Day 13 Beach Camp Day 2

Friday April 1^st

Happy Birthday Megan!

Slept really well and woke up about seven. Today was a very relaxing day. In the morning I walked the beach, snorkeled and read my book. In the afternoon I read my book, snorkeled and walked the beach.

Snorkeling was really good. I saw many types of beautiful coral, lots of colourful reef fish and a few new things. I saw a large morey eel in a crevice in the rock. He had his mouth open and a wrasse was cleaning his teeth. He swam in and out of his mouth. I saw another eel that was about a metre long that was feeding on an underwater grass bed. I was able to follow him and swim with him for quite a distance before he got back to the coral. In the really shallow area I swam with a cuttlefish, which looks similar to a squid.

For lunch I had a couple of snacks I brought with me, but for dinner I had grilled kalamari rings and eggplant stew. Again really good.

I finished my book today, so I exchanged my two novels for two different ones from the 'library' here. In the evening I again sat and talked to Sam, his Israeli friend, Odette and Salema, the owner of the camp. There are very few tourists here again, because of the after affects of the revolution. But when I walked the beach I found out that a large number of the beach camps are abandoned and obiously for more than a couple of months. I asked the guys why that is. They told me that most of the tourists that came to this area were Israelis. Egypt and Israel have an agreement that Israelis can come to this area of the Sinai without visas. So for years this tourism flourished. But in the last few years, the Israeli government has posted warnings to their people warning them not to travel to Egypt. I was told this by the Israeli guy.

Then back to my cabin to read and sleep.