Hurghada Sunday 2^nd February 2013

First of all I am still a bit puzzled as to where November, December and January disappeared to.

We returned home for a wonderful six weeks over Christmas and New Year and flew back to Blue Magic on 14^th January 2013.

It was lovely to be back in the sunshine and our fellow ralliers in Hurghada had cleaned the boat and prepared dinner for our arrival, it’s nice to have good friends.

The rally boats are a bit depleted here as six of the yachts have left to explore further South into Sudan and Eritrea. After our experiences in the Indian Ocean and Oman we decided that Hurghada is far enough South for us, a1200 miles separation zone suits us just fine !

Since the prevailing winds are Northerly the trip back can also be a bit of a slog so we are quite happy in Hurghada, enjoying Egyptian culture, socialising with our rally friends and making ourselves available for visitors.

Dinner on Blue Magic

Making coffee and walnut cup cakes below for afternoon tea on Kerching.

10 people, 5 courses …… scones and cream, cup cakes, sandwiches, fig jam pancakes, sticky chocolate cake and copious amounts of tea !

On Saturday 26^th January we welcomed our first guests, Sandra and David. It was New Year in Antigua 3 years ago that Sandra and David were last aboard Blue Magic so it was very special to have them with us for the week.

Unfortunately they bought with them cloudy skies and RAIN, we often joke that they always bring bad weather but bringing rain to the Sahara Desert is quite an achievement!

However we entertained ourselves browsing the sites of Hurghada and sampling the local restaurants.

When the sun did appear we all hurried down to the swimming pool to soak up some rays.

We bought a whole squid from the fish market which we cooked for lunch.

Rick Stein to the rescue again with step by step instructions on how to prepare it for cooking !

Delicious with a glass of rose wine in the sun.

Meanwhile in the French Alps, Katie and Charlie were skiing for the week …..on the last day, knelt in the snow, Charlie made his proposal of marriage !

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE AND CHARLIE

We are so happy and excited for them.

A wedding to plan – must go !