13 MARCH 2020

Dusty Hurghada

As we walked down to the dining room for breakfast at the Le Passage Cairo Hotel & Casino, we saw more buckets filled with rainwater. The corridors were laid out with lots of linen and towels to try and stop the water from flowing into the rooms … it was a very dark and stormy night (almost sounds like a scary movie, huh!)

After our late breakfast, the hotel’s shuttle took us back to Cairo International Airport for our flight to Hurghada.

On the way to the airport we saw large puddles of water, with several cars stuck. In some places the road almost turned into a river – it sure was a hell of a storm!

At least the rain stopped … there’s always something to be thankful for!

We had a clear take off from Cairo International Airport on our one hour flight to Hurghada. At first, when we landed in Hurghada, we thought it was foggy … but on closer inspection, it was dust hanging in the air! Fortunately the sandstorm is over, but now it was just dust everywhere!

A representative from Blue O Two (the company we booked our liveaboard holiday with), met us at the airport and took us straight to the dock area where we boarded the M/Y Blue Adventurer.

On the deck of the M/Y Blue Adventurer

The beautiful Marriott Beach Resort – we booked two nights here to enjoy after our week-long diving excursion

The M/Y Blue Adventurer is your typical liveaboard yacht. I had read before we left South Africa that one of Blue O Two’s yachts had a jucuzzi on board … unfortunately not on the one we were booked on.

One can still see dust hanging in the air after the severe sandstorm of yesterday

Again the staff apologised for the damage caused by nature … this time not for leaky roofs, but because of the amount of dust that was scattered everywhere! Everyone was cleaning the decks to get rid of all the dust. Fortunately, it was dust-free inside the yacht.

After Berto gave all his diving information to the lead instructor and found a place for his diving equipment, we were shown to our cabin. It wasn’t very big, but I was still impressed with the amount of space inside. We also had our own bathroom (which is always a bonus).

Our cabin on the M/Y Blue Adventurer … even with a television

I was a little concerned that our cabin was right at the front of the yacht … not good if you get seasick easily, but we’ll see how it goes!

And our on-suite bathroom

The VERY long hallway below deck with all the cabins … ours was right at the end (and also served as the emergency exit!)

The dining area was quite comfortable. There were two large tables to cater for all the divers (and non-divers like me), where all meals are served. The area at the front has sofas, a television and self-service area where coffee and tea were always available.

Dining- and self-service area

Although there was no jacuzzi (such a shame), there were plenty of nice deck chairs on the deck. I was hoping to spend some quality time here while Berto enjoys his dives!

Relaxing area on the deck

We have been informed that we will depart from the harbour tomorrow morning as some divers will not arrive until very late in the evening.

There was quite a diverse group of people on the M/Y Blue Adventurer. The two of us from South Africa, a guy from Germany, two others from Spain, a father and son from the USA and then a large group of twelve divers from the UK. All together there were 19 of us on the yacht.

Divers getting their gear in place

We had a quiet evening on the boat and took the opportunity to get to know each other. While dinner was being served, we could see that we definitely wouldn’t go hungry! The head chef, Mohammed, made sure we had more than enough to eat and their food was excellent!

I can’t wait for us to check into this hotel in a week’s time

We were looking forward to the week on the Red Sea – Berto probably more than me! But I was geared up with my “sea bands” on my wrists and enough seasick tablets!

Berto is more than ready for this trip

A new adventure awaited us!

To read the next post about our Egypt trip, click here