3 dives). The Thistlegorm was fish city - streams and streams - the only problem was seeing the wreck! On the Hurghada side, we did the wrecks of Abu Nuhas, the Kingston, the Barge at Gobal Island (couldn't do the Ulysses as the wind was wrong), the Rosalie Moller (good vis but fewer fish - think they were all off on their holidays on the Thistlegorm)sundry reefs and finally the Susannah/Excaliber - a sunken liveaboard in Hurghada harbour (mediocre, on a silty bottom so not excellent vis, but nice glassfish - Andy and I had dived this wreck when it first went down years ago, so it was interesting to see the changes).

There was also a mega dolphin encounter which most of us missed (yes, it is guaranteed that if you miss a dive that will be "the one"......). We practiced our rudimentary Arabic - phrases such as "Yella bina" (phonetic spelling) for "let's go" are very useful! We also learnt about songs such as the llama song (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HbPDKHXWlLQ), Pirates (yo ho heave ho etc) and others which have to be heard to be believed - Bruce was threatened with being thrown overboard on the nth repetition! However, Cathy is still talking to us because we didn't see a whale shark (though we wound her up by taking pictures of the pictures in an article in a magazine on board!). Pictures this time with my new underwater camera - still experimenting, but better resolution, and a nice red filter!




Last night sent in the Marriot (nice and comfortable, but quite pricy for drinks - Bruce and Fox had one shot and a pint each in the Island bar and the bill was over 500 Egyptian - about £50! - I think it's a real shame that they feel they have to overcharge that way).

All in all, an excellent trip (unbelievably, one of the other guests was someone I went to 6th form college with - hi Judy!) and we all enjoyed it tremendously. Flight home uneventful, arrived back "chez nous" before midnight - quite civilised!



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