Залив вместо моря, грусть и печаль Bay instead of the sea, sadness and sadness

So, we decided to go on vacation with a family of 7 people, including small children 7 and 3 years old. Last year we were in Hurghada and we all really enjoyed our vacation. We decided to fly to Sharm, because they promised a better underwater world and to see another part of Egypt. Our tour operator was called AnexTour. The plane took off without delay and was quite comfortable, unlike, for example, JoinUp planes, where you sit like in a minibus, covering your ears with your knees. True, the departure time, both there and back, was such that we lost two days of rest.

We flew to Egypt at 17:30 and home at 8:30. But this is the fault of the travel agency, because we found out about this after we paid for everything. We landed, boarded the bus, arrived at the hotel without any problems. Naturally, we did not have time for dinner, until it was already late in the evening when we settled in the room. In the bar, in the lobby of the hotel, there were a couple of croissants and buns that were harder than Clint Eastwood's eyes. This was our dinner.

My wife and I settled in a bungalow, which was located near the last pool, almost immediately near the beach. There are no particular complaints about the number. The air conditioner worked properly, the mattresses were comfortable, there was enough space for two people. A couple of geckos reliably protect your home from insects, sticking to the wall near the lamp and eating flying infection. And lizards scurrying back and forth, cracking down on crawling beetles. In the end, in the room you spend not so much time to have time to find fault with something. There is a wardrobe, working safe, telephone for communication with other rooms and reception, TV, bathroom.

At 8:45 am the next day, a meeting with the guide was scheduled. At the meeting, the guide talked for a very long time about his wife from Zhytomyr and about very profitable excursions. In general, here everyone has a wife, if not from Zhytomyr, then from Kharkov. A total of one and a half hours. We chose two excursions: "All in One" and "Safari".
The first excursion involved sailing on a yacht in the company of 25 people, stopping at three places, a seafood lunch, a bathyscaphe excursion and a banana ride. There were 35 people on the yacht, seafood? these are three shrimps, there were two stops, instead of three, we did not visit the promised dolphin bay. This also included diving. Since our girls did not want to dive, the men were promised a dive twice, but they dived only once.

They also promised swimming with masks and fins for those who do not want to dive. A circle was lowered into the water and the instructor dragged people behind him on this circle. Swimming is prohibited. Naturally, such an exciting excursion quickly gets bored and you start diving yourself. Depth is about 5-7 meters. There are very few fish, which is not surprising, all this happens about fifty meters from the shore.

Next was the bathyscaphe, which was nothing. Only now all the fish were on the left side, and on the right the open sea.
Well, in the end, a fantastic trip on a banana that lasted 5 minutes. But it included a struggle for life jackets with other tourist groups, an hour waiting in the sun, you wanted to sunbathe, and fresh freshness offered for a dollar.


A day later, we had a "Safari" excursion, which promised us an exciting quad bike ride through the desert in a group of 7 people. An unforgettable meeting of dawn on a mountain in the desert and a photo of unreal beauty. As well as communication with the Bedouins, penetration into the local culture and in general a lot of new experiences. In general, we met the dawn on the bus on the way to the tour. And the sun began to cheerfully warm up the air, the desert, us and thousands of flies, which began to look for food and a place for mating. And on that day, the flies got both in the face of thirty (THIRTY! ), instead of seven idiots who ordered an excursion from AnexTour.
After feeding the flies for about thirty minutes and waiting for the previous group, we finally began to sit down on motorcycles. The promised new quads beckoned with worn-out seats, broken fenders and bald tires. My wife and I got a buggy, because there were not enough ATVs for everyone. And we were told for the buggy you need to pay extra. In general, they explained to us that we must move strictly one after another, without leaving anywhere, without overtaking anyone. Maximum speed from zero to five km / h. And so, the column moves off, raising a huge amount of dust, and if you are not the first to go, but you are not the first to go on the buggy, but the last, then all this wonderful and tasty dust with sand and camel dung flies right in your face, causing a storm of unforgettable sensations and emotions.

Any attempt to add gas, drift or simply deviate two centimeters from the route caused anger and screams from the accompanying guides.
Therefore, the further meaning of this trip came down to seizing the moment when the guards were shouting at someone else, and pressing the gas pedal to feel the buzz from a speed of 10 km / h instead of 5 and at least a little ride on the impassability, and not on a rolled flat road.

After about ten minutes of a crazy race, we arrived at a Bedouin village to soak up the culture of the locals. Communication with the Bedouins was limited to the phrase, ? "Ride a camel two dollars, photo adin dollar. " From our side it was only heard: "No, thank you. " Indignant and drinking a glass of tea, we set off on our way back.

On the way home, one of the guards saw that one person from the group, who was traveling with a child, allowed himself to slightly increase the gas and wag the ATV in order to wake his sleeping son and evoke at least some emotions in him that he would remember after such a wild safari, sharply cut off their vehicle and collided with it and loudly announced that then they and the child would follow to the camp on foot and the vehicle was confiscated from them. To which the temporary owner of the vehicle, as well as the eyewitnesses of the incident who stopped and overwhelmed with unforgettable emotions, politely and reasonably made it clear that he would go on a walking tour rather than someone from the group. Upon arrival at the camp and trying to find out what it was, the formidable overseer, taking advantage of the similarity of his face with his colleagues, refused to identify himself. That ended the incident.
Now, as for the hotel itself, living in it and relaxing by the sea. First of all, it is worth noting that the hotel is not located on the Red Sea, but on the bay. Mom told me, "Learn geography. " And this means that when you leave your room in the morning and go to the beach, you may simply not find the sea. Yes Yes. Your eyes will have a wonderful view of the dead coral reef that has bared its white rocky fangs. And on the pier, which, by the way, is located on the territory of another hotel, you will see a red flag flying like a pirate, which will mean only one thing for you, ? swimming in the sea is prohibited. By the way, yes, the reef is dead, which means you won’t see the promised rich underwater world either. Alas. Yes, Wi-Fi is extremely poor, it does not catch in the rooms. And in general, at the reception we were told that it simply did not exist, apparently they did not want to bother explaining how to set it up.

You just have to go to the pools.
And here you can fully experience what the black citizens of America experienced during the segregation policy. The fact is that a large number of Italians rest in the hotel, who are priority customers for the staff. You'll be queuing up at the pool bars and waiting for an Italian to get his drink in a glass with an orange slice and an umbrella to finally pick up his swill in a plastic cup. Your child will learn to understand commands in Italian and learn Italian nursery rhymes, because most of the children's animation will be in Italian. No, of course there is a pool where there are fewer of them, the most distant from the beach. Oh yes, you can only take a towel once a day. You cannot return a wet towel and take a dry one again. Humiliation.

In the restaurant, the history of segregation will continue. First the Italians, then everyone else.

Be prepared for the fact that you will stand in line for a serving of food, an Italian will come up and get food out of line. As for the food itself, it will be the same throughout the holiday. With enviable constancy and stability, every day you will eat the same thing. The very same quality of food is quite decent, of our 7 people, including small children, no one even had a disorder.

Alcohol in the hotel is extremely vile. Stored in plastic bottles. Just be prepared to be served hot vodka that smells like drying oil and has the strength of children's champagne. You can still drink a whiskey and cola or a gin and tonic, mentally imagining that if you don’t, someone will kill you and your entire family. But beer and water will always be cold and that's fine.