When I first arrived in Safaga I was gutted that yet again I have arrived to Egypt in the dark!! I disembarked the plane and followed the herd into Hurghada airport to be greeted by a mass of people all trying to join the queue for their visa with all the tour operators trying to find their guests and none of them seemed to have my name!! I eventually found the correct desk and a very efficient man helped me sort my visa and dragged me through the passport control and customs before I could even blink and say thank you, I think it must be a record for me, about 5 mins all the way to the baggage. Anyone who travels with excess baggage or sports luggage will know that it baggage claim is always your worst nightmare. So you wait and wait, knowing full well that the sports luggage is the last to come through. The luggage carrousel starts to turn and all the pushchairs and suitcases start to come through, you wait. You wait and wait as people slowly pick up their kit and you watch to see if the divers are getting their kit and then bang............... the electricity goes, the whole airport completely in darkness! It could only be Egypt! Eventually the electricity comes back and all of a sudden my luggage arrives, thank god! My gorgeous new board as made it here!!
I travel in the dark to Safaga, the driver seemed lost and that was not the best sign but after asking a few locals we eventually pulled up outside the Oasis de Safaga. I was welcome by Maude and Philippe and shown to my room in a very swift manner. I dumped my stuff (literally as I was shattered) and Philippe and I went back down for some dinner and a lovely glass of red. The pictures on the website had not done the place justice. I expected it to be small but the colours and the decor where amazing and the first dinner was amazing. I was happy. My trip has started and I was in what would be my home for the next 2 weeks.
I have to admit that I was a little nervous following conversations with Philippe, turns out the multi spot was a new trip for the team and I was the first person.... Wow. The least inexperienced customer they could have hoped for, with brand new kites and board to break in and I have hardly kited this year!! C’est la vie! I had a mare of a first day (see session 1) but it has turned out to be the best 2 weeks I have had. I have kited 11 times in 14 days and only been to 2 spots twice. I have been to some of the best kiting spots in the area and developed much quicker than I ever hoped.
I wanted to write about the Oasis when I first arrived as I was so impressed with the set up and the decor and the food, but I thought that I would be best placed to wait until the end of the trip just in case it turned out to be just a bunch of pretty colours and nothing more.
Could I be more wrong! Yann and his team have set up what can only be described as a kiters dream! Simple, friendly accommodation, which is perfectly placed for so many parts of the Red Sea to kite, yet far enough away from the mass production type hotels for you to be able to feel at home there and chill after a good session on the water. Amr who is the manager of the apartments also loves to cook (and makes a mean Mohito) so the meals there are second to none, home cooked for you at a time that suits you and then you can chill out in the gorgeous courtyard area with a good drink or a sheesha (not my thing but hey!) with your iPod going over the speakers if you ask nicely.
Yann and Philippe (Philippe for the first week and Yann for the second) joined me for dinner (and the few others on the multispot) and it was always great to feel like you were part of their big family! The multispot itself is the best idea I have seen for kiters (although they also do a boat based safari for the more experienced riders). I have been to more spots in 2 weeks than most people see in a lifetime and you so benefit from their local knowledge which has being accumulated after years of kiting and windsurfing locally. I had massively populated spots with a good rescue system and also secret spots which Yann has kited for a long time but no one else goes to! One great example was a place in the middle of a building site and we were pumping our kites surrounded by a pack of wild dogs!!
I cannot write enough about what a great time I had whilst I was there if I am honest, even if the first week I was in a group of 4 with 3 of them speaking French!! I know for a fact that everyone I have kited with on this trip will come back and would have stayed on for a lot longer given the chance. I am devastated that the volcano made me miss a week of the time there, just think I would be semi pro if I had come over earlier!
Overall, great place, awesome kiting, wonderful people (including the team at Nathalie Simone at Menaville), good food and an experience I will not forget for a very long time!
Thanks guys!!
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