SINAI DIARY
Monday " Dolphins Before Breakfast"
Its midday on our first day - and I cant believe our fortune. So much happened - so fast!
Dolphin photos courtesy of Wild and Free, copyright 2002
The journey was easy. From ordering a taxi in London,and an easy journey to Gatwick, right through to amazing views from the plane. A blissful high was eating a very good chicken in cream sauce, followed by profiteroles - eaten while watching a Red Dwarf episode inflight and flying over the Alps!!
We beat the queues at Sharm airport by accident because I left Lucy in one queue at random, then I realised where to go the stamps for the visa and scurried off! We saw the Wild and Free placard being held by a smiling man, and waited for the other people to arrive (who turned out to have been sitting right behind us in the plane) Sayid showed us to the large taxi, and it wasnt difficult to fend off would-be porters - unlike Luxor airport last year. I sat in luxury in the "back row" while our luggage was stowed on the roof rack.
A good road lay ahead, stretching into the night, with blazing stars overhead and towering mountains looming either side in the moonlight, not menacing, but protecting. I felt safe and nurtured as we drove through the night. We stopped at a few checkpoints, and the time passed quickly. We arrived at habitation, and turned right into a typical village of rutted roads and half finished houses. We drove down into an area of gravel and blankets! People emerged from the dark in Bedouin clothes, candles were produced and lit. Gillian was waiting for us, and was as I imagined her from the emails and phone calls that we had organising our stay here - she fussed over us and produced biscuits and tea. Yvonne and Debbie, the other two in the car, were in culture shock I think. But Lucy and I fared better. All Lucy said in surprise was "There's no ceiling on the loo"! We got given candles in cut down plastic water bottles and headed for our huts.
After an awkward night's sleep, I heard Gillian about after sunrise, and came out to sit on the rugs and stare at the amazing view revealed in daylight.
She ordered tea and pancakes for us, but before we could even get our forks to them Fallah shouts and points - "Dolphins!".
I wake Lucy. On with the cossie, grab fins and stuff, and head for a boat that miraculously appeared. Debbie hadnt used a mask before and was freaking out quietly. Gillian eventually kindly "helped" her out of the boat and into the arms of a "strange" Bedouin waiting in the water!
Its magic! The dophins are here!! A little pale baby dolphin dives and roars around us, playing. I am too stunned to think about mask and snorkel problems. Then I hear the little one whistle and talk.Her mum, Olin, is quiet and graceful. She turns around beneath me, and just hovers there, looking at me. Amazing! The others are are touching her, with Fallah's guidance, but I hang back. We get helped back into the boat and sit there, shivering in the sun, as we go the short distance back to shore.
The pancake is cold but we are all smiling!!
We sit in the warm sun and take stock of our surroundings. The sea laps, clear and turquoise on the rocky shore only metres away from our hut. Huge mountains on the other side of the Red Sea mirror the ones to our right and behind us. And all this before breakfast!!
A lady in black robes appears, and we decide on the menu for lunch. She goes off as the food has be shopped for and cooked.We have plenty of time to chat to Ruth, the organiser of Wild and Free who has appeared. She lives in a nearby hotel. We talk, and find out about our surroundings and the Bedouin whose village we are in. The meal is served by the sea, with us lounging around a low table. Chicken and fish in gently spiced batter, with plates of tahina and hoummous, salad and pitta bread. Lovely.
A gaggle of kids shyly sidle by, and Gillian warns they will become a part of our lives. They are part of the extended families who live in the fishing village that opened it arms to tourists after the dolphin came ten years or more ago.
Debbie triumphs over mask and snorkel in the shallow water after lunch. Just as well, as the dolphins reappear! We wade into the sea and this time I am brave enough to give Olin a stroke on her spotted tummy, while Mapsutta plays with Fallah. Magic!
We dry off and get our hair "wrapped" and buy beaded bracelets made by the young girls. This relaxed life is too good! The dolphins return a third time, but this time I watch lazily from the shore, while Ruth and Gillian enjoy their company and take underwater photographs. Its those dolphin photos I am using in this diary.
Dusk falls and dinner is served by candlelight. A camp fire is lit and various Bedouin act as pyromaniac fire attendants. With songs,drums and the sound of the sea in our ears, we fall asleep in our sleeping bags.
What a day to begin our holiday!