Dahab is a small coastal town located on the southeast coast
of the Sinai Peninsula and was a former Bedouin fishing village. Located around
80 kilometres northeast of Sharm el Sheikh it attracts thousands of tourists
every year who come to experience the charm Dahab has to offer, including
stunning scenery, and of course beautiful reefs. It is a world renowned diving
venue and we have had the pleasure of experiencing this first hand. In this
blog, we would like to introduce you to the town we have been calling home for
the past four weeks.
Lagoon Beach,
southern Dahab
So more about Dahab
itself……
We are based in the
Johwara Hotel (translated as the Jewel of Dahab) a fairly large hotel along the
main road (strip as we call it) of Dahab. The hotel itself has an amazing
atmosphere and certainly lives up to its name of being a jewel. Everybody good
friends with the staff and owners, despite the language barriers! The hotel
itself used to be a former Bedouin camp consisting of Bamboo huts but is now a
family run business.
The Jewel of Dahab!
Within the grounds
of the hotel is the iDive Centre which is our main hub and all preparations to
go diving or snorkelling start here.
The iDive Centre, set within the
Johwara Hotel.
Also set within the
grounds of the hotel is the lab where all the data write-up and processing
happens and this is where you can find the team usually until late into the
night. This is where we have our daily briefs, and it has become a second home
for us: we have air conditioning, tables, a white board for notes, and all the
materials we need for our work, and the wet-lab, where all the parasite work
happens.
If the heat or
stress of the day gets too much then a small walk down the strip will take you
to the Tea Garden, a small picturesque garden that offers some of the best
local Bedouin tea in the whole of Dahab. It is common for several of us to sit
in there most evenings drinking Bedouin tea discussing happenings of the day
and future plans, time really flies here. Time seems to be lost in the Tea
Garden making it one of the best places to relax and switch of after a long day
of diving and lab work.
Most chilled out area in Dahab – Tea
Garden!
Walking further
along the strip past the tea Garden and you pass many restaurants serving
everything from Egyptian falafel, to chicken, Chinese and even Italian
(although relationships with EL Capo have broken down slightly as we owe them a
few knives we borrowed!). Past these there are also many local shops selling
local arts and crafts, t-shirts, diving equipment, shisha’s and the odd pair of
Gucci sunglasses and Louis Vuitton bags whose originality has to be questioned
for a price of around a £10!
One of the many
local shops selling hand-made Egyptian gifts and crafts
Walking past the
local shops and you emerge at the sea-front where you are greeted by dozens of
tourist restaurants all offering you discounts and meal offers in an attempt to
attract customers in what is clearly a tough time for tourism. You get used to
just walking past and trying to ignore them as once you have stopped at one
every restaurant proceeds to haggle and stop you! These restaurant run from the
bridge all the way along to the Lighthouse where we do our diving for our photo
mark & re-capture study!
One
of the many restaurants along the Lighthouse Sea Front
That has been a quick tour of Dahab and its most prominent
areas but the pictures do not do it justice as it wonderfully vibrant and alive
with character and energy. Everywhere you go you are met with a lovely smile
and everybody is keen to get to know you asking you where you are from and what
you are doing in Dahab. The only downside of Dahab is the number of cats that
linger around when you are having dinner begging for any leftovers but they are
usually disappointed as we have our own resident hoover in the form of Michael!
One of
the many cats of Dahab, this one not impressed by the camera!
The news about Egypt and South Sinai at the moment would
suggest that Dahab is in the middle of a crisis zone but yet this does not seem
to be the case. Having spoken to locals and business owners they see Dahab as
singular enclosed community content with a slow pace of life and the lovely
scenery and natural beauty that surrounds them. So the message home, everything
in Dahab is fine and there is no need to be worried, we most certainly are not.
Next time, we will get you guys familiar with some of our
favourite shopkeepers, restaurant managers and new friends along the strip, so
stay tuned of our next blog!
Michael
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