Soft Beach

Nuweiba is a small place. Unlike other small places at the sea in Sinai it is quiet and not very touristy. I just like that.

The reason for getting here was Petra and implicitly the ferry to Jordan. But as soon as I saw this place I could not resist it. And so I ended up staying here for a few days.

I arrived in the dark and only in the morning did I realize the beauty of this place, similar to what I experienced in St. Katherine. Sandy beaches, turquoise waters, pink mountains in the background. It's a postcard perfect spot. The camp I'm staying at - Soft Beach Camp - is nice and quiet. Although I pay for a little hut I take my sleeping bag onto the beach every evening and sleep under the stars. The relaxing sound of the waves less than a dozen meters away is lulling me into sleep.

I've never been a beach fan. I'm not into lazing around in the sun sipping drinks and not doing anything. But I love the water and so I spend hours a day in the water swimming and floating. Then, quite often, I walk on the shore to dry and in between I read. That's awesome, too, reading for hours.
A major attraction here at the Red Sea is the underwater life. There are corals and many kinds of fish and shellfish. It's an amazing universe I only got a glimpse into by wading through the waters. Diving and snorkelling are very popular, but somehow I do not feel attracted to it. Someday I'll probably regret it...

The Sinai is spectacular - offering both sea and mountains, the dry red dust of the desert and the brilliant lush green of the oasis. It's a place you can fall in love with and definitely a place worth exploring.

Hence I made the decision to go on a camel trek. I had read about some beautiful canyons not very far from Nuweiba and, when I had to choose, I picked the camel trek over the jeep ride. 3 days in the desert, I figured, would give me a foretaste of what Jordan has to offer. Plus it comes at a much much smaller price. And so, out of the few days spent here on the Red Sea coast I spent 3 of them out there somewhere in the red desert criss-crossed by wadis and big mountains. It was a dive into beauty and solitude, a unique experience unlike any other I had so far.