El Gouna - Movenpick (June 2006)
18 December 2006 dans Kite Surfing Egypt
Kitesurfing El Gouna - June 2006
Holiday was absolutely brilliant, so good in fact that we said we would go back again to the same resort and same hotel, something I’ve never done before. Hotel was clean, tidy and staff were all very friendly and helpful. Layout was spot on - large hotel, but spread out and landscaped well to make it pleasant and interesting. Kids loved the variety of swimming pools and the kids club entertainment was first class - face painting, windsurfing, tabletennis, cake decorating etc, the kids even got to perform a show in the evening in front of all the other hotel guests. Family room was spot on, I’ve attached a photo from the balcony showing pool and sea view and how close we were to the kitesurfing area.
Kitesurfing was just what I needed, shallow warm flat water to practise and progress with some helpful people around to give you some tips for improvement. although opportunities were restricted by the tide, I didn’t find this a problem as long as you were flexible you could easily get a couple of hours in a day, which was about right for me - just enough to have a decent go without being completely knackered, and leaving the rest of the day free to do things with the family. Also the fact that the kitesurfing was so close to the hotel it was nice that the kids could stay in the pool and watch daddy kitesurfing at the same time. The one recommendation I would make is to take and wear booties if you are still at the stage where you are likely to fall off and have to do any walking at all - I left mine off on the first day, tempted by the warm blue-green water, but sliced my toe open on the coral during a wipe-out. Mohammed at the kite bar did an excellent job with the first aid, but I decided to wear booties for future sessions!
Only downside was that the flight home was delayed. Having said that, longwood holidays advised us to stay at the hotel for another 3 hours rather than go to the airport, they then transferred us to the Hilton at Hurghada for another 3 hours and gave us food and drinks, before finally transferring us to the airport and back home via a different airline - excel airways (who proceeded to damage my kitesurfing bag). We realised how well we’d been looked after when we got through passport control and there were several others from different tour operators that had been stuck inside the airport all day with no food or drink offered.