A Little R & R

Dahab was such a nice retreat from the craziness of Cairo. Unlike everywhere else in Egypt, life is a LOT slower and the touts (though they still bug you a bit) are far more likely to let it be when you say, "No, thanks." The sun was out all day and surprise! You could see it too because there weren't millions of billowing smog emitters hanging around the city! The food was excellent.

We frequently lunched at this one restaurant called Octopus World. We chose it because Jeremy's Korean nickname (given by his students) is Octopus because of his bald head. :) It was so nice though and we were very happy to eat at a restaurant that refused to serve fish out of the reef. Responsible Egyptians!! Amazing!! After eating, we would retire to these lovely lounge chairs along the water at the restaurant and sip milk shakes while reading and sitting in the sun. Perfect.

We also had company at lunch! This goofy dog kept trying to play fetch with us and would hop up on the chairs next to us, constantly bringing us rocks. Me, being the dog lover, would throw them out in the water and laugh while the dog frantically searched for it. Jeremy, being the dog... tolerator? would scowl when it returned wet, shaking the water off in his direction. Hahaha.

The view from where I sat.

The Red Sea (which is blue, not red... Hahaha, bad joke) was beautifully clear and warm! Snorkeling was awesome from right off the shore with perfect visibility (I think better than Thailand) and no sea lice! We went snorkeling at The Blue Hole--an infamous dive site for the numerous deaths of careless and inexperienced divers. The Blue Hole is a 120 meter deep hole in the coral reef with several tunnels leading out into the open water and TEEMING with fish! We saw a puffer fish, a lion fish (2!), cornet fishes, and clown fish (among tons of other fish that we known nothing about but were equally impressive in their neon splendor). And the best part is that everything was cheap! We made lots of friends and just enjoyed our time in the sun (even if it was a bit windy/chilly).