Field Report 6:
Safaga, Egypt - June 13, 1998

A back office at the Hotel Menaville, 11:00 AM

By Chris Kostman
 

Hello friends!

Well, I made it to the Red Sea. After two more days in Cairo during which we visited the pyramid site of Dahshur and did a walking tour of medieval Cairo (over 1000 buildings of 500 to 1500 years of age), the whole group met up at the American Research Center in Egypt for the caravan to the Red Sea. There were about 20 of us, mostly Americans with three Egyptians, a few Brits, a Spaniard, a Belgian, and a Canadian, oh yeah, plus several Texans.

We headed east and the south in a truck, a minivan, and two real, honest to goodness Land Rovers—not the plush, leather-lined, air conditioned Range Rover variety that ply the highways back home, but the real thing with the spare tyre on the hood and no features except vents that pop open all over it to let in the dust. Straight out of a "Midnight Oil" video!

We had to pass through innumerable military checkpoints along the highway, finally getting stopped at one for several hours after dark just south of Hurghada. The commander there was just sure we were headed overland to Luxor, a way too dangerous drive at night and one only done during the day with a military escort. After a few hours and a trip back to military HQ in town to show all kinds of official looking documents that explained that, yes, indeed, we were going south to just near Safaga to work and live on the beach to dig up an old shipwreck, we were allowed to continue.

We finally turned off the highway and down a dirt track for a seven kilometer jostle to the beach. In the full moon, we could easily make out the small plate of land just off-shore that gives this archaeological project its name, Sadana Island. After a quick unloading of basic necessities, we all crashed to sleep five hours on the beach, literally. Sunrise found us searching for cover, but there wasn't any.

By afternoon, most of us would be heading to a permanent divers' campground about 2k south of here to live. Why? Because government red tape had not given 12 of us military security clearance yet to stay on site. So we had to relocate and wait out the bureaucracy. Three days later, we're still here.

While the remaining eight team members with clearance, along with the archaeological department inspectors and cooks, erect tents and prepare the whole site, the dozen of us hang out at a campground on the beach. It looks sort of like a MASH set. But the good news is that the tents have cement floors and a light and there is world class diving right outside our tent. We get air cylinders and lead at the dive center here, put on all our diving gear, and hit the water twice a day.

Sea life is abundant: Lion fish, moray eels, sea horses, rays, all kinds of tropical fish, stone fish, gigantic coral heads, groupers, urchins, octopi, and more. The visibility is up to 80 feet or more and the water temp is 76-78 degrees F. It's diver paradise!

In between dives, we work on menial tasks for the project, like making water-proof tags for artefacts and the like. Also, there's an underwater measuring and mapping system to learn by practicing on the beach and then underwater. Also, several of the team members are brand new to diving, so we instructor types are putting them through their paces. Everybody is getting along just fine.

Meals are mostly pita bread or rolls, spreadable feta cheese, jam, tuna, cucumbers, and tomatoes, though last night we got a warm meal brought over from the now in-place-and-operating cooks. Good old beans and rice, the international perfect protein!

At any rate, hopefully all the paperwork will be in place shortly and the whole site will be up and running with over 25 team members. I'll keep you posted!

BTW, if you want to send any snail mail or care packages, the address is:

INA-Egypt
Attn: Chris Kostman
Hotel Menaville
Safaga, Red Sea Governorate
Egypt

Plan on it taking two weeks to get here. And if all goes as planned, I'll be here until August 15.

Email is difficult and expensive. I'm only connecting at 12000bps, so it's slow and cash-intensive to download. While I appreciate the contact and sentiment, please don't send me any jokes, photos, videos, or extraneous CC documents. Personal notes are great, though.

Thanks for all your support and best wishes!

-Chris Kostman
 

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