No Wind Fun

After 4 windy days in a row, we actually welcomed a no-wind day today. How windy? Nina was on 3.7, 4.0, and 4.2. Thanks to all the good food here and in Texas, I was on 5.x sails most of the time, although a 4.7 would have been plenty for at least one session. And this is still not the windy season - from Mai to September or October, windless days are rare, and 4.x sails are the norm for guys.

But for now, Dahab is just as serious about the no-wind days as it is about the windy days: no wind means 0.0 mph, gusting to 0.0, for much of the day. Fortunately, this is also a great diving and snorkeling spot, so snorkeling we went. Nina is hogging the drive with the GoPro footage, but here's one screen shot I managed to grab before I had to hand the drive over to her:

I don't snorkel often, but I have snorkeled in Belize, Puerto Rico, Bonaire, and the US Virgin Islands. Today was certainly up there with the best spots I had seen before - lots of variety in both corals and fish. But the entire experience was rather unique - here is how it went down:
We walked 5 minutes from our lovely condo to the windsurf rental place to pick up our wet suits and snorkeling gear, and then walked back a minute to the street, where one of the local Beduins asked us right away if we needed a taxi - yes, we did. After a short drive that cost us 20 Egyptian pounds (LE; about $1), we arrived at the Eel Garden View restaurant right at the beach. We dropped our stuff at a table, ordered a large water (8 LE), and walked out into the water. The picture above was taken about 200 or 300 feet from the beach. We snorkeled for about an hour, and then had a great light lunch at the restaurant (Beduin tea for Nina to warm up, a hummus platter and falafel sandwich, and fresh pressed orange juice - all for less than $5). We hung out there for about 3 hours in total, before walking down the beach promenade for desert at the German bakery. Another taxi ride back (virtually all cars in Dahab are taxis!), and then we almost had to hurry - only a few more hours before we go back into town for dinner with our hosts, Toby and Fiona.