In the beginning of November we had our this years second surfcamp in Egypt, El Gouna. If you remember from April, Triin was travelling there with Surftown and had an amazing experience. Therefore, looking for a quick kitesurf getaway from our Estonian minus degree weather, we decided to go there once more! This time Anne-Mai was able to join and see this magnificent place with her own eyes too.
Not to start writing about El Gouna spot and its surrondings all over again, we just skip that. If you like, you can take a look at our previous experience.
Travelling “light”
As we were travelling as usual with our kids (Triin took her elder and Anne-Mai took her younger daughter along) our luggage contained: 3 suitcases, 2 surfbags (we call these bodybags as you can literally fit a whole human body in these), 2 backpacks and 1 baby stroller. Talk about travelling light 😀 At one point we felt that we are short of hands to drag all the stuff around. Triin got really nice biceps training because she was mostly taking care of our surfbags (one bag approx 30kilos). Luckily this time we had a direct flight, meaning no luggage pick up and drop off in between. Allegedly we were quite a unique sight, at least we were told so – 2 blond women with a child and a baby and all the stuff that we were carrying along. Not to mention the comments about handling this situation like pros. Although this current version of modern family travelling style was new to us too, but we have to admit that we have had some years of practice already 😉
Some new stuff in our sleeve
As we landed in Egypt, the plan was directly ride to the beach and head kitesurfing. Unfortunately, this time El Gouna wind wasn´t as generous as in April but still we were able to hit the water half of the time. To be exact 3,5 out of seven days, we had the opportunity to kite. If you consider the fact that some kitetrips end with no surfing at all (bad luck with no wind) then we were quite happy with the wind that we got. Our game plan was built so, that while one was kiting the other one was at shore babysitting and trying to capture some cool pictures. We are really happy that jump with grab is now quite rock solid and we are able to try different grabs. Also during last summer Kristiin showed us how to backroll – this is also coming quite nicely. Although some practice is still on the table. And in El Gouna, believe it or not, we just started with transition jump. We know it isn´t something super exciting, but we haven´t tried it so far. During transition jump you change direction in the air and on the landing go to the other side. Well, this kept us pretty occupied – beautiful faceplants were back on the charts 😀 Finally something was coming together but for sure this needs our attention on upcoming kite sessions.
Pool fun and mastering Kendama skills
On the days when we had no wind, we really took most out of the pool that we had in our accommodation. Relaxed on the big unicorn that Triin had carried along from home and really swam and sunbathed a lot. To be honest, we really enjoyed the time off. We both are usually very active and want to see around but this time the more relaxed version was really nice – had some time to read, sleep, eat good food, jump in pool and just some time to talk and discuss random things. It was like a vacation, although good massages would have been cherry on top of everything! 😀 Maybe we should consider Bali for kitesurfing?
Also we were mastering our skills on Kendama. Kendama is a Japenese skill toy which is now “the game” in Estonian schools. Therefore, Sarah (Triins daughter) has one and we all were time to time occupied with it. This really gets you engaged…cannot imagine another surftrip without it! 😉
Oh fishy fishy, where are you?
This time we had also a certain plan to go snorkelling. There are two kind of boat trips – 1) take a trip on catamaran or 2) ride with boat which has a glass bottom. At first we considered the second option, but as our other group members where looking also activities for no wind days, Surftown organised the catamaran version. At first it made us bit uncertain because of our experience in Dominican Republic on party boat but luckily it was totally different. This was hosted by Germans who where extra safe, kind and super caring – in a way you can say that this trip was for elder people, but us with kids matched the cruise also very well. We had two separate stops on reef, where we had the opportunity to swam with fishes. Sarah and Anne-Mai where super excited as this was their first time snorkelling on open seas. And oh.. all the colours which you can see, it is mesmerising and so beautiful! Definitely something that we recommend to do in Egypt apart of kitesurfing! 😉
As Murphy tends to do…the strongest wind came exactly on Saturday when we had our flight back home. As our flight was scheduled for noon, we decided to take most out of our kite trip. Therefore we woke around 6 am to be sure that we are able to hit the water around 6.30 am, have some solid hours on water and be ready around 10 am to leave. This morning session was amazing and we were so pleased that we had the opportunity to enjoy the best out of El Gouna – strong wind with turquoise colour and totally flat water. Our favourite conditions! After surf we packed quickly our stuff, washed all the salt off and were ready for our transfer, but Murphy kicked in once more! There were organised three busses but only two where on time and one bus was late more than 30 minutes, so little action just right before getting to the airport. We tried to fit all the luggage and people into two busses but with no luck, we just did not have enough space! It all took so much time, at point we felt that we might actually miss our flight but luckily we did not! To conclude, if everything would run totally smooth in Egypt it would be kinda weird! Not to give false sense, El Gouna is still in our opinion a great place to travel for quick kitesurf getaway!
