10th of February 2023 - Sharm El Sheikh

The Ras Muhammad National Park is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the waters of the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez meet.  This produces strong currents providing a habitat for diverse marine life.  This morning we arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh which is a Egyptian resort town in the Ras Muhammad National Park.  Sharm El Sheikh ("bay of the wise") is also known as the "City of Peace".  We were fortunate to have a gloriously sunny day.

We drove through Sharm El-Sheikh to Naama Bay which had a beautiful sandy beach and the clearest sea water anyone could imagine.  I was interested to see the street lights which were powered by their own solar panels.  When we arrived at Naama Bay we were taken on a glass bottomed boat to view the coral reef and its inhabitants.  To get to the boat we had to navigate this pontoon walkway that was bobbing about on the sea.  I didn’t mind getting wet myself however I didn’t want my camera to get a ducking.  Thankfully there was always someone to lend a hand.

The coral reef was easy to see through the clear water.

There were plenty of fish swimming in and around the coral but I was not quick enough to capture many of them with my camera.

At one point we saw loads of very tiny fishes sometimes swimming very close together in swarms.

After the glass bottomed boat trip I went for a quick swim in the sea and was able to see some pretty pink corals not far from the beach before heading back to the Emerald Azzura.

In the evening we had the Captain's Welcome dinner where we were introduced to the key members of the crew.  There are more crew than passengers on this cruise.  People are still nervous about cruising after Covid.

Ruth and I went to bar afterwards to listen to Chloe perform a medley of songs.  She is really rather good and has a fantastic Covid-19 backstory where she spent lockdown travelling and performing around western Europe when Britain was under severe restrictions.

 

9th of February 2023 - Leaving Aqaba for Egypt

Today we left our hotel and boarded our cruise ship the Emerald Azzurra which we seen for the last couple of days from our hotel room.  Now we could see our hotel from the ship. 

The trip from the hotel had been rather chaotic however we eventually made it on board for the welcome drink and a presentation of what the cruise was going to offer.

There was a good view of the mountains above Aqaba from onboard the ship.  At certain times of day, we could hear the calling to prayers from the mosque.

 

We were taken for a tour round the ship including a visit to the bridge where we met the captain.

Afterwards we settled in our cabin before going down to dinner.  We met a couple of people joining the cruise back at Gatwick Airport.  Peter and Shirley are from Norfolk and joined us for dessert.  It had been Peter’s birthday shortly before the cruise so he was brought a cake with a candle in it.  Some of the dining staff sang Happy Birthday to Peter then the four of us all had a piece of the birthday cake.  This was on top on the ice-cream sundae I had already had for dessert.

8th of February 2023 - Chilling in Aqaba

 After breakfast Ruth and I went for a walk round our hotel.  It is a beautiful location with the mountains surrounding the sea.  The following picture is of Aqaba from the hotel surrounded by mountains. 

Later we made it done to the hotel beach where I had a swim in the sea while Ruth paddled.  We then moved on to the heated pool which I had to myself.  The main pool is not open for swimming as the water is supposedly too cold at 17℃.  Hopefully it may be open when we return to Aqaba in a week’s time.

We spent the evening in the Martini Bar with Hilary and Peter whom we meton the flight from London Gatwick to Aqaba who joined us for the evening.  They are kindred travel lovers from Norfolk.  Hilary is still travelling despite having Parkinson’s Disease.

Ruth's pizza both last night and tonight was amazing.  I had salmon with loads of fresh veggies.

Hilary loves desserts and had an amazing fruit platter for dessert to go with her cheesecake/

My extra dry Martini was my choice of dessert though we were invited to help Hilary with the fruit platter.

 There are more pictures than text because pictures can describe today better than I can.

7th of February 2023 - From Gatwick to Aqaba

Ruth and I left Gatwick airport for Aqaba in Jordan this morning.  At Gatwick we were bussed out to the plane and boarded by an ambi=lift.  The reverse procedure occurred in Aqaba.  Please excuse the blurred picture however my mobile phone is playing up.

 

As we landed at Aqaba we saw that inland was quite mountainous.  It was lovely watching the sunset on the mountains as we came in to land. The trip to our hotel was on almost empty roads lined with palm trees.

The hotel we are staying is all we could wish  Apparently Ruth and I are entitled to free drinks and canapes in the bar from 6-8pm.  Ruth's "canapes" turned out to be an enormous freshly baked pizza with rashers of bacon on it.  My "canapes" were two burgers with chips.  There was music in the bar and the DJ was taking requests.  It was surreal sitting in a hotel in Jordan listening to my request of Jethro Tull's Aqualung.

6th of February 2023 - Marvels of the Red Sea

I have often thought about going on a Nile cruise.  Another “want to see” has been Petra in Jordan.  My friend Ruth suggested a cruise visiting Jordan, Egypt and Israel leaving from Aqaba in Jordan.  This cruise includes the Great Pyramid and Petra so I was happy to join.

My friend Richard kindly drove me to Gatwick airport this morning where we collected Ruth after her flight from Toronto.  Tonight we are all staying in a hotel near Gatwick airport in preparation for Ruth and I flying out to Aqaba tomorrow.

19th and 20th of July 2022

Yesterday I woke to find my mattress had moved in the night.  I have never seen anything like this before.

The return to the UK was relatively straight forward.  Thankfully my holiday meant I missed most of the heat.

This morning I was scheduled to meet people so I did a Covid-19 lateral flow test.  I tested positive for the first time and am isolating.  The silver lining is that this only happened once I'd returned home.

18th of July 2022 - Return to Reykjavik and Puffins

Today we docked in Reykjavik and returned to our hotel.

In the afternoon we took a one hour excursion by boat to Akurey Island, home to puffins and other native seabirds.  Sixty percent of the world’s puffins breed in Iceland.  Puffins are relatively heavy birds and remind me of RAF Hercules transport aircraft when flying.    In order to fly they need to flap their wings at up to 400 beats per minute, reaching speeds of 55 mph.  Puffins can dive 200 feet below the ocean surface, flapping their wings as if they are flying underwater.  We saw loads of puffins however my camera battery ran flat.  The photo is kindly courtesy of Ruth.

In the evening we visited a hotel restaurant buffet including Icelandic specialities.  The reindeer pâté was excellent.