We decided to spend our last full day in Hurghada, Egypt out on the water. We splurged a bit and chartered a fishing boat for the day. It was just the two of us and a crew of four. Our plan was to fish, snorkel, lunch and visit a sand bar. It was the perfect way to spend our final day.
Earlier in the week, as soon as we made ourselves comfortable on the beach we were approached by a number of touts trying to sell various services and excursions. They were persistent but friendly. By day two they were completely respectful of our just as persistent and polite response of "La shukran." (There is also a section of the beach where the touts are not allowed if you want to avoid it all together.)
Alii was particularly charming. He would stop and chat with us each day. So when we decided to book the boat trip we went straight to him. He promised us an incredible day and that is just what we got.
The Red Sea or Erythraean Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean and one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. We boarded our fishing boat from the dock right at the hotel early in the morning and headed out. The blue ribbons of every shade of blue and turquoise were mesmerizing.
The boat showed a little bit of wear and tear but the crew took great care of us throughout the day. Matt spent some time snorkeling with our guide while I sunned on the front of the boat. They brought back a Giant Spider Conch also known as the Viagra of the sea, apparently. It crawled around the boat as we continued with our day.
As soon as we got on the boat, cook started preparing our lunch in the tiny galley kitchen. This massive spread was just for us and it was wonderful. Obviously, we couldn't finish it all and once we had our share the crew had lunch and quickly tidied everything away.
Then we visited this sand dune island. We anchored out a distance and were ferried over to the island in a glass bottom boat. Here in the shallows the water was nice and warm. It felt good to get in and splash about. There were several photographers on the island selling photo shoots to the tourists. We had quite the laugh at some of the wacky positions they were getting the wanna-be models in to.
Sun kissed and completely relaxed we spent the remainder of the afternoon fishing. We eventually switched from the rod & reels to the hand reels. Unfortunately, Matt and I didn't catch a thing.
Our guide, however, was pulling up one after another. We were extremely jealous.
As the day came to an end we slowly headed back to the dock but not before watching the sun set beyond the sand dunes.
If I wasn't already completely in love with this country, this certainly sealed the deal. I'm in love with Egypt.
Have you fallen in love with Egypt?
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