A slight change of plan


A couple of days ago I was walking along the Dahab seafront when two Arab boys in the water called out, 'Mister, come!' pointing to the sea bed. 'A snake of the sea! A snake of the sea!' The water was only about 5ft deep so I splashed in and indeed there was a lovely grey/brown sea snake weaving in and out of the stones. They leant me their mask and we watched it for a few minutes and chatted for a bit until I said goodbye and carried on to the cafe I was heading for.


Now I am back in Jerusalem, it's moments like that that have stuck in my mind. There's a sign on one of the Dahab bars that says, 'Come as a guest, leave as a friend' and really that should be the motto of the town. On my last morning there, as I was walking one last time along the sea front, people came out of the cafes where they worked to say hello. And when they discovered that I was going they said, I think with all sincerity, that they hoped I would be back very soon. And I think I will.


I took a morning bus again up the coast to Taba and noticed for the first time some interesting little places to stay north of Nuweibah. Simmy had emailed me earlier about his Dahab experiences in the early 1980s, when he stayed in straw shacks on the beach and ate at just 'one little cafe'. And I was a little envious Dahab wasn't like that now (though the dismally unreliable water supply in my hotel room's ensuite bathroom did give it a slightly desert flavour). But here, suddenly, was the Simmy experience just an hour or so north - straw huts looking straight out on to an sapphire blue sea (blurry picture below) - and it looked magical. There were little dive sites dotted along the coast. And I am sure there must be that one little cafe somewhere. So next time, who knows, maybe we could get some friends together and stay a little more in the wild. And if it isn't too much of a cliche someone could even bring a guitar...


This week sees the start of my journey back home. I had originally planned to travel a little in the north of Israel before heading to Haifa next Monday to catch a cargo ship sailing to Piraeus. But yesterday I had a call from the shipping agent to say that my sailing had been cancelled and offering me a place on a boat that leaves on Friday instead. So now I am spending a couple of days here saying goodbye to friends and packing up my stuff before going north and then into a new world of commercial shipping. I think I am going to get to Haifa on Thursday so I can work out where the docks are (the ship sails on Friday morning) and where I need to go. I have a reservation but no ticket. I am pretty sure that the ship will be there. And I am guessing there isn't going to be a departure lounge with duty free and a Costa Cofee. But who knows?