El Andalous - Dolphin House

Close Encounter with Dolphin

This was also going to be another cat blog, but since I’m late this week, I thought I’d better write about why (nothing dramatic!).

Yesterday, I went on a trip to Dolphin House. It’s an area of sea, just north of Hurghada, which is known for its many dolphins. Boat trips go there, but they have to have a special license and pay a fee for each passenger they take so that the area can be sufficiently well protected (or at least better protected).

We tried to go once before and I can’t remember if I wrote about it. The trip failed because we didn’t see any dolphins and it turned out that actually we didn’t even go to Dolphin House. The failed trip was still fun, because boat trips always are, but it wasn’t what we’d paid to do.

Anyway, Tina found a company that was running a trip for German-speakers and asked me if I wanted to join (I did). The downside was that the trip started at 6.30am and we had to leave El Andalous at 5.30am to get to where the boat sailed from. Ugh. So, I went to bed early the night before (which is when I would normally write my blog) and was too tired when I got home to write it then. Hence why I am writing it today!

Anyway, I did manage to wake up on time. The trip started from the north of Hurghada which cut down some of the sailing time, but it still took around two hours before we reached the dolphin area.

It doesn’t matter how often I’m on the Red Sea, I’m stunned over and over again at how beautiful it is. The Dolphin House was no exception. So many different blues shading into each other, the blue sky, the corals underneath, it’s all amazing.

The day started off quite windy, so a few people on board got seasick (they offered seasickness tablets beforehand for those who wanted them). We were provided with a buffet breakfast (it was a large boat and only around 10-12 passengers) of sliced meats, bread, jams, pastries etc.

For quite a while, the men scanned the sea for dolphins but although some were visible, they were staying under water for quite long periods, which indicates (apparently) that they don’t really want visitors.

But finally, in a fairly calm area of sea, we found a group of five dolphins willing to play. Apparently one pair was a mother and child, but I didn’t really get a good look at that. It was quite good exercise swimming around as we followed them. Two men would swim and locate them and tell us where to go, then they’d shout “Unterwasser schauen!” (“Look underwater!”) and we’d all duck our heads down (we had snorkels and flippers).

It was quite strange because often I’d not see anything and the next second they’d be right under me. You could even hear them. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t so clear (not sure why), so sometimes they were only shadowy, and if they were close enough for me to see them in detail, my camera couldn’t fit them in!

We stopped for a snorkel while they prepared lunch (a great buffet of chicken, spag bog, salads, kofta in peas, rice, etc), then we looked for dolphins again (we found three, I think, but they were faster and more timid, so I didn’t get up close, although others did).

We got back at around 5pm, so it was 11 hours on the boat – quite a long day for them as well as for us. And then poor Tina had to drive us home, although she said it wasn’t a problem.

It was a great day out, but I was exhausted on my return and my face also got a little red from the sun (even though I’m already pretty brown). I can recommend going!