I’ve never actually sat down and made a ‘lifetime bucket list’, but if I had the Pyramids at Giza would have been on it.
But not anymore! 🙂
And they don’t call them ‘great’ for nothin!
We had three nights total in Cario which bookended our trip to Marsa Shagra for diving. The beginning of the trip was dedicated to the pyramids, starting with the amazing view from our hotel, aptly named, Best View Pyramids Hotel!
If you ever find yourself planning at trip to the pyramids we can’t recommend this hotel enough! The Australian owner, Grace, is beyond accommodating and the view is really the best! And to top it off, the hotel is perfectly primed for viewing the pyramids nightly ‘sound and light show’. That’s a savings of about $30! *wink!*
Breakfast with a view! 
We planned a full day tour with a private guide & transportation to the Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, the ancient capital of Memphis, and Saqqara (the step pyramid).
Having the guide was great for multiple reasons: someone else drives you through the madhouse that is Cairo traffic, you don’t get hassled if you’re with a local, and you actually learn about what you’re looking at.
Having a guide was also great, because he insisted on being our photographer and knew all the classic typical tourist poses.
Quick recap on pyramid facts.
The Giza pyramids are actually the last of a series of pyramids that act as tombs for various pharaohs (kings) during the time of the Old Kingdom. Essentially, earlier pharaohs perfected the pyramid, so by the time King Khufu was ready to build his tomb he was able to go big or go home with the Great Pyramid. And contrary to popular belief, the Great Pyramid is the first in the series of three. The 2nd pyramid, built by Khufu’s son – Kahfre, didn’t want to outshine his dad so his pyamid was smaller out of respect. It only looks larger because the plateau on which it’s built is higher. (Strategic planning maybe?) The third and samllest pyramid belongs to Menkaure, the grandson of Khufu.
Unfortunately, the Great Pyramid (Khufu) was closed on the day we were there. We were able to go inside the third pyramid, though, which may have actually been a blessing in disguise. The tomb of the third pyramid is in the bottom. The tomb of the great pyramid is in the top; aka: we didn’t have to climb up 300+ stairs to see an empty room (all the tombs have been raided).
Next up, the Sphinx!
The second half of the day was spent at the ancient capital of Memphis and Saqqara which was the necropolis for the capital. Saqqara is home to the Djoser step pyramid (named after King Djoser) which was the first pyramid and considered highly innovative. Saqqara itself is a large complex, and we were able to go in a few other well preserved tombs.
After Giza, we headed south for a little R&R and diving at Red Sea Diving Safari- Marsa Shagra. This was the same place that we visited in 2015 when we completed our open water course. We decided to come back because we didn’t feel like we were able to really take advantange of all the diving this place has to offer. We were newly certified and still timid, and needed a repeat!
I’ll try not to rave too much and skip straight to the pictures, but I can’t say enough good things about this place. Our days went a little something like this….
wake up with the sun – dive #1 – breakfast – dive # 2 – lunch – dive #3 – beer – dinner – bed- repeat.
Any place that revolves around food & diving is my kind of place!
Just for you, mom. 😉
Of course, the resort itself is beautiful. We choose this particular company becuase they work hard to preserve the reef by treating their properties as marine protected areas, having designated days for ‘reef clean-up’, they offer conservation courses, and have an overall focus on ‘earth friendly’ practices. For example, each person who comes is given one water bottle (if you don’t bring your own) and you’re asked to refill at various water stations placed around the property.
What makes this place particularly special though, is the attitude. The staff are beyond friendly and helpful. The dive instructors go out of their way to get to know the guests, and the boat drivers may not know your name but they know your face and they know your dive preferences. “North reef zodiac-zodiac?” – yes please.
Here, your unlimited dive package allows you to dive as much as you want in their house reef, which in itself has 6 different options and, according to the instructors, is “one of the best in the Red Sea”. Everything is completely relaxed and at your own pace. You just write on the boards where you’re going, what time you leave, and your expected return time and off you go!
When we arrived I would say we were relativley inexperienced even though we have our advanced certificate. But this trip, we literally doubled the number of dives in our lifetime and used the time to practice some important skills.
Such as…
Flipping off a zodiac.
Getting back on a zodiac.
It’s really unfortunate that I don’t have a picture or video of this because let’s be real. No one is graceful getting back in a zodiac. Just imagine a fish out of water… 1-2-3 heave! … and you’re flopped head first over the side of the boat with your fins flappin’ in the air trying to wiggle all the way in.
Descending in open water.
Ascending in open water, and deploying our surface marker bouey (SMB).
Jumping off a big boat for a dive.
Underwater selfie skills.
Clearly the most important of them all.
We started and ended the week with beautiful weather. The middle of the week (you may want to sit down for this) it RAINED. Yup. I call it the curse of The Netherlands. I mean, it didn’t’ rain for three days straight or anything, but on three afternoons there was high winds and a passing storm which, as you can imagine, drastically changed the visibility.
Same spot, different day.
Overall though, we can’t complain. Now, here are just a bunch of diving pictures.
I call the next series “The Shwits with Jellies”.
And our favorite dive: Long Canyon
I think you can understand why we didn’t want to leave, but we had to.
Back to Cairo for one night. Main goal: The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which (no lie) every Egyptian person we spoke to asked “Have you been to the museum?”. Egyptian people are very proud of their museum, as they should be, becuase it’s quite literally jam packed with cool things. And yes, we were able to see King Tut’s mask (his mummy is in Luxor). No photos allowed though. It is amazing how well preserved it is.
And that was our trip! The only thing we could have asked for is more time. There is so much to see in Cairo, and we weren’t able to make it to Luxor as we orignally hoped. But that’s ok, because we are already daydreaming of our next trip.
As for safety, because we’ve had a lot of peole ask, never once did we feel unsafe, even in the wake of the attack in Alexandria. Every Egyptian person we met bent over backwards with kindness and was THRILLED to meet two Americans who were not afraid to come to their country. For example, as we were leaving the Egyptian Museum a man just struck up a conversation with us (“I’m not a taxi driver, I’m an English teacher!”) and proceeded to tell us about Tahrir square, the oldest street in Cairo, the festival that was happening that evening for Easter, and where to find “food that is OK for American stomachs”. And perhaps this is just an illusion of security, because I realize that the government isn’t held in the highest regard by locals these days, but we experienced more security checks at varioius points in our journey than in any other country we’ve been to so far.
I think the key to Egypt, as with any country, is to be aware of your surroundings, know the basics of the local culture, and be respectful of it. For instance, I wore pants and shirts that covered my shoulders despite the warm weather and I wasn’t offended when people addressed only Shane for any decision making (even our tour guide).
Long story short, don’t be afraid. Egyptians are friendly and welcoming people and the extremists who commit terror acts do not represent them. So if you have a chance, GO TO EGYPT!
endrant.
Shane is working on a video compilation of the trip, so keep a lookout!
Tot ziens,
The Shwits 
So fun to read about! And tell Shane the video was awesome too!