Eilat

A couple weekends ago I went to Eilat with 4 of my friends from the ulpan.  It is the southern most city in Israel and from there you can see Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  It is extremely hot. It was in the low 40's celsius when we were there, which is about 104 to 110 degrees. It doesn't really cool down at night either, it's just more tolerable because the sun is not on you.  Rowan, the Aussie, got off the bus and immediately told us how much he missed the heat and how good it felt.  

We stayed at a hostel that was about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the center of town.  It was a really nice hostel and the 5 of us had an 8 person dorm to ourselves.  Chloe (France) and Tamar (New Zealand, 18) both went down there to take a two-day advanced diving course.  While they did that during the day, Rowan, Itamar and I walked around the little shops by the beach, escaped the heat in the mall, and snorkeled.  The snorkeling in the Red Sea was absolutely awesome. The visibility was perfect and there were so many kinds of tropical fish.  We even saw an octopus! 

The last day we all went to a place called Dolphin Reef.  It's a huge place on the Red Sea that is home to about a dozen dolphins.  You can snorkel or dive with the dolphins, or just watch them being fed, which is what we did.  The trainer was very attractive.  Tamar, Chloe and I listened very attentively while he delivered his talk about the dolphins and the facility in Hebrew, most of which went right over us.  Overall, I loved Eilat, but I don't think I could live there. 

Pictures:

1st: Rowan, Me, Itamar

2nd: Me, Chloe, Tamar, Sexy Dolphin Man

3rd: Cute kids watching the dolphins

4th: One of the main sections of beach, Jordan in the background

5th: Rowan, Itamar, Chloe, Me