We got to sleep in a bit later today (10AM) as we had a pretty “uneventful” day planned. Our itinerary for the day saw us sailing down the Nile in a traditional Egyptian Felucca sail boat and spending the night under the stars on board. The idea of it sounded amazing when we first booked this itinerary. But as we learned very quickly in Egypt, it is insanely hot and I had started to dread this portion of our trip. I was worried I wouldn’t hold up well under the heat for an entire day (I barely held up under the heat in short bursts the past few days) and that it’d be a looooong day of discomfort.
Luckily after moving our bags from the hotel to the boat, we set sail and I was relieved to learn that out on the open water temperatures felt much cooler and the breeze along the water’s surface was very refreshing! This wasn’t going to be so bad after all! We zig zagged our way down and across the Nile catching the wind to push us further down. Our group was separated into two boats with seven in each boat. The boat itself is pretty basic, with a hull, a main sail and a cushioned middle area where we all “laid” while enjoying the views and breeze of the water. A few of our group got onto the front of the boat to get a tan, Muscles took a nap, Gimpy read and I tried to snap a few pics while trying to take it all in and appreciate that I was sailing down the Nile. I felt/feel very blessed to have this opportunity to visit a place I’ve only read about in books, seen on TV or Movies or heard about from others, and to take in and marvel at God’s creation is a great realization and feeling!
A few hours passed and both boats slowed. G Adventures also chartered a small support vessel to trail the sail boats (in the event someone needed to use facilities, or we would use it as a place for us to have meals together) and it pulled up between both boats. We all boarded the support boat and met upstairs where a dining table was setup for lunch! We sat down, shared about the experiences of both boats. Shared relief at how comfortable it actually was to be sailing instead of the heat we dreaded and how great it was to have something like this on the itinerary! Lunch came and we finished it quickly.
It was about 2 when we finished lunch and while it’s been comfortable, the harshest heat was still ahead and we were starting to feel it. Our support boat anchored near a small beach where we all had an opportunity to “cool off” even more by taking a swim in the Nile! I wasn’t initially thinking about doing this, but seeing how refreshing it looked I hopped in and was instantly refreshed by how cool it was to be swimming! We played around for about 20 minutes before we had to start thinking about setting sail again. Mudi assured us that the hot Egyptian sun would do wonders in helping us dry off before returning to the Felucca and I have to say he was pretty accurate. I was out of the water for no more than 5-10 minutes and my shorts were dry enough to hop onto the cushions of the Felucca again! This happened for all of us and in no time we were out in the open water again sailing North. Our group was in high spirits, fed, refreshed and enjoying the experience. We sailed for another few hours before we stopped for another “swimming break” In reality, we had been making such great progress (the winds were really good today) that we were well ahead of schedule. So we stopped, tied the two feluccas together and gave our group another opportunity to take a dip. A few people did (I didn’t) but it was great to reunite as a group, one of the sailors had a portable speaker and Akon’s album on a memory stick so we all hung out together, laughing, sharing experiences and enjoying the afternoon sun.
With the quick break over, our boats were untethered and ready to set sail once again. As our boats were starting to move away, Mudi made a quick decision to pile everyone into one boat, we had to quickly grab our stuff and jump across to the other boat. With all 14 of us on one boat, Akon (which then transitioned to Bob Marley) playing in the background we all enjoyed dangling our feet over the side, lying on the cushions or sharing stories with one another. We got to witness the sun set over the Nile and a quiet and relaxing day was nearing its end.
We spotted our support boat ahead and went to dock with it. Dinner was ready and waiting for us. We all sat in relative dark (to not attract mosquitoes) and ate another delicious meal of chicken, rice and pita together before retiring to our respective feluccas to setup for sleep. The primary concern now would be mosquitoes, Mudi had warned us to have good bug spray and to cover up exposed skin. We all lathered up with mosquito repellent, jumped into our sleeping bags, or liners and hunkered down for the night. The first 10 minutes of being in my liner was rough, even with the sun set and the Earth cooling it was easily 30 degrees Celsius outside still, so adding layers was not ideal. I’m pretty sure, like everyone else, i was sweating buckets inside my liner. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get a good nights rest, but soon after, the sounds of a nearby pumping station, the ripples of water from the Nile and the peace of being outdoors had me in dream land soon enough.
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