Sunday, April 30, 2017

Long Weekend at the Beach

As I'm sitting here on the eve of my last holiday break before the end of the school year (about 37 school days left), I am reflecting on our latest long weekend. Earlier this month, we had our normal weekend of Friday and Saturday off, but we also got the Coptic Easter Sunday, and Sham El Nessim, which is an Egyptian holiday marking the beginning of spring. For this four-day break, we wanted nothing more than to relax and do pretty much nothing else. What better way to do that than go to the beach?!

Zach and I went with a couple of friends to Dahab, Egypt. According to Wikipedia, Dahab used to be a Bedouin fishing and is now considered to be one of Sinai's most treasured diving destinations. Dahab is also the location of the famous Blue Hole (Red Sea). However, our mission was to relax on the beach, read, and drink some alcohol.

We found a hotel right on the beach for $55/per night. (I think it cost this much because it was a holiday weekend. I think it's usually less.) This price included breakfast, lunch, dinner, and beer. Was it a 4 or 5 star hotel? No, but it was perfect for what we wanted to do. Let me tell you: mission accomplished! Those 2 1/2 - 3 days on the beach was just what I needed.

On one of the days, the four of us decided that we wanted to go snorkeling at the Blue Hole. The only logical way we knew to do that was by quad bikes, of course! We drove the quads from our hotel to the Blue Hole, went snorkeling, and drove them back. We all wished we could have spent more time on the bikes just exploring the area. For me and one of our friends, we didn't have the best snorkeling experience. Our masks and snorkels kept leaking which is no bueno considering the Red Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world! From what we could see of it, the coral was really neat. Zach really enjoyed himself, though.

Our last long weekend of the school was a success! Though I don't have a lot of pictures to "prove" that we had a wonderful time, you will just have to take my word for it. Enjoy the pictures I did take.

Nearly empty beach 
Camels lounging at the beach

Quad bikes to the Blue Hole

Quad bikes to the Blue Hole
 
Quad bikes to the Blue Hole

Do you see those mountains in the background? That's Saudi Arabia.
Our view from the room balcony

Blue Hole