Kitesurfing Video Dahab

Homer Simpson Rock!

Turkey has Cappadocia, USA has Mount Rushmore, Ireland has the Giants Causeway.

I think I have topped all these by discovering Homer Simpson Rock in Dahab!

The location is a closely guarded secret, but book a holiday with Dahab Holidays, and I will take you there!

Its time for the 4th Annual Bedouin Festival in Dahab!

12-18 April 2014

It is time get together for this year’s festival. 

We are therefore very happy to be organising some very interesting excursions to see the desert in springtime, Wadi Gnei after the rain and to introduce another theme to the festival: Agro-tourism.
Agro-tourism is going to be promoted during the festival to show another side of Sinai. We will be visiting Habiba organic farm, plantations in Wadi Gheib, eating organic vegetables and chicken…all locally produced…all week! There will also be organic and healthy foods for sale all week at the festival where you will find some products of truly exceptional quality.

For the first time in our festival: Diving with Bedouin. Benefit from local Bedouin dive master’s unique knowledge of the Dahab marine environment and help us encourage more diving with locals.
Another positive initiative will be linked to keeping Dahab clean with recycling art and the introduction of Dahab’s very first, non pollutant plastic recycler! No, we are not just saying this to impress you! All residents and visitors, you can start putting your hard plastic aside for re-cycling…find out more at the festival.

There will be a (surely fantastic) performance by Circ Bonboni at the Ibis Styles hotel, children’s activities with Kinderhouse Dahab (who we thank very much for making this year’s poster). We will also have our “waves of wellness”  tent with Dahab’s masseurs, healers, yogis…

All week: Bedouin handicrafts, organic food market, medicinal Sinai plants, Bedouin history display, windsurfing with Bedouin, Recycling art, Bedouin food, children’s area and free tea!

Latest Windstats up to the end of 2013!

Happy Christmas and have a amazing New Year

Zesty Apartment

Great location for windsurfers and kitesurfers who want an easy walk to the watersports lagoon. Situated in the 'Medina' area, only a 10 minute walk to the main sandy beach.

Zesty Apartment has two bedrooms sleeping four people comfortably. It is located in a residential area (opposite the Hilton hotel) with a lovely view over the Sinai Mountains. There is a supermarket, off-licence, grocery shop, laundrette, post office, international call centre and a local cafe only 5 minutes walk away.

Managed and owned by Toby and Fi from Dahab Holidays.

October Special Offer!

 

Dahab Holidays - Ibis Styles Hotel

September 2013 Newsletter

September 2013 Newsletter

June Special offer

 

Check out the current weather

Windsurf Magazine

Just put together a advert to go in March's edition of Windsurf Magazine alongside the Egypt Travel section.

Look out for it next month!

Janurary Newsletter

Surf Apartment

The newly refurbished Surf Apartment is in a great location for windsurfers and kitesurfers who want an easy walk to the watersports lagoon. Situated in the 'Medina' area, only a 10 minute walk to the main sandy beach.

The Surf Apartment has three bedrooms sleeping up to six people. It is located in a residential area with a stunning view over the Sinai Mountains.

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There is a supermarket, off-licence, grocery shop, laundrette, post office, international call centre and a local cafe only 3 minutes walk away.

For more information you can view the apartment on line by clicking HERE or email us at info@dahabholidays.com

Egypts best kept secret - the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon has been kept fairly secret for a few years now. Due to the amazing flat water, great constant winds and unique experience many Dahabians have wanted to keep it to themselves.  This also means there are hardly any other visitors.   Toby and Fi from Dahab Holiday, and John from Hike Dahab went to check it out with a few friends - and it was fantastic.

[caption id="attachment_262" align="alignnone" width="574"] The Blue Lagoon[/caption]

The Blue Lagoon is a couple of hours to the north of Dahab, accessible by camel, foot, boat or pickup. Once you get there you are greeted but the simplicity and beauty of a spot where tourism has not reached. There are a handful of bamboo huts at the top of the lagoon, and a few at the end of the sandspit which all have cushion style mattresses for you to sleep on. There is a small restaurant and a toilet, and that is it - which makes it one of the last remaining unspoilt places. A natural paradise, and how Egypt used to be before the big hotels.

The conditions are second to none, with winds normally stronger than in Dahab, and incredible flat water it is the ideal location for windsurfers and kitesurfers. During our 2 night stay there were only 7 of us on the water the whole time we were there, and the windsurfers and kitesurfers were using two different parts of the lagoon, so there was so much space to cruise around or bust out some big moves.



We had winds up to 30 knots so small kit was essential. Best to bring your own kit with you, however it is possible to rent kite equipment (we can organise this for you).



During your stay all food is provided by the local Bedouin's and it was some of the tastiest food we have eaten. They serve locally caught fish  and chicken. We had pasta for lunch. Breakfast was an omelete plus Bedouin bread, jam, cheese and salad.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="279"] Photo - juliashuphotography.com[/caption]

There is no mains electricity at the lagoon so after the generator is switched off (around 10pm) you get to experience the most amazing night skies. We visited just after a new moon and the stars were amazing!



If you would like to experience the Blue Lagoon for yourself we would recommend combining it with your stay in Dahab, and spending 1-2 nights there.

Contact - info@dahabholidays.com to book this truly amazing experience.

Latest Dahab Holidays Newsletter is now live

Our May Newsletter is now live, you can view it on our website here - Newsletter

The newsletter features:

• a special offer for Lagoon Villa Apartments.


• Exiting Hikes with John from Hike Dahab.


• A look at the recently renovated Coralia Hotel.

If you would like to subscribe to our mail list please email relax@dahabholidays.com and type "add me" to the message header.

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Dahab Festival 14th - 21st April 2012

The second Dahab International Festival of Water Sports,  Desert Activities and Culture will be held from the 14th - 21st April 2012.

The 2011 festival was superb. Events included:

Windsurfing and kitesurfing competitions and taster sessions.

Yoga, massage and healing sessions.

The children's circus.

Camel races.

Raft races.

Diving Obstacle course.

Free diving Competition.

Plus lots of love music and great parties.

Last year was so much fun. Golitto made a special appearance at the tow-in freestyle comp just off the beach at the Coralia.  The camel race was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Such chaos at the start line followed by camels running which ever way they fancied while small Bedouin boys tried to keep them on track!!

The Dahab Festival is organised by members of the Dahab Community to showcase what this beautiful town can offer. If you missed last year try to plan your 2012 holiday around these dates. Availability in all accommodation still including the Lagoon Villa Apartments.

Follow the 2012 planing and event updates on twitter and facebook:

https://twitter.com/#!/dahabfestival

https://www.facebook.com/dahabfestival

Fi learns to kitesurf!

After years of pondering and stalling I finally took the plunge (quite literally) and learned to kitesurf and it's SO MUCH FUN! I really wish I'd learned years ago.

I booked the beginner kitesurfing course which included all the equipment and 5 lessons (10 hours) with an IKO instructor. I wore a helmet (and looked ridiculous!) with a walkie talkie radio attached, meaning my instructor, Alex could always talk me through what I needed to do next. This gave me the confidence I needed to finally give it a go. This is the course plan. Some people learn much faster and can get on the board sooner.  Snowboarding and wakeboarding all help but no previous water sports are necessary.

LESSON 1 - Learning how to fly a land based kite. So no getting wet yet! I was a bit hopeless at this and I think that's why I put off for so long as the kite seemed a bit temperamental. We also learned how to set up the kite and the safety systems. Kitesurfing is really safe these days.

LESSON 2 - The fun begins! Finally we get to cool down in the water and learn how to control the kite (without having to think about the board). This is called 'bodydragging.' Alex did the first 'bodydrag' with me as I was so scared. Then I was set free on my own and realised very quickly that the water based kites are so much easier to control than the land based kites. I could put the kite exactly where I wanted it to be and could place it in the power zone or safety zone depending on how much power I needed.

LESSON 3 - This was all about building confidence with the kite and how to bodydrag back upwind (useful when you loose the board - which happens quite often at first). Plus other kite control exercises. BRILLIANT - I loved woooshing through the water. In fact it was so much fun I didn't really want or need the board!

LESSON 4 - The board! After a quick chat on the beach about how to put the board on my feet in the water it was time for action. This looked quite easy but took a bit of practise to get right. I lost the board a few times but no worries as I knew how to get back to it using my favourite bodydrag upwind technique!!

LESSON 5 - Right time to get on the board and 'ride.' Determined not to spend the whole time bobbing around in the sea (although it was so lovely) I tried a bit too hard to get up. This means you pull on the kite too much and stall the kite - hence not enough power to get you up. After a few attempts I managed to go a few metre's which I discovered later was good progess.

So here I am after a bit of practise on my own and I am now a 'kitesurfer' (yay!!) and I never thought I would ever say that! I was so scared before I started of absolutely everything. Now I realise how silly I was to not even try it. I discovered that the kite is really well behaved! You can park it in the water and it will just sit there. You can fly it directly above you (known as 12 o'clock) and it will stay there, as long as the bar (what you hold onto) is straight. You can have more or less power if you wish. Plus if you want to ditch  the kite you can pull your chicken loop and the kite will lose all power. So really safe. Relaunching the kite when it hits the water is now easy compared to the previous years. So if you have heard stories about previous kite experiences don't be put off or worried. I am now flying around the bay, can go upwind and doing zig zag turns, with the biggest grin on my face.

Many thanks to Alex my patient instructor, Harry Nass and all the Centre 4 crew. I love kitesurfing :) :)

Kitesurfing in Dahab

Nice bit of kitesurfing yesterday, looked a bit marginal for my 8m but turned out to be perfect!

Interested in learning to kitesurf or want to rent kit in Dahab then contact us at info@dahabholidays.com

Today in Harry Nass Centre 4 Dahab

Pretty windy day again, all the 3 kites in the photo are 6m2 and 7m2. Bit of a hazy day but the wind is gusting 34 knots who cares!!

More windy days to come though, the weather forecast is fantastic!! See you on the water

Toby

Windy Windy Dahab

I would like to start by apologising for the sheer lack of blogs, but I am going to try and improve this....

I could blame the lack of action in this department on the most amazing summer of wind I have seen in Dahab in the 5 Years i have been here.

To help you see what is going on I have added a snippet from windguru.com. All the stars are good by the way!!



So the wind is good, the temperature has been over 35 degrees for over 6 weeks and it hasn't rained since February.

Back to the beach for me now and I will endeavour to bog some more...

Toby