Accommodations and Food

The search for budget accommodations in Al-Arish is an ordeal. The beachside Moonlight Hotel (tel. 34 13 62; to reserve rooms from Cairo, tel. 24 81 28), on Fouad Zakry St., 50m west of the tourist office, has petite rooms for LE10 and a view of the beach. (Singles LE5, with bath LE15. Doubles LE10, with bath LE25. Breakfast included.) The more centrally located As-Salaam Hotel on July 23 St. (tel. 34 12 19), one block north of Baladiya Sq., has shabby but spacious rooms. (Singles LE4. Doubles with bath LE10.) There are also several campgrounds along the beach. The average fee for a two-person tent is LE6; ask at the tourist office for details. It is also possible to camp for free cm the beaches near town, but you’ll need permission from the tourist police and an HI card.

Groceries are available, and the town has two unsurpassed restaurants. The Aziz Restaurant, under the as-Salaam Hotel, serves delicious kabab, kufta, and salad for LE6. Groups that call ahead (tel. 34 03 45) can enjoy their meal in the Bedouin tent room, sitting cross-legged at low tables on large, embroidered cushions. (Open daily lOam-midnight.) About 300m down the street, just past the Sultana Cafe, the Sam-mar Restaurant offers a variety of fried chicken and fish dishes for about LE7.50. Filling hawawshi (bread filled with meat) can be had for a painless LEI. (There’s no sign in English for this restaurant; look for the Mickey Mouse across the street from the National Bank of Egypt.)

On your way to the beach, have a look at the town’s only tourist attraction—the bizarre, multi-colored brick minaret on your left. July 23 St. is lined with small outdoor bistros where you can get a cup of shay or afuul sandwich for a few piasters.

Practical Information

The Al-Arish bus station is at the southeast corner of Baladiya Sq. The town’s main thoroughfare from there, July 23 St., runs north to the sea, where it meets Fouad Zakry St. The tourist office is on Fouad Zakry (tel. 34 05 69), about 1km west of its intersection with July 23 St. (Open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-2pm.) Next door is the tourist police (tel. 34 10 16); for some reason police officers are indistinguishable from employees at the tourist office. The post office (open Sat-Thurs. 8am-2pm), and the telephone office (open 24 hrs., international calls possible) are across the street from each other, two blocks east of July 23 St. and three blocks north of Baladiya Sq.

The easiest way to reach the beach from the middle of town is by minibus (5Opt) or taxi (5O-75pt). Pharmacy Fouad, on July 23 St. two blocks north of Baladiya Sq., on the west side of the street, purports to be open 24 hrs., but don’t stake your gastric tranquility on it; they can put you in touch with a local doctor. The local hospital is located on Gish St. (tel. 34 00 10 or 34 10 77), east of Souk Sq.—the first square inland on July 23 St. In case of emergency, call the ambulance (tel. 123) or local police (tel. 122).
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AE-Arish

Along the road from Al-Arish to Ismailiya, camels frolic among fried palms, blitzed villages, and gutted tanks. A few signs w;im wistfully of the dangers of overtaking on a wet road. AI-Arish itself, “The Paris of the Al-Arish municipal area,” offers even less distraction than the monotonous journey there. Not a sight in sight.

A number of luxury hotels are under construction near the beach, and every year more and more Egyptians come here to gambol about amidst the sand, palm trees, and charred anti-aircraft guns. It will be several seasons, however, before these facilities are open for business and the foreign tourist troop begins the invasion.

Western & Northern Sinai

The Sinai Peninsulas west coast doesn’t compare in beauty to the Aqaba Gulf side. The Gulf of Suez is a much shallower body of water with neither reefs nor nigged peaks hugging the beaches. It’s therefore less of a tragedy that the Suez coast is dotted with oil rigs and flame-belching smokestacks. If you sec this area out the window of the CairoSharm ash-Sheikh bus, you’ve seen enough.

There are a few spots in the interior that merit a visit; the problem is transportation—buses don’t go to most of them. The exception is Wadi Feiran, an amazingly lush oasis 50km west of St. Catherine’s monastery, where Islamic tradition holds that Hagar fled in banishment from Abraham and Sarah. A taxi round-trip from St. Catherine’s is LE70 (for the car). This is really the best way to get there; although buses pass by regularly, schedules are unpredictable and you might get stranded.
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Accommodations

Most travelers come to St. Catherine’s to camp on the cool summit of Mt. Sinai (10°C in June nights). If not, the monastery’s youth hostel (tel. 77 09 45) offers clean but cramped rooms, each with bunkbeds (without A/C and fans, for LE25, all meals included; attached toilet and shower LE5 extra). Check-in is 8am-2:30pm and 5-7pm (you have to wait for the monks to finish praying). Mosquitoes can be profuse in summer and will suck blood as energetically as Wall Street bond traders. The gates to the monastery close at 9:30pm. A shop at the monastery sells cheap water for your climb up the mountain. Buy lots.

The Alfairoz Hotel has rooms that are even more cramped than those at the monastery (beds LE12, doubles with attached toilet and shower LE56, four-person “LE60 for four-person “chalet."Showers available). From the bus stop, walk straight toward the tourist village and bear left at the fork. The hotel is at the top of the hill. A third, extremely inexpensive option is Zeitouna Camping. The entrance is located at the base of the path to the monastery, but you may want to hire a taxi to drive you the 2km into the campground proper. The stone huts (LE5) offer fresh cushions on raised ledges with thick wool blankets and tented roofs. The bathrooms and low-pressure shower are immaculate. Be sure to arrive before sundown and bring a flashlight or candle since there is no electricity.

Practical Information and Food

The monastery of St. Catherine’s is hidden away, at an elevation of around 1600m, in the mountainous interior of the southern Sinai. Excellent roads run west to the Gulf of Suez and east to the Gulf of Aqaba, both about 100km away. Two km before the Bedouin village of Milga, the spur road leading 0.5km to St. Catherine’s Monastery and the base of Mt. Sinai branches off to the left. At the same point on the right side is the entrance to the expensive hotel known as the tourist village.

If you’re going straight to St. Catherine’s, ask the driver to let you off on the road to the monastery. Otherwise you’ll be deposited in Milga, which also boasts a few modern conveniences. The bus station is at the main square (it’s not a “station"per se, but a point in space where the bus habitually stops); on one side is an arcade with a Bank Misr, gift shops, supermarkets, and restaurants (which serve up a good meal of rice and chicken, LE7-8), and on the other side are tourist police and a hospital. The bank will exchange money or traveler’s checks (open Sun.-Thurs. 8:30am-2pm and 6-9pm, Fri. 9-ll:30am and 6-9pm, Sat. 10am-I:30pm and 6-9pm). The post office and telecommunications office are nearby, with telegraph and international phone service (open 24 hrs.). The Big Daddy police station is farther up the hill and they’ll willingly do a dance on your passport. Higher up on die hill are some picturesque Bedouin huts.

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The High Sinai

Mount Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery If you didn’t know its history, you’d probably call this remote, bone-dry mountain region God-forsaken. But for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Mt. Sinai is anything but-this is the site of God’s great revelation to Moses.

Mt. Sinai (Gabal Mussa) is regarded as the mountain where, according to Exodus, Moses ascended, parleyed with God, and returned with the Ten Commandments. Tliis place is a bargain for spiritually needy tourists: you can pump water from the well where Moses met his wife and go barefoot where Moses encountered the bum-ing bush (a shapeless weed overgrowing its stone and chicken-wire shrine) for free. The monastery’s private library cloisters the oldest (5th century) translation of the Gospels and, with its collection of over 3000 ancient manuscripts and 5000 books, is a perfect setting for The Name of the Rose.
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Northern Aqaba Coast

Between Nuweiba and Taba lie 70km of some of the most beautiful beaches in the Sinai. They are also relatively accessible, as the highway in this section runs along the coast (it turns inland farther south). This stretch still feels remote and pristine, but hotels are beginning to erupt along it and soon it will go the way of Na’ama Bay.

There are several quiet and secluded beach camps here. 16km north of Nuweiba is Maagana Beach, a Bedouin camp near some colorful rock formations, with nearby reefs. Huts cost LE5, and there’s a restaurant. Devil’s Head is this camp’s mirror image; you’ll find it lkm north on the other side of the rocky point. (Huts LE5.) Thirteen km north of Devil’s Head (40km south of Taba, in Ras Burqa) is Basata. Truly a snorkeling paradise, the camp has beautiful bamboo/thatched architecture and is kept immaculate. The fully-stocked kitchen works on a self-service basis: take what you want, when you want, and fix your own. Huts are LE20 for a single, LE30 for a double. Camping on the clean beach costs LE7.

Farther up the coast approaching Taba is a remote and beautiful spot called The Fjord, where a small inlet cuts into the steep hills. The Salima Restaurant and Camp (tel. 67 51 22) is right off the highway on a small ledge overlooking the bay. A few rooms are crammed between the restaurant and the rock slope behind it; if Salima hasn’t rumbled off its perch, it may be worth checking out.
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Sights

Nuweiba is a good starting point for a camel or jeep safari to some remarkable desert terrain. Explore Sinai has an office in the new commercial center, a white arcaded building near the town center. The Holiday Village Hotel also has information about safaris. If you’re in Tarabin, the Bedouin camp owners can set you up with camel or jeep; so can the Blue Bus at the south end of the settlement.

The Colored Canyon is the best-known destination-it’s a wadi with cliff walls of beautifully patterned sandstone. It’s 30km from Nuweiba; you can tour it by jeep in four hours (round-trip LE40-45 per person, if you have a few people to share the cost). Ain Omahmed is a frequently-visited desert oasis (the second-largest in South Sinai) which you can reach by jeep (LE6O-65 per person). Ain Furtuga is an oasis only 10km out of town (good camel range); Ain Houdra is an oasis in the spectacular Wadi Houdra on the road to St. Catherine’s.
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Practical Information and Accommodations

The bus station in the center of town is near the police station, where you can register your passport from 9am-2:3Opm. A 10-minute walk down the road toward the beach leads to the Nuweiba Holiday Village Hotel (tel. 76 88 32, fax 16 27 01), home to the tourist police, an international phone (8am-l 1pm), and a money exchange (open 9:30am-2pm and 7-9pm).

Daily buses arrive from Sharm ash-Sheikh and Dahab, Taba, Cairo or Suez via Sharm ash-Sheikh or St. Catherine’s, and directly from Cairo. Leaving Nuweiba, buses go to Cairo (11am, 3pm, LE55), Sharm ash-Sheikh (7am, 3:30pm, LE10), Dahab (7am, 3:30pm, LE7-8), Taba (scheduled 6am but normally delayed lhr. by tunnel work at Suez, and 11:30am, LE10), and St. Catherine’s (1 lam, LE15).

The best place to stay is Tarabin, a sleepy Bedouin village 2km north of town. You’ll find about 6 camps there; huts cost LE4-5. Get a thatched hut; the breeze through the walls will keep you cool and collected. The camps have restaurants but be careful about what giardia-ridden goodies you gulp down. Old Sinai hands lament that Tarabin is what Oahab used to be like before it got overrun by tourists-see for yourself.

Nuweiba

One of .Sinai’s natural oases, Nuweiba lies at the mouth of an enormous wadi that empties into the Red Sea. For about 10 months of the year the surface of the wadi is just drifting sand-but in winter a sudden, rampaging wall of water 3m high may charge down its banks to the sea. Although Nuweiba’s tourist heyday was during the days of Israeli dominion over the Sinai, the town is poised to begin its renaissance. Development is moving its way up the coast; from Na’ama Bay to Dahab and then on to Nuweiba, the luxury resorts find a beachhead and move in.

The modern city of Nuweiba has little charm, and is sadly reminiscent of the business districts of Sharm ash-Sheikh and Dahab. Tourists are drawn, however, to the Bedouin village of Tarabin, 2km north of town which has a quiet beach and several camps. Nuweiba’s current importance is its role in inter-state travel: a ferry to Aqaba, Jordan runs twice daily. (See Getting There and Away above for details.)

Sights and Entertainment

The Bedouin village is no longer really that. Nowadays the bay is lined with restaurants, camps, and gift shops that peddle the famous “Dahab pants” (LE12) and the kind of colorful backpack (big LE10, small LE7) that can now be found all over the world in places like Nepal or Thailand. Camels and horses trot up and down the beach road carrying Dutch women or pink-hued Brits. Bedouin tent-like arrangements hug the beach; it’s a sight to be seen at night when cheerfully illuminated by electric lights and floating water-bottle-borne candles (an innovative use for these pesky petroleum products which someday will bury the entire town). The whole scene is undeniably picturesque-Dahab has a charm unique to any town in the Sinai.

Dahab is home to two well-known dive sites, Canyon and Blue Hole. The latter is an 80m deep hole about 15m out from the shore that swallows several divers every year. The dive involves a traverse through a passage at a depth of 60m; some experienced divers say this is just plain nuts, and they may be right. There’s plenty of excellent diving that’s less death-defying and several dive clubs to help get you started. Canyon Dive Club (tel. 64 00 43, fax 640 3015) is a few kilometers north of the village near the dive site. It’s a beautiful spot and you have the option of staying in the nearby hotel.

Accommodations and Food

About 50 camps have sleeps in Bedouin village, and the number grows by the week. Dahab camps are an unfortunate bastard-ization of the thatched beach hut; someone came up with the brilliant idea of casting the huts in concrete, connecting them into rows wrapped around a central courtyard, then charging LE4-5 per night to stay in what amounts to a bare cell with minimal ventilation. Yet, despite being an architectural disaster, the camps are cheap and livable.

A room with mattress costs LE4; a raised concrete “bed” ups the price to LE5-6. A wooden bed will put the squeeze on your wallet at LE10, and if you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, well-just go hole up and read your Frommer’s in a room with private bath for LE2O-30. The camps are many and an untrained observer might say they all look the same; the true connoisseur, however, can detect subtle variations in color, smell, and taste that distinguish the atrocious from the truly sublime. This is, of course, a highly personal act which requires inspecting several camps and, after intense soul-searching, making a decision: “eeny meeny miny mo. . .” The Fighting Kangaroo Oasis has a name which appeals to Serbians, Aussies, and Egyptians alike, and is clean; the Dolphin Camp is on the beach; and the Negm Paradise… well, it’s better than a phlegm paradise.
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Practical Information

The Bedouin village, 3km north of Dahab town, is the budget travel mecca. Downtown Dahab is where you can exchange money at the National Bank of Egypt (open daily 8:30am-2pm and 6-9pm; winter 9am-lpm and 5-8pm). There is also a post office (open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-3pm), a supermarket (open 8am-10pm), the police station, and a telephone office, where you can make calls within Egypt or through Cairo to an international operator (open 24 hrs.).

The bus station is in the town proper, but the cafeteria of the Pullman Holiday Village Inn is a more convenient stop. Buses leave from the latter to Sharm ash-Sheikh (5 per day, 8am-5:30pm, LE5), Nuweiba (10:30am and 6:30pm, LE5), St. Catherine’s Monastery (9:15am, LE8), Cairo (Sam, LE45; 9am, LE55), and Suez (8am, LE14). Note that a bus from Suez to Cairo is only another LE5. Taxis or pickup trucks are usually waiting at the station to shuttle you to the Bedouin village for LEI (only if there are other passengers; if it’s just you it costs LE5).

Dahab

The land of endless summer-lazy days spent on a picture-perfect palm beach, the red Saudi Arabian hills glimpsed through a haze of sweet smoke. The collective inertia of a community of dope-anaesthetized young bohemians has a way of sucking in the weary traveler. Those who plan on spending one day stay three, others find a week-long visit stretching to a month, or six. The simple daily routine involves combinations of eating, playing backgammon, and sleeping, with sporadic episodes of swimming, camel-riding, or safari. The beauty of such a schedule is it can be repeated limitlessly with no complications-save, perhaps, the nagging awareness that one’s pocketbook is being eroded at the rate of US$10 every day. Not to mention one’s brain.

What could cast a pall on such a carefree existence? Could it be that this edifice of inactivity stands on a rotten foundation-garbage, to be exact? The sybaritic foreign residents of Dahab lie prone like so much Bedouin blanket ballast, somehow managing to turn a blind eye to the trash that collects literally everywhere around them. Visitors viewing the scene with unclouded eyes may find it painful to see a place of such crystalline natural beauty being soiled by excessive tourist traffic and a lack of both principles and facilities to deal with it. Turn your gaze beneath the waves via snorkel or scuba mask for grander sights.

Sights

Na’ama Bay itself has no spectacular reefs, but just outside the bay both to north and south lie coral cities. Dive centers have maps of the reefscape; pick one up and put on your flippers (not now, batfish-brain). The closest sites are Near Gardens to the north and Sodfa to the south; both are moderate walks down the beach. Venture farther along to places like Tower, Turtle Bay, Paradise, and Fiasco.

Those in the know swear that boat-based snorkeling is the best. For US$15-25 you can spend a day on a dive boat and gain access to some tremendous territory. Arrange trips through the dive clubs. The legendary reefs of Ras Muhammad and Tiran Island are distant and accessible by boat only (conceivably you could snorkel to Kas Muhammad from the shore, but it’s remote enough that you probably would 3= want to go with a group anyway). Ras Muhammad is beyond the jurisdiction of a C Sinai-only visa; you need a full Egyptian visa to go there. Ras Nasrani and Ras Umm 3= Sidd are also good sites, and a little closer to town.

Practical Information

The bus stop at Na’ama Bay is in front of the Marina Sharm Hotel, but the bus will drop passengers at any of the big hotels. The bay is often known as “Marina” or “Marina Sharm,” its Hebrew names. Buses from Sharm ash-Sheikh usually stop at Na’ama a few minutes later.

Public showers are available in the Aquamarine and Hilton hotels. The tourist police are located past the Aquamarine. The National Bank of Egypt has branches in the Marina Sharm, Gazala, Movenpick, and Hilton Hotels.

Pigeonhouse is the best/only inexpensive place to roost in the bay. Thatched huts are equipped with fans (singles LE30, doubles LE40, breakfast included). Flock to the northern end of the bay, and you’ll find it on the desert side of the road. Camping on the beach is outlawed, of course. (Hiltoner to Mdvenpickian: “I saw a man on the beach. . . backpacking! It was so (sob) horrible!” Movenpickian (shuddering): “Der Teufel!") There’s lots of unclaimed sand to the north of town, however; Ras Nasrani, near the southern end of the airstrip, has pristine camping and prime diving. Shark’s Bay is a development several kilometers north of town which has inexpensive tents on the beach, a hotel, and a diving center.

Na’ama Bay

Take your pick of Movenpick, PLM, or Hilton: high-priced resorts line Na’ama Bay, but somehow they all look the same. Sprawling complexes of blinding white stuccoed concrete gleam in the desert sun; the scaffolding and formwork of new construction spreads ugly tentacles in every direction. Six km north of Sharm ash-Sheikh, Na’ama Bay is the resort center for the southern Sinai. It’s not cheap and not particularly pretty, but it’s got plenty of diving centers and world-famous dive sites.

Accommodations and Sight The HI Youth Hostel (tel- and fax 60 03 17) is
located on top of Sharm ash-Sheikh’s hill, near the town’s main square. Get off the bus, cross the street, and walk up the hill opposite until you see the hostel’s basketball court. This hostel is heavy on restrictions (curfew 11pm, no coed rooms) and light on toilet paper, but reasonably clean with semi-effective air-conditioning. Lockout 9am-2pm. LE10.60 for dorm beds (includes breakfast), nonmembers LE11.60. Another option is Safety Land (tel. 60 03 59, fax 60 03 34), located at the bottom of the hill across the street from the bus station. Budget options include thatched bungalows with locking doors and fans (singles LE35, doubles LE45, extra mattress on floor LE20), three-person tents (LE20 per person), or open tent sites for LE10 per person. Breakfast included. (Reception open 24 hrs.)

Just before you enter Sharm ash-Sheikh from Na’ama Bay (back and to the left) is Ras Kennedy, a rock formation that looks so much like the slain president that Mother Nature could not have acted alone in creating it.

Practical Information

The bus stops a little downhill from the youth hostel.Usually. Walking downhill from there, you’ll pass the tourist police, a hospital, and the bus station proper, where tickets to Cairo can be reserved (open 7am-noon). Continuing south at the bottom of the hill, you’ll come to the police station (look for the Egyptian flag). To register, follow the road from Na’ama about lkm south to the police station at the port. Opposite the bus station are some stores with cheap supplies. Nearby restaurants serve good food (chicken with rice, falafel, and pita LE5). Follow the road all the way up the hill and turn right at the top for the town’s main square and three banks, all of which exchange traveler’s checks. There’s also a post office (open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-3pm) and Pharmacy Sharm ash-Sheikh (open daily 9am-3pm and 6-1 lpm). A further up the road and all the way to the left lies the new telephone office (open 24 tars.), where you can make international calls.

Buses leave the station in Sharm ash-Sheikh for Cairo six times daily, with a big gap between the 4:30pm and 11:30pm buses (morning buses LE35, late buses LE50). You can save pounds by taking a morning bus to Suez (9 and 11:30am, LE15), then a Suez-Cairo bus (LE5). Buses also run from Sharm ash-Sheikh to St. Catherine’s (Sam, LE12), to Taba (9am, LE12), and to Dahab (5 per day, last bus 5pm, LE7-8). Taxis are easily obtained anywhere; trips to Na’ama Bay by van (LEI) or the open-sided tuf-tuf bus (LEI) are frequent. Ferries make the 5′^-hr. trip from Sharm ash-Sheikh to Hurghada every day at 10am except Friday. The Mimi Misre and Golden Sun both leave from the port. Tickets (LE70) can be obtained at any hotel and at Spring Tours (tel. 60 01 31/2) in Na’ama Bay.

Gulf Of Aqaba Coast - Sharm ash-Sheikh

Sharm ash-Sheikh is typical of Egyptian towns in the Sinai-it’s unremarkable. A few concrete civic buildings and some generic modern housing (originally built by Israel) sit on a barren shelf at the southern tip of the peninsula. The attractions in the area are all underwater: the reefs around Sharm ash-Sheikh are lusted after by divers around the world. Die-hard scuba people might want to take advantage of the cheap accommodations here, as nearby Na’ama Bay is a high-priced luxury haven.

Wherever you stay, going to Na’ama Bay or Sharm ash-Sheikh and not snorkeling or diving is like going to Giza and missing those big triangular things, or going to Boston and not seeing Gund Hall (well, maybe not). Be a friend of fish: parrotfish, butterflyfish, lizardfish, soldierflsh, flashlight fish, unicornfish, birdflsh, goatfish, squirrelfish, clownrish, and sweetlips. They may be swimming through your dreams for years.

Equipment and Courses

Snorkeling gear can be rented at most places, or for convenience you can bring your own and sell it when you leave. There are many dive shops, concentrated mainly in Dahab and Sharm ash-Sheikh. You must be certified to rent equipment; most major types of certification are given in courses lasting 5 days and costing around US$250. Dahab and Na’ama Bay have decompression chambers; the newest one is in Sharm ash-Sheikh and is fully up-to-date. If you’re certified but rusty, you can take a check-out dive for US$35.

What to look for in a dive center, if you’re a neophyte? Multilingual staff is important-make sure the instructor speaks your language flawlessly (little misunderstandings can have big significance underwater: “Tanks!” “You’re welcome."). Be certain the instructor is certified to teach your particular course, whether it’s PADI, CMAS, or NAUII-ask to see his or her card. Does the dive club have a written set of regulations for safety- governing its operatives? Some clubs are active in protecting the reefs, participating in annual cleanup dives, and making sure their operations have minimal impact on the marine ecosystems. Finally, reputation is important and you can get an idea of this by asking lots of people (preferably divers).

Underwater Adventures

The Red Sea indisputably has some of the greatest coral reefs and marine life in the world. The reefs are also extremely fragile, and the breakneck pace of development of the Sinai could have very destructive consequences. All coral reefs from Dahab south to Ras Muhammad are under the jurisdiction of the Ras Muhammad National Park; regulations forbid removing or damaging any material, living or dead, coral, fish, plant, or even shell, from the sea. Obviously certain areas are open to fishing, and the park is fighting an uphill battle with developers hungry to exploit the region for tourism. You can do your part to preserve the reefs by observing a simple rule: look, but don’t touch.’ Even accidentally bumping the coral can damage it, so please be as graceful underwater as possible. It” you are interested in the National Park and its activities, call the director, Michael Pearson, in Sharm ash-Sheikh (tel. 60 05 59).

Here’s a second reason to avoid touching things-it could be very painful; hidden among the crevices in the reef are creatures capable of inflicting serious injury or death. If you see something that looks like an aquatic pin cushion, it’s probably a sea urchin or blowfish, both of which should be touched only as sushi. Avoid the feathery lionfish as well-its harmless-looking spines can deliver a paralyzing sting. The rare but well-named fire coral can bloat a leg to mammoth proportions, leaving welts the size of croquet balls. The stonefish is camouflaged flawlessly to resemble a mossy lump of coral or rock-step on one, then puff up and die in a couple hours. Reach into a hole and a 2m-long moray eel might just lock its jaws onto your hand. The list is long-before plunging in, look at one of the plastic cards that pictorially identifies these nautical nasties; most guides and diving shops carry these cards.
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Practical Information

A number of regulations govern travelers to the Sinai. Unguided travel is restricted to main roads and settlements, but you can visit parts of the desert interior with a Bedouin guide. Sleeping on the beach is prohibited in some areas (notably Na’ama Bay), and the police often harass sleeping backpackers. Since these areas are not always marked, ask around before settling down for the night. Nude sunbathing is illegal, as is smoking the oft-hawked hash. You cannot bring a rented car or any four-wheel drive vehicle into the Sinai from Israel. If you hold a standard, one-month Egyptian visa, you must register your passport with the police in any town within seven days of your arrival in Egypt. Don’t wait until Sharm ash-Sheikh to do this, since the passport office there is a long hike south of the town.

Virtually none of the police in the Sinai speak English; even with a Bedouin translating, confusion looms. If they’re uncertain whether you’ve registered (and they may overlook the rather obvious triangular registration stamp on your passport), they may insist that you register in ever}’ town you visit. If you ask a procedural question that stumps them, you may be ordered to go to the main police station at Taba or Sharm ash-Sheikh, no matter how inconvenient this may be from your point of view. Don’t disregard police orders, but realize that they may not understand your situation. Any Arabic you know goes a long way with the police and other fidgety officials.

From Jordan
You can take a ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba, about 70km south on the other side of the gulf. (See under Aqaba for more details on getting to the ferry.) Sailing time is about three hours; the border-crossing procedures take place upon landing in Nuweiba. See Nuweiba for transportation to other Sinai destinations from there. If you plan to go directly to Eilat, get ready for a whole day of boredom and frustration-all for the sake of ending up two miles from where you started.

To Jordan
The same ferries can shuttle you from Nuweiba to Aqaba. There are two daily ferries: the first between 10am and noon, the second between 4pm and 6pm. One-way passage on the deck costs US$25. Show up at or before 9am and 3pm respectively to deal with customs, ticketing, Egyptian bank hassles, and quagmirean queues.

Any Nuweiba bus can leave you at the terminal, or at least at the turn-off, which is 7km south of the tourist center (bus fare 75pt, taxis LE8). The morning bus from Taba comes by at Sam and is convenient for catching the morning ferry. You can also catch a direct bus from Cairo to the ferry, leaving from Abbassiya Station at 1 lpm and arriving at about 6am.
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To Israel

The crossing from Sinai to Israel at Taba is user-friendly: no visa required (for U.S. citizens) and no entry or exit tax. The border is open 24 hrs.; it should be an uneventful walk through the stations, although Israeli security, as always, is tight. See specific Sinai towns for information on transportation to Taba. Bus #15 runs from the border checkpoint to Eilat until about 11 pm.

From Israel

Coming from Israel, going into the Sinai is as easy as crossing the border from Eilat to Taba, a process that normally unfolds in an orderly way, but involves a surpris ingly long hike. Get your passport iti hand once you drop out of the bus (#15 from Eilat); you’ll have to show it frequently as you run the 2km gauntlet to the corresponding bus depot on the other side. Here are the stations for the whole affair: bus drop-off, Taba snack bar ("last beer before Sinai” NIS4), passport pre-check, passport control booth (pay NIS31.40 exit tax, then check passport), Israeli last passport peck, no-man’s-land walk, Egyptian passport control (fill out entry form, get stamp), Egypt security (X-ray machine), post-border passport check, 1-km hike, Egyptian border tax of US$6 in equivalent Egyptian pounds (show passport), bus station. Welcome to Egypt! Always allow at least two hours for the border crossing; it can be slow on a busy day. The Taba Hilton is the best place to change money; it’s on the Egyptian side and is open 24 hrs.

Three buses run south from Taba at 10am, 2pm, and 3pm. Only the 3pm “crazy bus” goes as far as Sharm ash-Sheikh (LEI 2). It’s unclear whether it’s the driver who has blown some fuses after too much shuttling up and down the scorching Aqaba Coast, or the passengers who are demented enough to actually ride this tired beast of burden. What’s important is that the bus will go where it wants, when it wants; it could be as far as Sharm or no farther than you could throw it. The one-way trip to Sharm ash-Sheikh takes six hours by bus or three by taxi. To get to Dahab take the 10am or 3pm bus. St. Catherine’s monastery can’t be reached in a single day via public transportation; you have to transfer buses in Dahab. The 2pm bus goes to Cairo via Nuweiba. It is impractical to come through Rafrah and Gaza unless you are going to Al-Arish (best reached by taxi from Rafiah).

From Mainland Egypt

Coming from mainland Egypt, your departure point for the Sinai will be either Cairo or Suez. In Cairo, buses leave Abbassiya Station, also known as Sinai Station, at the northeast end of Ramses St. in die Al-Abbassiya district. The daily Sinai buses from Cairo go to Sharm ash-Sheikh and St. Catherine’s, Nuweiba, and on to Taba. One bus per day travels directly to Nuweiba via the new road across the northern Sinai- A direct bus runs to Dahab, which may stop in St. Catherine’s if it’s not full.

The city of Suez is another transit option, especially for travelers coming from Hurghada. Buses from Suez’s Arba’in Bus Station, off Sa’ad Zaghloul St., 1500m from the bay, run to Sharm ash-Sheikh (3 per day), Nuweiba (2 per day), and St. Catherine’s, Dahab, and Taba (1 per day; all routes LE12-17). Note that most buses from Cairo to the Sinai bypass Suez, passing through the tunnel north of town.

Getting There and Away

Is the Sinai part of Africa, torn from the Asian continent at the deep Syrian-African rift that runs through the Dead Sea valley down to the Gulf of Aqaba? Or does the broad Gulf of Suez, the sea barrier encountered by Moses, land the peninsula irrevocably in Asia? Scholars have pondered this question for ages, but it doesn’t really matter: you can get there from both. Governments, though, are the powers that be today, not tectonic forces. See Essentials: Travel in the Region for important border crossing and visa information if you plan to arrive from either Israel or Jordan.

Sinai

The tortured and desiccated land of the Sinai is where two continents collide. Enormous tectonic forces pile up rubble to form the steep peaks soaring above the Gulf of Aqaba coast; these drop sharply into the Red Sea’s great rift. A sandy shelf where mountains meet sea is broad enough to accommodate a highway and a handful of small towns. The rest of the peninsula is largely lifeless, populated only by the Bedouin, who over the centuries learned the secret of desert survival, sustained by a few springs in the wilderness. The greatest profusion of life occurs in the warm upper waters of the Gulf of Aqaba-just offshore is an explosion of corals ant fishes.

The Sinai is a world of natural wonders, yet its position between the civilizations , of the Nile Valley and those of Mesopotamia brought uninterested armies of visitors. 1 The broad plains of the northern Sinai were higliways for the Pharaoh’s troops on 1 the march to Syria and Canaan; in turn, they bore Egypt-bound marauding Hyksos, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, and Turks.