Fun In The Sun, pt2

On Saturday, the team awoke early again for another hike, this time to the Red Canyon. For Chris and I, this day was an opportunity to travel to Jordan and see Petra - which is about a three hour journey from Eilat. Quite a few members of the group will be traveling on to Jordan after then trip concludes later this week, but since I don't have that option I took advantage of the chance. I'll cover this trip in a later post. Anyway, back to the main group.

"The team explores the Red Canyon"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

The Red Canyon is a gorgeous narrow passageway carved into the desert mountains not far from Eilat. Unlike the hike the previous day, this trek  (at least according to the group) was much more relaxed, and also significantly cooler, since a lot of it is in the shade. After a little over an hour, the team had made it through and were back on the road to the hotel in Eilat. Following breakfast, the team had some time for the pool and then headed to a beach area for snorkeling by the coral reef - very near to where I'd scuba dived the day before.

"Gil climbs up from the canyon floor"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

In the evening, many in the group got ready for some late night partying in Eilat. The party started early in the hotel and then migrated out into the city - eventually to the Three Monkeys Pub - a real staple of the Eilat scene. Gil and I both called it a night early (before everyone left the hotel) since we wanted to get up early for some more scuba before leaving Eilat the next afternoon. It's a good thing we did - since people didn't make it back to the hotel until almost four in the morning. What a night they had!

"Anne leads the group in the Wakka Wakka dance"
Photo by Brad Husser

Bright and early on Sunday morning, I returned for two final dives at Marina Divers. Both dives were wreck dives - the first to a small pleasure yacht and the second to the missile boat I'd already seen on Friday. At one point in the dive we saw an octopus (we'd seen him previously) which was pretty cool! I returned to the hotel after diving where the rest of the group was ready to go. Once we'd all gotten our stuff together and checked out of the hotel, we departed for Eilat's underwater observatory and aquarium. They had some really interesting sea life, including sea turtles and sharks, as well as tons of cool fish.

"Anne and Sean look on in awe at some very cool jelly fish"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Eilat was a great place to see at the end of the trip. It was hot, but very chill, and some of the sights we experienced were definitely one of a kind. With the trip now quickly wrapping up - we have only a few days left. We're now heading back to the north with stops at the Ramon Crater, Masada, and the Dead Sea, before one final night in Tel Aviv.