Eilat

First time to the Red Sea!!

Eilat beach front

Looking across the bay to Jordan (you can see the Jordanian flag)

 

       This last weekend I traveled to Eilat – which turned out to be the Cancun of Israel.  Eilat is the southernmost city in Israel, nestled right in-between Jordan and Egypt.  It was once a small port city along the Red Sea, but it has rapidly developed for tourism with glitzy hotels and an overabundance of shopping.  It is a popular destination for Israelis, where they can all let loose a bit.... shop for clothes that are only considered appropriate in Eilat, smoke hookah on the beach, fry in the sun, and drive away with stories they probably wouldn't share with their mothers.
 
      It was a bit of a trial and error day traveling to Eilat.  We got an early start only to find the bus was full (turns out you can buy tickets in advance).  We opted to take a series of buses that would take a bit more time but get us on the road earlier – the second bus we took was full once we got on, which was confusing because we thought they only sold as many tickets as there were seats… a little confused and with the bus already moving we sat in the aisle and prepared for a 2 hour bus ride.  Partway through someone must have felt a little bad and helped us out – turns out the military ride for free and just take any available seat – so we kindly found our seat numbers that you almost needed a magnifying glass to see and kicked out the people in our seats. 

       Because military duty is a requirement for every Israeli citizen (except orthodox Jews) the influence is everywhere.  I don’t even know what they all do but everyone is in uniform and the majority of them packing large weapons, loosely slung across their shoulder or stuffed in their back pocket and seemingly almost forgotten about.  Also, because it is a requirement there is every type of person in uniform --- many of the girls seem to wear the uniform fashionably with gold aviator sunglasses, some people don’t even look like they could pick up one of the guns while others look like they have been training their entire lives.  To say the least it seems to be a very diverse and casual military feel most of the time - it is a part of everyday life.

       Anyway, back to Eilat…..  I was happily surprised that the water in Eilat was clean (considering it is a port city) and beautiful.  There is one coral reef a bit south of Eilat where we spent the day snorkeling – it was great! In fact it was so good that we lost track of time and space and went a little too far down the reef.  I was thoroughly distracted by an octopus I spotted when all of a sudden I heard a thundering horn from an approaching boat.  We were close to the reef and buoys so I was really surprised to see it coming closer – then they started yelling something over the loudspeaker in Hebrew, then in Arabic and finally in English “you are in a restricted area, you must head north now” – oh shit, I wondered what kind of area we had floated into…. It didn’t take long for me to begin swimming as fast as possible back to our beach.  Then, along the way right after the boat incident we started to hear the loudspeaker on the beach – once again I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it did not sound nice.  I was just imagining the worst case scenario of them waiting for us at the beach – ready to harass and question us like we were spies going into dangerous territory.  All I could hear was my breathing and the warped loudspeaker, with a mouth full of salty water from the choppy water I lifted my head to look for my two companion’s snorkels… they were nowhere in sight (at this point it didn't seem like anyone was out snorkeling).  Just when my heart was beating a little faster and I thought it was bad – I heard the English part of the beach loudspeaker……. “All equipment in by 5, don’t forget your sunscreen and have a nice day”  REALLY – that is what they were saying?!  There is something about the Hebrew and Arabic languages (especially since I am not too familiar with them) that always sounds aggressive – even when they are just talking about sunscreen:)  I made it back to the beach and waited for my two friends – I guess I had raced on ahead and completely left them in my wake (which is why I couldn’t see them).  All was well after a good laugh and a cold drink!

Finally back in warm salt water :)

The distracting octopus