So it begins

Climbing and Diving

Published Date : November 17, 2004

The climb up to the summit of Mt Sinai took about 2 hours in almost total darkness.  Ruth elected to take the optional camel ride, but the rest of us decided to do it on foot.  We started out grouped together but quite quickly spread out during the climb.  The group from the second minibus caught up to us not long after.  Using our torches further up the mountain as beacons they went off trail and came straight up the slope instead of following the switchback trail.  I started out climbing with a few of the faster people but ended up on my own just behind the lead pack and well in front of the rest for most of the hike.  To be honest, I preferred it that way.  It gave me a chance to absorb things and take in the eerie silhouetted peaks around me and the indistinct shapes of camels and their owners along the trail.

After pushing up the final staircase to the 2200m summit, I reached the peak just past 2am, tired but happy with the night’s work.  Our group was the first to arrive at the peak, so I rented a mattress for 5LE and picked out a nice patch of ground.  Pulling out my sleeping bag, I snuggled down and prepared myself for a long cold night.  If it wasn’t for the wind, it wouldn’t have been too bad, but the wind was brutal blasting us with frigid air and whipping us with gusts of coarse sand.  I slept fully dressed (cargos, a t-shirt and a hoody) with my mummy bag wrapped completely around me.  Originally, the others in the group were set up next to me, but they ended up moving during the night.  Molly almost lost her sleeping bag and mat to a gust of wind, but luckily it landed within climbing distance and she was able to rescue it.

After about 4 hours sleep – yes I did actually sleep to my surprise – I woke to find about 50 people crammed onto a tiny plateau walking all over those of us who had spent the night.  I was actually woken up by somebody standing on me.  If that wasn’t bad enough, the jerk was completely unaware that I was even there until I rolled out from under his foot.  Does it make me a bad person that I laughed when he fell on his ass?

The sun was just coming up at this point, but I was in no mood to fight with the tourist hordes.  I knew from our extremely brief discussion with Mel before leaving the hotel that there were two paths up the mountain.  Last night I had come up the longer but easier Camel Path.  The other path, the Steps of Repentance is usually quieter, so I packed my things up and hoofed it down the path.  Not far from the summit, but separated from it by a small peak, I found myself a nice quiet perch and sat and watched the sunrise with only a couple of mountain goats for company.  Now that is what I’m talking about.

I wish I could have captured the moment in pictures, but my camera decided to go on the fritz.  I think some sand/dirt blew into it last night ��

Once the sun was well and truly up, I slung on my pack and continued my descent.  The 3700+ steps were carved into the mountain by a repentant monk.  In the hour it took me to complete the descent, I passed only two people on the trail.  I don’t know about repentant, but they were definitely regretful of their choice to climb the harder route!   When I reached the parking lot, I stopped to enjoy a nice cup of hot tea in one of the shops at the base.  Others in my group started to slowly trickle down the mountain and after a bit of a wait for the minibuses, we made the journey back to Dahab.  I wasn’t entirely sure we would survive the drive, with our driver insisting on travelling at just under 200km an hour, overtaking on blind corners.  It was a bit of a hairy ride to say the least!

No rest for the wicked, we arrived back to the hotel at 10:30.  That gave me just enough time for some breakfast at Aladdin’s restaurant before my first dive.  Instead of just doing my 4 Open Water dives, I decided to join the group for their last skills dive as a refresher.  Amy is my buddy for the duration. Sam (UK) and Dave (Aus) are our Dive Masters.  It was great to be underwater again.  After the skills dive, we did our first open water dive.  Fan-fricking-tastic!!  Visibility was quite poor and the only aquatic life to make an appearance was a small school of bannerfish, but I couldn’t have cared less.  It was such an amazing experience to finally be diving in the open water rather than pools and shallow water.  We spent 45 minutes at about 12m going over a few more skill drills and simply enjoying being underwater.  Diving is such a peaceful, yet surreal experience.  It goes against all your survival instincts to intentionally inhale while underwater.  Personally, I find the whole experience to be mildly claustrophobic, but it’s so worth it just to be able to explore a world so different from our own.

Back on dry land, I spent the evening shopping and spending too much money.  I bought quite an enormous papyrus for 130LE ($20).  The papyrus was painted with a copy of some carvings found in the temple of Karnak at Luxor.  I also bought a bottle of Lotus flower oil (perfume) for 120LE.   I probably paid too much for everything, but I really don’t care at this point!  Back at the hotel I finally managed to fix my camera.  Woohoo!

More diving

Published Date : November 18, 2004

It was an early start to the day with an 0830 dive.  After a quick breakfast at Aladdin’s, it was off to the dive shop to meet the rest of the group.  Our dive location for the day was The Lighthouse.  I now know why the Red Sea is always near the top of everyone’s list when it comes to diving.  Visibility was incredible, the reef was vibrant and healthy and the water was 23C.  We did some more skill work in the morning, working on hovers and mask clearing again.

Swimming back to shore, we enjoyed a nice lunch at the truck.  While the rest of the group continued their theory lessons, I enjoyed a snooze on a hammock in the sunshine.  Tough life.

After a couple of hours, we were back in the water for Open Water Dive #2.  Thanks to a wind storm kicking up the surf, the visibility wasn’t as good as it had been in the morning.  Making short work of some more skill drills, we spent the rest of our nearly hour-long dive exploring the reefs around the lighthouse.  I could really get used to this!

Back in town, it was a quiet night for me.  I’m still occasionally feeling the effects of the bug from Damascus.  I had no real appetite tonight, but forced myself to eat anyway.  After dinner, I called Greg.  It’s tough being away from him, but we’re both dealing with the distance as well as can be expected.