The thought of the ferry crossing on Lake Nasser, being one of the highlights of our adventure made me wake up pretty early. We were ready but the hotel didn’t have any staff readily available to cater for our breakfast but once called upon they were immediately attending to us. This morning we even had fruit salad which was tasted good as I think it was home made and not from the can. I tried to settle the bill earlier but there was no cashier either and was told not to worry as she would be in by the time I finish breakfast. Surprisingly the cashier spoke good English and even enquired what we were doing and how can we afford the time.

True to his word, Kamal the taxi driver was waiting for us when I looked out to check. We found him jovial and with his limited command of English, funny. He was also obliging and stopped for Alison to buy some packet milk for Adrian. Unlike most Egyptians he never asked for extra payments or buckshee, which was rather nice for a change.

We got to the ferry terminal, Mena, just in time at 0915hrs before we were called in to enter the gates and had a fairly long walk to the immigration office. As I spotted some locals moving towards the Immigration Officer’s office I asked Alison to see what it was all about and she returned with departure cards for all of us to fill up. Otherwise we would still be standing around as no one would tell you what to do. The drawback when you ask a woman to go on your behalf was that the Immigration Officer forgot to ask for payment for the departure stamp of 2LE each and Alison had to go back after arriving at the entrance to the ferry.

We were happily snapping away at the ferry called Sinai when I realized that it was not the boat we were boarding. In fact the SAGALNAAM was tied up behind the Sinai alongside the barge carrying all the unaccompanied baggage belonging to the passengers. We were lucky to have booked a cabin (which wasn’t much but gave us some privacy) as it was a hot day and the second class cabin was stinking of diesel. Our fellow travelers had to stick it out on deck in the sunshine probably regretting that they couldn’t manage to get a cabin.

When we were about to settle in at 1300hrs there was a knock at the door and were asked if we wanted to eat. We handed our coupons to the waiter and he said that he would bring the food to us, wow cabin service! Lunch was fairly simple, consisting of roast chicken, ladies finger curry and rice with salad which I didn’t dare touch. When the boy came back for the tray I gave him 2LE and could see the astonishment in his face, as no one had probably ever given him any tips.

Then it was waiting time and it was spent mostly on deck watching what was going on and generally chatting with our fellow travelers. The boat deck was slowly filling up for sure and soon there was hardly any space to walk. There were five 4x4s and two Funduros going on the barge with the unaccompanied baggage and of course they were the last to be loaded as they go on deck, and the ferry couldn’t go without the riders or drivers on board.

In the meantime, Alison bumped into the Chief Engineer and told him I was formerly a Captain and very soon I was having tea with the Captain and the C/E on the bridge. When we were about to sail, everyone got thrown out of the bridge area and I had to oblige by going down to the cabin. The three of us must have been so tired that we were asleep after having some bread rolls and free bottles of Mirinda orange.