Like all our trips this holiday, we started with a transfer pick up from the hotel.
Waiting outside at 7.45am there was a hustle and bustle of mini buses arriving and leaving the hotel, collecting guests for trips, the driver getting out of the van to ask for the room number to identify the right people.
After asking a few drivers, the right one finally arrived and we were relieved to get into the air conditioned vehicle. It was already more than 30c.
After collecting the other passengers we were driven to the marina, confirmed our hotel and room number with a guy with a clip board and were asked to wait on some benches under a shade.
Unlike in England, no one explains what will happen next and it's pretty confusing. A few of our bus companions were called by hotel name and taken to their trip but we were still waiting, seeing shade from the heat.
After 15 min or so we found the person with the clipboard and he matched us with our tour guide and boat name Masa Tours.
The guide took us through security. Again, a full bag search and a walk through a scanner. The guards even opened a pack of cards that was in Toby's bag.
We walked along a marina full of very similar boats and were taken onto the Masa Tours boat, asked to take our shoes off and we went to find a place to sit.
The middle deck in the shade provided a great view, and was already breezy before we set off.
We'd booked to both snorkel and dive, and during the journey, the instructor gave us a demo of how to use the equipment for an accompanied scuba.
At the first stop there was a reef to snorkel on and we were given a number to show the order we would dive in. No diving for Peter as he has had a perforated ear drum, so whilst the rest of us waited for our diving turn, he joined the group snorkeling on the reef, with his camera in a waterproof case to capture some photos.
The dive was amazing, getting lower down the reef and seeing different fish, including a Moray eel I definitely didn't like the look of. The photographer took underwater photos (obv tried to sell us these at inflated prices later).
We did a brief journey to a second reef and did more snorkeling there. I love the peace and beauty of it, when the sounds stop as you put your head in the water and see what's not visible from above the surface.
We were all hungry after the swimming, and lunch on the boat did not disappoint, with rice, pasta, beef and fried chicken served with salads.
Our final stop was White Island, a patch of stunning white sand rising just above the turquoise sea. It was crowded with people from all the boat tours, and we had to swim to get to it, then walk on sand with hard bits of coral and rock sticking through it.
We arrived with a few minor scratches on our feet and had 15 mins to take in the beauty of the surroundings, and take photos, before the walk and swim back to the boat.
On the return to port we were shown and pressed to buy the full set of photos from the trips, but we resisted without too much temptation when the bartering was to no avail in terms of buying one photo of each of us rather than all of them, or reducing the price.
The journey back was filled with music and dancing by the crew. Crazy Egyptian dance moves we were drawn into.
We also took a load of photos of each other in the surroundings of the boat.
Arriving back to port we waited on the same benches and were matched with our driver for the return to the hotel, chatting with our fellow passengers who were on the same bus but had been on a different boat tour.
Safely back in the hotel we showered and changed for a very welcome dinner after a tiring day.
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