Nuweiba, Egypt - Paradise on Earth
We crossed the Red Sea into Egypt on June 20th via ferry. Leaving Jordan required some bureaucracy, paperwork and fees, of course, but we got all that figured out and were happily on our way. The boat was nice and comfy. And we got to start our Egypt paperwork for visas while on the boat. We met a few other westerners on board (7 to be exact) and shared stories about traveling and cool places we had been and played some cards. The most interesting time was looking off the balcony, and being able to see Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, all at the same time. We got a great video of that one.
Nuweiba is a small town in the Southern Sinai coast, on the gulf of Aquaba. Basically, its an hours drive north of Dahab, or about 3 hours north of Sharm el Sheik. (maybe a map is necessary here…) Anyway, the Ferry stops here, so we booked a hotel about 5 miles north of town in a place called “Tarabine Beach.” On the internet, the place looked nice, but it turned out to be much better than expected!
After an interesting experience getting a visa and a taxi, which consisted of all 9 of us (us plus our 7 friends) wandering around the port in the heat for about an hour trying to figure out which line to get into next. After all that, a sweet goodbye with our pals and a short taxi ride later, we finally made it to our campsite, called “Petra Camp”. At first we were leery, because the gate was closed, and the guy who opened it didn’t speak a lick of English. But they sat us down inside in the common room and brought us cold drinks and everything was good. The place was amazing. It was a permanent building, but setup as sort of a Bedouin (nomadic Arab tribal) campsite, with little air-conditioned huts for everyone to stay in, and a large common area, with tables, and cushions to sit on the floor to watch the ocean and the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the water. The place was built out of reclaimed wood from an old Cairo cinema house. The English speaking manager, Mahmoud, and his brother, Hammit, showed us to our room, and that was the start of three wonderful days of relaxation. We took turns relaxing in the common room, eating great food, relaxing down by the huts and cushions on the beach, playing pool, and swimming or snorkeling in the Red Sea. There was a huge coral reef about 200 feet from the shore, so we spent many happy hours peering down at the richly colored coral and fish, just below the surface of the water.
We are in Egypt in the low season, so the campsite was sparsely occupied. There were between 2 and 6 other guests there our whole stay, which was rather nice. We really needed some R&R, since we had been traveling strong since Greece, and this was a wonderful way of enjoying the Egyptian coastline. Here are some fun pictures!
Ma’a Salamma!
Eric and Laura
Passengers lined up to get on the boat.
Laura on the boat.
Laura and Eric sleeping on the boatA video of the view from the ferry.
Laura at the Egyptian Port
Us and the Petra Camp sign, at dusk.
The front of Petra Camp
Laura in the common area
Eric in the common area.
A Donkey on the beach.
Laura relaxing in the beach tent.
Eric relaxing in the beach tent.
Eric snorkeling, with the mountains of Saudi Arabia in the background.
Another pic of Eric.
An awesome view!
Fresh fish for dinner!!!
Us and our friend Eddie, from Israel.
Us, with our friend Hammit.
A picture of a crazy Camel that appeared outside our window one morning! I have a great video of this, but it wouldnt upload! Look for it on YouTube, coming soon!
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