Our Trip to Dahab

We had an extra long weekend in honor of Eid Al Adha. Eid means feast. So this is a feast that honors Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. Still, Muslims make a sacrifice at this Eid. Often, they will purchase and sacrifice a goat or sheep and share the meat with the poor as an act of charity. We could see many goats in the streets in preparation for this holiday. So, to avoid hearing the bleating pleas for mercy, we left town and went to the beach.

This is our crew: Paul, Carren, Regina, Zach, Rachel. Paul is a friend who teaches at a British school. Regina and Carren are teachers at my school. Jade, Paul's roomate, is taking the picture. He is a teacher at yet a third international school.



Dahab is a small city on the Sinai peninsula. It's kind of the bohemian option instead of going to the more well known Sharm al Sheikh. There are lots of little cafes with pillows and couches along the water. The weather was hot and sunny during the day, even in December, but the water was a bit cold. There were beautiful fish and coral to see, so wearing a wetsuit enabled us to stay in the water longer. I never knew how buoyant wetsuits can make you! Snorkeling in a wetsuit was just like floating along the current.



Here is Zach with his diving instructor. (I took a one-day refresher diving course. For any divers out there, this is mostly because my initial certification was Naui, and now I'm Padi certified, like everyone else. -Z)


It was always a big treat coming back to the hotel to see how the room cleaner had arranged the towels. Here are my two favorites. Can you see the glasses on one of the swans?


Dahab means gold in Arabic. Our Bedouin guide on our desert day hike told us a folktale alluding to the belief that there was once gold in the mountains.