Ras Abu Galoum, Dahab

I’m not a sea person; I’ve been a pool person ever since I was little. The majority of my holidays have been spent in the pool. I mean, I like the sea but only from afar, not to go swimming in it. So it comes to my surprise to say that one of the highlights of my summer was when I spent nearly a whole day swimming in the sea at Dahab.

When my family and I went to the Blue Hole, we met a guide there named Jimmy who literally took us under his wing! He helped me go snorkeling for the first time, the second time and the third time in my life. He guided us to the most beautiful coral reefs in the sea. He shared with us his life lessons and morals. He let us in on Dahab’s stories and secrets. He made our 1-hour trip turn into a memorable 8-hour long one.

Jimmy took us on a one-day group trip to the Blue Hole, Ras Abu Galoum and the Blue Lagoon. I’ve told you all about the Blue Hole in my previous post so you know how much I loved it. Now it’s time to tell you about the second half of the trip; that is Ras Abu Galoum. There are three ways to go to Ras Abu Galoum from the Blue Hole: on foot, a camel ride or by a small boat. We chose the boat since it was only a 10-minute ride but it was surely a bumpy one. The wave current then was opposite to our destination so there were lots of bumps that it sometimes felt like being on a crazy ride at Disney. By the time we reached Ras Abu Galoum, we were all completely soaked… but we didn’t complain. It was fun!

Ras Abu Galoum is basically a Bedouin village, where all there is are just the sea and the mountains. It’s kind of located on the borders of Saudi Arabia; our mobile network providers sent us a text message welcoming us to Saudi Arabia lol. We also had no internet connection there so we fully experienced the Bedouin life for a few hours. We had tea, lunch, went snorkeling and enjoyed each other’s company. It was so relaxing; we couldn’t communicate with the online world even if we wanted to. It was a peaceful isolation!

We went snorkeling twice; once before the sunset and another by the sunset. Apparently, the fish swim near the surface especially as the sun sets down. During that time, everything was so calm in the sea; the waves were gentle, the underwater life was quiet and the fish were slowly making their way in the water. As I had my head in the water, I was drifted into a much quieter world and forgot about ours.

By the time we got out of the water, the sun was almost gone so we couldn’t make it to the Blue Lagoon. I’m not completely sad about that though because I got to truly witness a night under the stars at Ras Abu Galoum. While we were waiting for our boat ride back to the Blue Hole, we saw a pitch black sky full of sparkly stars and it was mesmerizing. I’ve never in my life seen stars so big and shiny as I’ve seen on that night. Whatever I say won’t do justice to how beautiful the stars were. We were all in complete awe!

On our way back to the Blue Hole, it was pitch black that we could barely see each other. We rode a boat in the calm sea while dark shades of the mountains were on our left, and a sparkly sky above our heads. The group I was with sang all the way to the shore and I just inhaled it all in; the moments. These moments should keep me going until next holiday.