Our Dahabeya Yakouta

 Tuesday, February 10, 2026

 Today is a no activity day—just sailing the Nile.  No excursions, so I thought I’d send the whole note about our boat and our food.

 Our dahabeyah (no engine) (named Yakouta) is amazingly luxurious.  Beyond any expectation.  There are eight cabins but our group of eight and our Egyptologist, Tarek Tawfik are the only passengers.   It is one of two run by this company and they have a web site.  (https://www.dahabeyat.com/). 

The crew is amazing and extremely helpful, coffee any time you want, goodies out and in the room (fruit plate, chocolate chip cookies, wrapped chocolates).  It’s meant to be powered by sail, and indeed the sails did go up once, but the wind has been very scarce. 

Thus, we have traveled being towed by a tug virtually all the time.  Here we are entering a lock at the first cataract: 

The Wi-Fi is sometimes connected beautifully to the internet and sometimes not.  It seems to be random.  The housekeeping staff are lovely and have fun.  Each day we have a different sculpture made of towels on the bed:

 Occasional vendors throw a line to the crew and shout their wares to us, tossing them up onto the deck.  Kathy actually bought a cotton sun dress from one: 

The days start off cool, high 50s, but rapidly heat to the mid 80s.  When we return from our sightseeing, two staff are waiting for us; one with cold damp towels and the other with a silver tray collecting them after we’ve used them: 

There are beach chairs, a hot tub, and an indoor dining room, but we’ve chosen to take all of our meals on the sundeck under lovely shade: 

The quantity and quality of the food has been overwhelming.  When we all told them that we didn’t need so much, they explained that what we didn’t eat the crew did, and then nothing was discarded, but rather the excess was given to locals along the way who never have access to such quality food.  I hope that’s true, because the waste, otherwise, would be tragic.

 At breakfast there’s a buffet table with many freshly baked breads and rolls (including chocolate croissants, Leah), yogurt, cheeses, fresh fruits, and more: 

There’s an egg and omelet maker: 

Coffee, cappuccino, espresso, any way you like coffee.  And when we’ve settled down to eat what we’ve chosen, out comes something like a banana topped yummy pastry:

 Lunch and dinner are both four-course meals.  Here’s today’s lunch:  First a large selection (today five) of salads, including a fabulous avocado salad: 

Next onion soup: 

While we were eating the salads and soup, there was a barbecue in the background on which they were cooking beef and a stuffed chicken concoction as well as fresh vegetables.  They were served in a buffet along with fried calamari, French fries, rice, and more: 

And as we were eating the main course, out came these stuffed grilled sort of pitas, with a chicken filling:

 After all that we were served ice cream over fresh fruit salad, and while we were eating that, out came sliced fresh fruit and a baklava-type cake.

And then, at dinner, repeat.  Four courses plus.  We are eating such a small proportion of the food offered, I certainly hope what they’ve told us is truthful.  The food is delicious, and we both are worried about our weight.  We can’t keep this up. 

There are drinks and local Egyptian beer and wine aboard.  The wine is surprisingly drinkable, and Kathy and I have enjoyed it. 

Tomorrow more cruising up the Nile (up is going south) and a stop at Kom Ombo.  More then.