Hurghada, Egypt by Toby

[Toby]

This is the report of my trip to Hurghada.
Hopefully it contains all info you need, if not, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Arrival:

when you arrive make sure to get out of the plane asap and try to be the first at the immigration. If you didn't get a visa in an embassy in your country, you can buy one for about 16 Euros/USD in the airport where the immigration is at. There are also small exchange banks to get some Egyptian Pounds. At Colona you also can get a good exchange rate, but they do not have always money to exchange.
( 1 USD or Euro is about 4.4-4.7 pounds)

Taxi to the hotel:
first thing you learn in Egypt is to negotiate about everything.
Never accept a price quoted you, always bargain. Same for the taxi to your hotel, if you don't have an organized journey with a tour operator.
Depending on how many persons you travel with and your luggage you should pay about 15-30 Pounds for a trip to the Magawish hotel.
Always have the exact amount available, otherwise don't give out your money before you got the change! They try everything to get more. Also be aware of the money you gave and count it in front of them. Sometimes they give you a bill back and say you gave them a wrong bill, but it is a Peaster, which is like cents. e.g. you give them 10 and 20 pounds, they give you a 50 piaster bill back saying you gave it to them, so they make about 20 pounds more!

The Hotel and Rooms:

The Magawish hotel is very nice and lost of space in between the bungalows. Only 1 floor and at one of the two pools there are 2 floor buildings, no bigger buildings.
The rooms are nice with a small sofa, table, fridge, AC, two single beds,closet and a bathroom with a shower.
I don't know if the rooms a different.


The breakfast and dinner are absolutely correct and offer many different choices and the dinner is changing every day.

Either due to the food or water you might get sick like running to th etoilet manytimes. So be aware and bring some Immodium with you.

The nightlife in the hotel isn't the best, but there is a show every night.

The most people are from Sweden,Russia and Germany.

The Kitebeach:

This is the school at the beach of the Magawish hotel.


In front of the school is the launch zone.
The whole beach has no corals and fine sand.
Behind the sunchairs the beach has corals in the sand and in trhe water there are corals as well. So if you ride downwind, make sure to watch out where you step and land your kite. Better to land it in the water and carry it on the beach to avoid damage.
In front of the school you have about 15 m shallow water.

The Colona Watersports Center has a bar, compressor for the tubes, storage for your stuff, test/rental materials and boat rescue.

You can leave your kitegear at the beach and it will be watched at night and nothing will get stolen. Everything stays open and no need to take your gear to your room every day.


Here you can test Naish kites and boards, Flysurfer kites, X-Shooter, Loose and Underground boards.

The advanced area is georgeous!!!
About 200 m away you have a beautiful sand bar to jump over orfor really flat water.
It is like riding in the Maldives, just beautiful.


Further away you havea small and abigger island with beautiful beaches and clear blue water. Here you have the strongest winds and many spectators on the diving boats. If you love to do a show for promotion of our sport, that is the best place to go to!
You can jump directly next to the boats, b ut make sure before you do so that no divers are around! And always jump downwind of the boats!!!!!
Then yaou will get many attention and handclaps and "bravos".

The beginner area is shallow and a bit upwind of the school (about 500m)


Here an overview of the Magawish hotel beach:


The Wind:

Every morning the wind is side offshore and about noon it will besideshore and in the afternoon side onshore.
Here the strenght can be very different. Maybe early in the morning there is windand later nothing or even more. Sometimes it comes in the afternoon and sometimes no wind at all.
The forecasts are almost always wrong, since these winds are thermical. So forget about it.

I mainly used a bigger kite of about 16 sqm.
But I also used a 12 (all surface area).
Smaller kite you normally don't need to many times, but there can be very strong days. BUt without 16 you won't have much fun, depending on your weight (my weight is 90 kgs)



The Temperatures:

are fantastic! I ripped in shorts and shirt. When it gets very windy a long lycra is helpful in the afternoon.
The wtare had about 27 C and the air 30 C.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Air 23°C 23°C 25°C 27°C 32°C 35°C 37°C 38°C 34°C 30°C 27°C 25°C
Water 22°C 21°C 22°C 23°C 25°C 26°C 27°C 28°C 28°C 27°C 25°C 24°C


The Colona Team

Bengan is the founder of the Colona Watersports Center, Swedish origin.
Thorsten is the German instructor and Swedish Mike as well. This Mike is fun to watch while ripping on the water, since he has very good talent. Great jumps and tricks!
Polish Mike (instructor) and his girlfriend run the school the next 2 month while Bengan is in the Maldives.

Hurgada:

If you know how, it is cheap to get there. Just go to the street in front of your hotel and wait for a small van. This is a taxi that collects people and normally you pay around 2-3 pounds per person. But say a price you want to pay before you get in and insist on it. Remember: have the exact amount ready or don't give it before you got the change!

Hurgada is not nice and they try to sell a lot of ugly stuff...
But cheap DSL internet in the internet cafes (from 5-8 pounds = 1.25-1.5 Euros/USD per hour). You can even plug your notebook to the DSL connection.

For party you go at about 10-11 at night to the Chil bar. Very cosy with a bar, small danvefloor and small areas to sit, inside and at the beach.
Then you go to the Papa's Bar or Papa's beach. Papa's beach is at the beach and you dance in sand.
There is also the Calypso, a nightclub with many russian girls...

So, I hope you got all the info you need.

If you decide to go the Magawish hotel, ask at the school for a special room rate. Just send an e-mail to: info@colonawatersports.com

more infos you can find here:
http://www.colonawatersports.com

Note:
If you want to ride at the beach of the Magawish hotel, no matter if you stay there or not, you have to pay a weekly fee of 32 USD/Euros for storage and rescue. Otherwise you are not allowed to kite there.
So please register prior to go out at that beach.

I recommend wearing shoes everytime, since you never know where you have to get of the board and there can be corals.

Toby

[phukbush]

For those of you that want to do Hurghada on the cheap but can't fit into some prearanged tour, this is how I did it.

I flew to Cairo. Buses (Superjet and El Gouna) leave Cairo every couple hours to Cairo (even at night). The two bus stations are next to each other. Some say Superjet is better but I couldn't tell the difference. Take a cab from the airport to the station (50 L.E.). Or better yet go to one of the tourism booths at the airport and arrange a tour of the pyrimids (45 min drive from airport) before you get on the bus. The trip to the pyramids cost me US$35 which included a room and shower to leave my stuff in in a hotel above the bus station and a ride to the Pyramids and back. Horses to ride into the pyrimides were another US$20 (you could probably get this for less). The bus ride to Hurghada is 5-6 hours and cost 55 L.E.

I stayed at the Bashira (aka Bashara) Motel. It's located between the Desert Inn/Samaka Beach and the Grand Hotel on the main drag. No one seemed to know where it was except the immediate neighbors. It was actually pretty nice. The room was clean, and had a little kitchenette. I had a good view of the water from my front balcony and a killer sunset view over the desert from the back balcony. You can even see the kites down at Megawish. Might be nice to bring binoculars. Even most of the people at Megawish can't look out the window in morning to check the wind. The rooms are 70 L.E. one person or 110 L.E. two persons. Bus's (vans) can take you to Megawish for 1.5 L.E. (5 min) and come by every few seconds (seriously). If the bus is empty then it's a taxi and you gotta pay more. Pay before the ride or you will be overcharged. A bus to downtown Hurghada cost 1 L.E. and takes about 10 min.

I kited at Megawish/Colona Water Sports. The 46 Euro/week charge is well worth the beach access and kite storage facility. The kite spot at Colona is perfect flat water riding. Their training bay up wind is one of the best spots to learn around. I heard good things about their reasonably priced courses.

I took one of the $25 day tours to Luxor. I would recommend renting a car and going with friends on your own. The bus tour was a real pain in the ass and they gave us almost no time at the sites but plenty of time to buy papyrus and alabaster at inflated costs.

The only thing that sucked was the wind just wasn't enough. From what I hear the fall and winter have their days but don't really go off consistently enough from me to go there again in October. I could have rode most every morning but I would have needed at 7' surfboard or a 20m kite. It's a good season to learn with the modest winds though. I hear the Spring-Summer season does go off. I'd like to go back some time in the windier season.

One more note. You have to bargin for everything. If you show up a hotel with your bags in hand you will be charged more. Call first. They got the phone number for Bashira at Colona Water Sports. The Egyptians are nice friendly people but it is a developing country, so keep your eyes on your stuff. Remember be thankful to anyone you ask for help but suspicios of anyone that offers you help. It's as safe as anywhere, but use your head and you'll save yourself a little money.