Egypt - Friday 2nd July 2010

Today we had a day trip - it was Ras Mohammed boat trip which included 3 snorkelling stops. I expected a trip to the boat and then a lazy day sunbathing on the boat with the occasional stop to jump in the water.

Hmm...wasn't quite like that...it was a full coach and we had to stop off at a shop to loan snorkels and masks. There was a huge queue and in typical 'our family' tradition, we ended up at the back. Me and Andy took our own masks and made the mistake of not taking our own fins...if you take a tiny shop area and 50 people trying on fins, you are looking at a disaster waiting to happen! If you have tried to get fins on, or walk in them you will know what I mean! Andy got quite stressy as the fins wouldn't fit and he had no room to move and we were last one's in there...but eventually we got sorted and were herded like sheep back onto the coach to the boat.

We got to the boat and amazingly managed to get on first and get a good seat. With no exaggeration it truly was the first time ever we have managed to do that!! We chugged off to Ras Mohammed and then we had a professional diver take us off snorking - the group had to stay with him. We all jumped in and the scene literally made me think of Titanic...the panic of a large group of people in the water, some grown adults crying 'I don't like it', and 'my mask is leaking' and 'Oh my god there's fish in here!'. I thought, Oh my actual god!! what is wrong with people!! I got kicked with fins more times than I can remember. The guide was shouting to everyone to swim to him and the boat was causing waves. There were ropes in the water that some people were trying to get under and some people were trying to get over. Lissa was having trouble with her mask and Connor was wondering if he should have worn the life jacket. AArrgghhhh! It was hectic! and not the idyllic experience I was expecting.

Then - we swan over to the coral and - wow - it was all worth it! We saw more fish than we had diving the previous day! We even saw sharks! Andy described them as big as a human - I would say they were as big as a large cats! lol - he also described sea slugs as as small as your finger nail - whereas I would say they were the size of your whole thumb! I am pretty sure it is me that has the right sense of scale and not him. If the sharks had been as big as me I would not have thought - wow look at them - I would have thought arrgghhhhhh get me outta here NOW!

The second and third bouts of snorkelling were even better - less people went out and the sea was calmer and clearer. We saw a small manta ray, and a large trigger fish - although we had no idea what it was when we saw it. Basically the four of us were swimming along constantly pointing urgently about, thinking 'LOOK AT THAT' 'LOOK AT THAT'!!

It made me even more excited about going diving again.

Egypt Thursday 1st July 2010

Egypt - Thursday 1 July 2010

We got picked up at the hotel at 7.40am and taken to the dive club. The twins were taken off and taught some theory about diving and we started to kit up. Andy got quite stressed, which is normal for him - travelling and diving - other than that I cant think of much that phases him...he gets quiet and stressy, and I know he will be fine once we get going!

We had to carry all the equipment on our backs down to the beach. It is very heavy and was very hot!! We walked into the water and swam out a bit - we did a check of our buoyancy and the amount of weights on us. We both got another couple of KG added to us and then before we could change our minds, we went down. It was so cool!!! (apart from the fact that my mask kept steaming up and when I let water in to clear it, it got into my eyes and boy did it sting!!). It was just so cool to be diving and be able to see where you are going, see ech other and see so many cool creatures!!

It was really good near the end of the dive - we saw the twins and got our pic taken underwater with them - altho it didn't come out well! My buoyancy was pretty pants and I couldn't keep still because we were really shallow (something I'm glad to say I got sorted out on the other dives we ended up doing).

Afterwards we all soooo knackered!! we had the chance to do another dive and it was only me that was up for it - albeit I was really tired too... in the end we opted for going home and coming back another day.

Egypt -Wednesday 30th June 2010

We discovered we had a rep...so met up with him and listened to him trying to flog us the day trips - he could have saved his breath we already knew what trips we were or were not going to do! We had decided this way before we got to Egypt. Andy haggled the prices down...not as much as I would have liked but much more than I would have got! we booked to go on a boat trip to Ras Mohammed and do 3 snorkling stops, and we booked to go to Cairo on an internal flight, we also booked quad biking and a Star gazing evening. I'm not gonna mention how much that lot cost us for 4 people - but it was £90 cheaper due to Andy's haggling!!

After we had finished booking all that - we got a taxi to Naama Bay and headed to the diving place recommended by Surrey Police Diving Club. I was told to ask for Nick or Corrie - and we walked straight into them! They had heard of us also and expected us! we arranged with them to go back the following day and do a beach dive. It was scary as we had qualified just before we went to Egypt but it suddenly seemed very real!

We decided to go and look for the Hard Rock Cafe...it was BOILING hot!! we found it because Andy turned his phone on and got google maps to show us we were a street away!! HRC was lots of fun and yummy!!!!

We got a taxi home afterwards and it was bedtime....we had to get up early for the diving!

Egypt - Tuesday - 29th June 2010

We stood outside the airport at about 05:30 with quite a few people asking if we wanted a taxi and I could see Andy’s stress levels rocket. He has a thing about journeys – they stress him out – and we were in a foreign country and we had read that Taxi drivers will really try it on, and a price needs to be haggled and agreed on before you get in. I decided I would take over and take the stress away from him. I approached a taxi driver got the price down from 50 LE each to 150 LE for the four of us and I was pretty sure this was way too much but for the sake of just getting there I agreed. He cheekily helped himself to another 20 or 30 LE tip too so we paid about 180 LE and I now know that it should have been about 50 LE altogether. Oh well, we live and learn!

We got to the hotel and we got our rooms and we were really pleased! The rooms were in a good position and our rooms we close to each other. The only problem was the tiredness…it was about 6am (4am in England) and we had travelled thru the night. Lissa decided to go to bed and we decided to jump in the pool and get breakfast – then we too went to bed. I hate doing that – you wait for your annual holiday for a year, you have anticipation as you count down the weeks, you have the last couple of days packing and getting excited…you travel all the way there, and….you go to bed!

Anyway – when we were all rested we decided to get the hotel taxi to the sister hotel as that is where there is access to the beach. I was surprised how close it was but waaaaaayyyy to hot to have walked it!

Every year we have this competition – who will be first in the sea (fully emerged not just a paddle) and Connor had boasted lots about how he would be the first this year. I joke about it and claim I’ll be the first but in reality I am massively competitive and desperately wanted to be this first in!! As it happened Connor wussed out and didn’t want to jump in – so I easily did it – followed by Lissa and eventually Connor got himself down the steps. I put on my mask and put my head into the water – and WOW!!!! I couldn’t believe it – the water was so clear and there were huge Parrot fish of green and blue, and Zebra fish and Angel fish etc.. It was like pressing your face up against a tropical fish tank! It truly was everything I had hoped it would be! We were all amazed!! I couldn’t wait to get diving!

Egypt - Monday - 28th June 2010

We had all the booking forms and paperwork so we got rid of our cases and throught the airport really quickly and found food, by the time we were done it was time to board! We had good seats and films to watch and it was late so the flight was fun and quick. I'll not dwell on my nervousness at take off and landing... But I survived - that's what mattered!

All we had to do once we got our cases back was get a taxi to the hotel...we knew we were close due to the reviews we had read about the hotel... Ppl had said you could wave to the pilots as they took off and landed!

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EGYPT - THE HOLIDAY!! 28th June 2010

Well, we are going to Egypt today...I woke up thinking okay...what do I have to do today? I have to clean the house, get shopping in for Harriet who is staying here part of the time we are away...order shopping online for Yvonne and Stuart who are staying here the other part of the time we are away, get my hair cut, get Connor's hair cut, finish my packing, make sure the twins are packed okay...give the cats plenty of fuss and food......errrr that all seemed manageable as the taxi wasn't due to pick us up until 18:30

The day flew by...the hairdresser messed up Connors hair and cut it too short. I said "the most important thing for him is to keep the length so just trim it please" he heard "just cut all the length off and completely change the style to something of your choosing". Connor, took it better than I thought he would and I actually thought it looked better but I was still furious with the guy who did it!! Whilst I was doing this my phone was on silent, Andy was in Tesco where I was to meet him afterwards and by the time I checked my phone and realised...he was pretty mad! I tried to out-do him on the 'I'm really not happy level' in an attempt to shift the conversation away from 'I've been calling and I'm stood here not knowing what to buy and everyone else in tesco is over 80 years old and just shuffle along like the living dead....and you wont answer your phone...blah blah...."

anyway we mutually decided that we needed to chill and stop stressing so we bought 12 Krispy Cream doughnuts and stood outside Tesco and ate 3 each. After the sugar rush we carried on with everything we needed to do...and finally had everything organised, ordered, cleaned and packed by the time the taxi arrived!