After the exertions of Petra and Wadi Rum (the name of the place where the Bedouin camp and jeep safari was - can't believe i forgot to mention that!), Aqaba was the next stop on the itinerary. Aqaba is a port town nestled on the tip of the Red Sea, right on the Jordanian border, a crossroads of four nations, and is the major trade access point to the sea for those Arab countries who have less than friendly relations with Israel. Hence, it is incredibly important, and therefore massively busy, and more than a tad chaotic. From the harbour, you can pretty much see the lands of Israel, Saudi Arabia, (as a non-Muslim, this is about as close as i'll ever get to entering that country), and Egypt. It was this port that we were to pass thru to cross over to Egypt by ferry - a journey of 1 hour on the fast ferry. As i said, it's normally pretty mad, but apparently the weekend just past there was a National holiday in Saudi Arabia, and so was doubly busy with folks travelling to and from home/work.
Initially we were told we'd be on a ferry at 12Noon, and should be at the port at 10.30 in order to be ready and have immigration formalities sorted out. When it got to around 11.30, we were told the ferry had been delayed and the new departure time would be 3pm...Groan. All we could do was sit around, along with the thousands of other locals (i count on my hands and toes the number of Westerners at the port), and their tons of baggage. Seriously people had all sorts of gear with them, sofa's and lounge suites, fridges, microwaves, suitcases that you could fit 2 small people in - i don't know what these guys are thinking!!
So anyway, we sat, and 3pm came and went. At about 3.30pm we got the call that the ferry was waiting. Now the other mad thing about this journey was that the terminal and the actual ferry was about 300metres apart, but you HAD to board a bus to take you there - you were not allowed to walk to the ferry. This is supposed to regulate the numbers of people boarding the ferry and preventing mad crushes. I guess its also a way to hide unemployment!! All that it did tho was transfer the mad crushes to the buses. Just think about it, at least a couple of thousand people trying to clamber onto a small fleet of 52 seater coaches. I can never figure out the mentality of some races of people - and i've seen this in a number of places around the world - that makes them all want to be the first person on board.....the ferry is big enough to fit everyone on, and it probably makes the boarding process slower, and it ain't gonna make the journey any quicker!
It was around 4.30pm that we finally got moving. All this for a 60minute ride across the Gulf of Aqaba to Nuweiba port in Egypt!! But you know, this is a Tony Tale, so there's always more! We had to complete the bus ordeal in reverse at Nuweiba, but our guide greased the hand (bribed) of the ferry captain to ensure we'd be among the first people to be let off, just to make it a little easier. Immigration formalities were completed on board the ferry, so all that was left to do was go thru customs. The customs hall was a decrepit, rusting, dusty old aluminium hangar with boxes and random crap strewn all over the place, and the most antiquated metal detector/scanner i had ever seen (it had a serious lean to it, and i doubted if it even worked!). We were held up here for an eternity, and upon enquiring about the delay, we found out "the guy who works the luggage scanner is not here, maybe he is having a cup of tea or something" !!!! Y'know, there's only 2000 folk outside waiting to go thru - surely he could get off his arse, or someone else could operate the machine!! But no, we had to wait until he turned up. When he did, we couldn't go thru initially because he'd only just switched it on and was waiting for it to warm up!!!!
On passing thru Customs, we were told there was one last step - waiting for the passenger list to be checked and double checked to make sure all was in order with Immigration. Because they are really serious about this! (please note the sarcasm laid on thicker than mollasses!). This process only took 90 minutes or so, and at around 7pm we were finally thru. Phew!! At the beginning of the day, before even the first delay was announced, our guide gave us a best-case and worst-case scenario about the time we'd be thru. She had been thru this dozens of times before with other groups, and her best case was 2pm, worst case was 5pm. 7pm didn't even enter her thoughts!!
A one hour drive later, passing thru at least 3 police checks along the way, we had arrived in Dahab, one of the towns on the Red Sea coast that has a major Scuba Diving industry bank-rolling it. Of the most famous 3 or 4 dive sites, it is the most chilled out and relaxed, and up to this point, relatively unspoilt by package tourism and bad hotel development. My inital first impression (arriving way after dark) was that it was a lot like Thailand's islands in vibe. It definitely didn't feel like Egypt anyway.
More in a bit.
Tony
peace love and happy faces
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