Post-Birthright Days 7 & 8: Eilat!

The next morning I left the Heritage House early, free from my large luggage (since I was returning in a few days, they were nice enough to allow me to leave it there) and ready for my trip down to the south.  While waiting for the bus, I called Loren to wish him Happy New Year since it was just about midnight in the U.S. The bus was almost half filled with soldiers, and the views were wonderful the entire way down - we went by the Dead Sea, then straight through the Negev with the Jordanian mountains to our left all the way down to Eilat.

The Dead Sea - you can see the Israeli shore, the salt deposits, and the Jordanian mountains in the distance.

The Dead Sea - here you can see the Judaean mountains on the Israeli side, and also how far the sea has receded since the 1950's.

The Negev, with Jordan in the distance.

I arrived at my hostel around 2:30pm. I was in a 6-bunk room with ensuite bathroom and a refrigerator, but when I arrived I was alone. I proceeded to put my Shabbat leftovers in the refrigerator, get settled, and set out to explore the city.

It is an extremely small city, easy to see most of it on foot in not too much time. I was at the shore in 10 minutes, and stayed there to watch the sun set over the Red Sea.

Those are my feet! In the Red Sea!

A child playing on the water, the shores of the ritzy hotel area on the North Beach, and then Aqaba, Jordan, the city at the base of those mountains.

Panorama view of sunset on the Red Sea - As I pan left-right you see four countries: the rest of Israel across to Jordan, then out to the farthest land you can see on the left is Saudi Arabia; across the sea to the right is Egypt, and back to where I'm standing still in Israel.

Sunset on the Red Sea in Eilat, Israel.

I was pretty tired from nonstop touring, and didn't really know what to do in a tiny beach town at night, so I spent the rest of the night in my hostel relaxing and checking up on the internet.  I called a tour company I'd sent a request in to climb Mount Sinai, since I hadn't heard anything and it was supposed to leave in the middle of the night, and found out that the situation in Egypt has spread to the Bedouins in the Sinai desert and they are no longer being courteous to tourists... so tour companies are no longer offering the sunrise Mount Sinai hike I had wanted to do the next day. Disappointed, I started reading up on what there was to do in Eilat... not much besides relax, it turns out. I took note of a couple things that looked interesting, said goodnight to my Swedish roommate that had since arrived, and crashed early.

I vaguely heard another couple people come in, and also vaguely heard them leave in the morning... I slept in, only woken up when someone walked in to the room to clean it. I once again had the room to myself, which was a nice change with all the constant traveling and hosteling. After a nice leisurely morning getting ready, I set out to walk down the South Beach towards the Egyptian border, where all the major Eilat attractions are, and just see what struck my fancy.

A jazz quartet sculpture on the road running along Eilat's South Beach - you can see how far I had walked thus far, the mountains to the left are the backdrop to where I started.

I eventually came upon the Dolphin Reef, and decided to pay the few dollars to spend the day there - I didn't feel like spending $80 to swim with the dolphins, and got to get nice and close to them anyway.  It was a lovely afternoon by the water, hanging out with the dolphins, drinking coffee and eating hummus on the Red Sea, looking across the water at Jordan, where I would be venturing into the following day.

View from the beach at the Dolphin Reef... I just thought this boat was way cool. Totally felt like I was chilling between Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Some tropical fish and coral reef, seen through the floating docks in the Dolphin Reef.

Meet Neil, my dolphin buddy who hung out with me for quite a while!

Food time for the dolphins!

The floating docks where I was hanging out with Neil.

Coffee, hummus and pita on the shores of the Red Sea, hanging out with dolphins and looking out over Jordan. I'd say life was pretty good that day.

That night, upon my return to the hostel, I heard American voices across the hall, and heard the word "Petra" thrown about - since that was my plan for the next day, and hadn't yet met anybody with whom to travel, I excitedly stuck my head in to their room and introduced myself. Sure enough, everyone in that room was going to Petra the next day - four were going in a one-day organized tour, which I had decided long before I didn't want to do, but two were just winging it and traveling on their own, and were excited to have me on board to come along and split the cab fare!

They then all went out to the movies, but I wasn't ready to go out and didn't want to hold them back so I told them to go ahead. I again spent the evening resting and eating my Shabbat leftovers (I still had SO MUCH challah), with the promise to meet my new American friends in the morning.

As always, I do not include all (or even close to all) of my photos here in my blog.  To see all my photos from my post-Birthright travels, see my Flickr album:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke/sets/72157628990457609/