Today has been a very relaxing day for a change. Ev slept in until 7:30am and Dan until 8:00am. We had a nice late start at 10:30am so just relaxed in the air conditioning and slowly got ready for the day. Our backpack was packed and day bags ready and we headed out before the group were ready to the exchange US currency for Egyptian Pound and were back in time for the felucca. Unfortunately Alley, Carla and Denise weren’t feeling well and may have caught the same thing Dan had.
While we were waiting in the lobby Connor offered us all some birthday cake that Hoda had organised for himself and for Ev yesterday. Ev felt very special and it was lovely to have had cake, a beautiful Chocolate sponge and Fruit sponge.
With bags on our backs, the group headed out into the heat down to the water where our felucca was waiting. There was plenty of room on deck. We stepped onto the boat and put our shoes in a bucket then hoped onto a big mattress that covered the whole deck. 13 pillows were laid around the perimeter of the boat for us to lie on. An esky was available to keep our drinks cool and we were shown where the lower cabin was. We were warned that toileting will be off deck so we have packed plenty of paper for when nature calls and we have to drop anchor.
The ropes were untied and our captains pulled away from shore and hoisted the sail. Instantly the cool Nile breeze swept through the deck and we finally relaxed and cooled. It was lovely. No cars honking at us, no heat, no people convincing us to buy things, just the soft sound of water breaking, the breeze and our crew calling commands to each other.
We slowly sailed across the Nile while Hoda boarded another boat and went back to shore for 15mins to arrange the paperwork for our sailing. When she returned we settled in headed to our next stop to again allow the captain to settle more paperwork. The other crew had a quick dip while we waited on the water then we were finally away headed north to Luxor.
Sailing down the Nile we can see villagers swimming on the shore and donkeys eating grass. We waved to a group of locals who were having fun in the water, then one woman started screaming, horrified, we had no idea what was going on but we then saw three men running towards them and took their shirt off and dived in. By this time we were almost 50m away and couldn’t help. We had all got a fright but they seemed to calm down. We speculate that one of the children couldn’t swim and had gone out too far. They seemed to be ok so we calmed down and continued sailing. We passed another group of children happily shouting ‘Hello, Hello’ and waving their arms. They were having a great time in the cool water.
We pulled up on the banks of the river for a toilet stop and for lunch at 1:30pm. Lunch was tomato sauce, babaganoosh, bread, potato, with garlic. It was very nice. Dan started to listen to his music and the first song he put was ‘On A Boat’ from Lonely Island. It was apt. We both listened. We sailed on towards a bridge where just after, the crew decided it was time for a dip. As soon as we got word Dan threw his shirt off and bomb dived into that water where as Ev was sooky and said she didn’t want to change into something else. Eventually she came down and stood in the water for a while. Dan finally convinced her to come for a dip and then dragged her in kicking and screaming but eventually she enjoyed it. Sounds like most things in our relationship. Boom! We all got in except Carla who was not feeling well and went for a swim in the Nile at 3:00pm. We swam close to the bank because the current was quite strong. Yes, we can now say we’ve been swimming in the Nile River. It was difficult to pick up the wind after this but once we did, we were smooth sailing up toward Luxor.
The boat docked to the West Bank of the Nile at around 5:30pm and Dan and the other guys helped build the toilet for the night. It was super classy, a hole in the ground with a toilet seat and a tent around it and we had to bring our own toilet paper. Beer O’Clock was at 5pm and it had never tasted better as the breeze for the last couple hours was a little warm. We had a candle lit dinner on the felucca and the food was similar to lunch. We went for a night swim at about 7pm and the water was beautiful. Everybody was pretty tired and relaxed from not doing much and was in bed by 8:30pm.
The crew woke about 2am to have their dinner. They were relatively quiet but loud enough for Dan to wake. He watched out over the calm river and thought about the trip so far. He couldn’t believe how quickly it had already gone. The river was perfectly still and created a faultless reflection in the water of the moonlit night. The image in the water made him feel like he was looking into another world. It was amazing.
We sailed for a total of 7 hours today and will sleep on the felucca tonight then jump on a bus tomorrow morning and continue our journey north to Luxor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
While we were waiting in the lobby Connor offered us all some birthday cake that Hoda had organised for himself and for Ev yesterday. Ev felt very special and it was lovely to have had cake, a beautiful Chocolate sponge and Fruit sponge.
With bags on our backs, the group headed out into the heat down to the water where our felucca was waiting. There was plenty of room on deck. We stepped onto the boat and put our shoes in a bucket then hoped onto a big mattress that covered the whole deck. 13 pillows were laid around the perimeter of the boat for us to lie on. An esky was available to keep our drinks cool and we were shown where the lower cabin was. We were warned that toileting will be off deck so we have packed plenty of paper for when nature calls and we have to drop anchor.
The ropes were untied and our captains pulled away from shore and hoisted the sail. Instantly the cool Nile breeze swept through the deck and we finally relaxed and cooled. It was lovely. No cars honking at us, no heat, no people convincing us to buy things, just the soft sound of water breaking, the breeze and our crew calling commands to each other.
We slowly sailed across the Nile while Hoda boarded another boat and went back to shore for 15mins to arrange the paperwork for our sailing. When she returned we settled in headed to our next stop to again allow the captain to settle more paperwork. The other crew had a quick dip while we waited on the water then we were finally away headed north to Luxor.
Sailing down the Nile we can see villagers swimming on the shore and donkeys eating grass. We waved to a group of locals who were having fun in the water, then one woman started screaming, horrified, we had no idea what was going on but we then saw three men running towards them and took their shirt off and dived in. By this time we were almost 50m away and couldn’t help. We had all got a fright but they seemed to calm down. We speculate that one of the children couldn’t swim and had gone out too far. They seemed to be ok so we calmed down and continued sailing. We passed another group of children happily shouting ‘Hello, Hello’ and waving their arms. They were having a great time in the cool water.
We pulled up on the banks of the river for a toilet stop and for lunch at 1:30pm. Lunch was tomato sauce, babaganoosh, bread, potato, with garlic. It was very nice. Dan started to listen to his music and the first song he put was ‘On A Boat’ from Lonely Island. It was apt. We both listened. We sailed on towards a bridge where just after, the crew decided it was time for a dip. As soon as we got word Dan threw his shirt off and bomb dived into that water where as Ev was sooky and said she didn’t want to change into something else. Eventually she came down and stood in the water for a while. Dan finally convinced her to come for a dip and then dragged her in kicking and screaming but eventually she enjoyed it. Sounds like most things in our relationship. Boom! We all got in except Carla who was not feeling well and went for a swim in the Nile at 3:00pm. We swam close to the bank because the current was quite strong. Yes, we can now say we’ve been swimming in the Nile River. It was difficult to pick up the wind after this but once we did, we were smooth sailing up toward Luxor.
The boat docked to the West Bank of the Nile at around 5:30pm and Dan and the other guys helped build the toilet for the night. It was super classy, a hole in the ground with a toilet seat and a tent around it and we had to bring our own toilet paper. Beer O’Clock was at 5pm and it had never tasted better as the breeze for the last couple hours was a little warm. We had a candle lit dinner on the felucca and the food was similar to lunch. We went for a night swim at about 7pm and the water was beautiful. Everybody was pretty tired and relaxed from not doing much and was in bed by 8:30pm.
We sailed for a total of 7 hours today and will sleep on the felucca tonight then jump on a bus tomorrow morning and continue our journey north to Luxor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
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