Hurghada - A Trip to El Gouna

El Gouna - Egyptian Luxury

We managed to fit in quite a lot while Geraldine was here. I’ve already blogged about a few of the suggested itinerary items before, but one thing I haven’t mentioned much is El Gouna. I stayed there when originally looking for a property to buy in Egypt (see September 2013: Flashback - Flat Hunting), but I haven’t been back since.

We went into the tourist agency in the Old Town in Sahl Hasheesh and one of the many things they offered was a trip by boat to El Gouna. After discussing, we returned to buy the tickets, but they insisted on giving us the whole sales pitch again. Somehow the trip details differed on the second telling and, in addition, the chances of sighting a dolphin dropped from 95% to 80%. Never mind, this is Egypt.

I haggled on the price as a resident and got a small discount (see, I am settling in after all!). Even though El Gouna is the Venice of Egypt (every country has at least one), the trip still had a certain Egyptian flair.

We were told to wait outside the office at 8.15am on the day, which we dutifully did, but nobody was there to meet us. A security guard came up to us and asked if we were there for the tourist agency, so we nodded and he started to phone them. At this point, the bus arrived, so all was well.

After 45 minutes, we arrived at a marina off a hotel in the middle of nowhere towards the North of Hurghada and it was like a bus station for boats. About 7-8 boats were moored there taking on passengers and, as each ship left, other boats were already hanging around waiting to dock. The ships varied in quality, so it got to be a bit of a guessing game as to which of them would be ours. Even our guide was on the phone trying to find out which one it was. It turned out that ours was one that we hadn’t even spotted because it was parked behind another boat and we had to climb over the first boat to get to ours.

Similar to the boat for Jac’s birthday (March 2014: Hurghada - Jac's Birthday), getting on felt quite scary and when we mentioned that the waves were rough, we were informed it would all be OK by the afternoon. This seems to be the standard patter. As is always the case, we had to remove our shoes (even though they were only swimming shoes) while on the boat.

We’d originally been advised to go on the Wednesday trip as that was the English-speaking tour, but when they realised that for us it was Tuesday or nothing, since Geraldine was leaving on Wednesday, they magically made a phone call and ascertained that the Russian trip on Tuesday would also have English. This turned out not to be true. There were four other Brits on board, but all the commentary was in Russian (and all other passengers were Russian-speaking).

Consequently, it was maybe just as well we had two explanations of the trip, because we didn’t have much of a clue what was happening from whatever was said on board. It also pretty much set the tone for the day, which was that the aim for the company was to make as much money as possible from the tourists rather than to ensure the tourists had the best possible experience. This is (a struggling) Egypt.

The tour guide counted everyone on the boat, but it seemed to be a bit haphazard, due to the numbers of people and everyone wandering about as she counted. Indeed, the ship and all subsequent travel arrangements were over-full. We couldn’t get seats on the top deck, so had to sit on the food deck (what a hardship). In the end we sat right at the front of the boat, which was actually pretty good and it ended up being the spot where male Russians would pose for macho photographs showing their bravado as they stood dangerously on the bow. We spotted some dolphins en route and had a good view from down the front end.

Fortunately, the guide for the snorkel stop introduced himself to me and Geraldine in English, which made him easier to identify and helped us to know what was happening. He had bread to attract the fish, which I found annoying as I really just wanted to search for fish that I hadn’t seen before, but I guess for the tourists it’s great to see the huge shoals, or swarms, of fish coming to eat it.

For me, it was a delicate balance of keeping my eye on the snorkelling guide and doing my own thing, but it all worked out. As a joke, one of the Russians kept on diving down in front of me and waving each time I tried to take an underwater photograph. I’m not sure I appreciated it at the time, but I can see the funny side now!

As the ship approached El Gouna, we saw at least 60 kite boarders scooting along the coastline and performing some impressive jumps; another one appeared to be crossing the sea. Either that, or he was lost. Finally, we docked.

The bus waiting at El Gouna to drive us to the boat for our lagoon trip did not have enough seats for everyone (some stood), but it was only a two minute drive. Then we struggled to squeeze onto the lagoon boat; at one point I wondered if we would all fit on. When I looked round at other boats, though, they too were full. The Russian-speakers sitting by us complained that they couldn’t hear what the guide was saying and for us it was redundant since not a word of explanation was provided in English.

Still, the lagoons were a beautiful turquoise colour and the flowers all around made El Gouna appear very Mediterranean. The expensive villas looked like show houses, although many seemed unoccupied. We stopped off at the aquarium, but the fish in the sea looked healthier and happier, I thought. Following this, we had a half hour’s coffee stop in a cafe; Geraldine and I decided to wander and explore the old town instead.

We made our way back to the cafe at what we thought was the appointed time, but when we got there, it was empty. Everyone had already left. We dashed back to the long boat only to see it pulling away from the dock. I shouted, and the boat stopped, hovering by a boat tied up at the dock, while we leapt over it to get to ours. Apparently, the guide had counted twice, thinking she’d miscounted the first time. So much for the counting technique is all I can say! It’s obviously a matter of counting until you decide you’ve counted the number of people you think you should have, regardless of what actually holds.

Being the last on the boat, it was a struggle to find somewhere to sit, but everyone huddled along and the girl next to me sat on her boyfriend’s lap so that I could have room. Off we went. However, water washed over the front of the boat and flooded the front seats as soon as we picked up speed. People leapt up, much shouting occurred, and the guy steering the boat slowed the engine down. A number of people ended up having to stand. I had a wet bum by the end of it as the water gradually filtered down the boat.

Then we got off the boat. Geraldine and I eagerly got on the first bus with a load of other people, keen to secure a seat. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the wrong bus. However, at least we were pulled off it before either of the buses departed, although I ended up having to stand after all that.

Back on our sea-faring ship, the next item on the agenda was fishing. It wasn’t with proper rods, but just with a hook attached to wire wound round a wooden holder. I’ve seen people using these on El Andalous beach as well, so they must be pretty common. It was quiet as everyone stood looking down at the water where they’d thrown their lines. Suddenly, we heard a yell, and I thought someone had caught something huge in the first few minutes, but it turned out that we had a man overboard. The boat was a diving boat and wasn’t secured at the end at all where the divers usually jump off. I would say that we’d had no safety instructions during the trip, but we may have had them in Russian for all I know!

But all’s well that ends well. We arrived safely back in Hurghada.

Now, however, none of the Brits could remember the name of the company we’d booked with; the Russians were OK because they had their guide. There were loads of empty buses sitting and waiting for people. Anyway, the first bus we asked claimed it was going to Sahl Hasheesh, although I was not entirely convinced. The Russians also appeared to be confused and, before we knew it, some of them joined our bus. They hadn’t been there when we came! Then, after some debate in Russian outside, these people were moved from our bus to another bus and we were joined by another person going somewhere else. Meanwhile, we checked with the driver, and he still claimed he was going to Sahl Hasheesh. To my surprise, it did end up at Sahl Hasheesh, so we did OK.

Despite the various mishaps and the overcrowding, the boat journey was beautiful, the water was warm, the snorkelling was great, and El Gouna was enchanting. I don’t regret the trip and would recommend it, but do insist that you go on a day where your language is pre-planned! Nevertheless, the Russians were a friendly bunch and even though we couldn’t speak the same language, they made an effort to converse with us with good humour and much hilarity. I just hope that the guides weren’t relying on us catching fish to eat in the evening because I think only one person caught a tiny fish and that was it.