Eilat and the Red Sea

Oct 1

We had no wifi at the Bedouin Camp, so there are 2 posts for today.

(more pics to come when we download tomorrow)

We were awakened this morning by a peahen who thought she was a rooster on the roof of our tent… Chris has a video – it has a really funny call.

Since breakfast wasn’t going to be served until 8AM, we had some time to relax, drink coffee, read the Bible and pray.

We then had the MOST AMAZING breakfast we’ve had as of yet – Chris took some pictures, but this was not the full offerings.  One of the best parts… warm MILK for our coffee (a rare find).  I tried halva, which is a sesame paste that is sweet and has an almost fudgy consistency – quite good.

We drove 3 hours to Eilat, the southern-most Israeli city & the only Israeli city on the Red Sea (actually the Gulf of Aqaba – the “right finger” at the top of the Red Sea.  The views along the way were stunning.

Eilat is very near both the Jordan and Egyptian borders.

After checking into our hostel, we drove about 8 minutes to Coral Beach, which is a nature reserve.  They really protect the reef here & WOW – just a little ramp to the water and the fish and coral were really fantastic.  I have been diving many times in my life & I think this was some of the most beautiful.  The colors of some of the fish were like none I’ve ever seen – “parrot fish” that were a bright purple with turquoise trim, pink and green corals that were magnificent, and the water was so clear!

We all enjoyed our time here – though after about 45 minutes we were pretty chilly, surprisingly – the air here is HOT, but the water is refreshingly cool.

After cleaning up at the hostel, we headed to the beach boardwalk across the street from where we’re staying and found NIGHT LIFE.  Open stages with blaring music, big flashy amusement park rides, shops and more shops, and finally a little restaurant where we had a bite to eat.

The local kitties got our leftovers.

Timna Park in the morning, and then driving about 4 hours to Jerusalem to check into our last place to stay.  (This time in Modern Jerusalem, an 8-minute walk to the Jaffa Gate.)

Hard to believe we’ve only 4 nights left…

G’night y’all.