Afterwards, we hung out back at his place for a little bit, then I took a quick shower, said farewell to Faisal, thanked him for his hospitality and laughed about how I'd been at his house in Abu Dhabi TWICE in less than one year...
Check it out! Here's what the Blue Hole looks like shot from space! It's also considered to be one of most fatal diving spots on the planet (so I figured what better place to get my deep diving certification!).
"The Blue Hole is notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred there earning it the sobriquet, "World's Most Dangerous Dive Site" and the nickname "Diver's Cemetery". The site is signposted by a sign that says "Blue hole: Easy entry". Accidents are frequently caused when divers attempt to find the tunnel through the reef (known as "The Arch") connecting the Blue Hole and open water at about 52 m depth. This is beyond the PADI recreational diving limit (40 m) and nitrogen narcosis begins to have an influence. Divers who miss the tunnel sometimes continue descending hoping to find the tunnel farther down and become increasingly narced."
Turns out, without the ferry running I only had two options: Go to the airport and take a twenty-minute flight from Hurghada to Sharm El Sheikh (represented by the two blue pins on the map above). Or, I could take a FIFTEEN HOUR BUS RIDE all the way up north by the Suez Canal, and then across the peninsula and south. (The route denoted by the red path!).
If you're a genius like me, you probably had already worked it out that flying would be WAY faster. So it seemed like a no-brainer until I called the airline and learned that all flights from Hurghada to Sharm el-Sheikh were sold out for the next three days! (Which, if you ask me, is PROBABLY related to the fact that THE FERRY WASN'T RUNNING).
The blue lines on the map represent my guess about the route we traveled, because as you can see on the map, there are any official roads that connect Luxor and Hurghada!
