Eilat, Israel – Birds under the Sea

Eilat

Underwater Observatory

Kendall felt a little ruined out (though she stills loves ruins), so when presented with the opportunity to go to Petra or stay at the beach, she chose the beach.  Eilat has an underwater observation that is supposed to be top notch. We were told the sunlight reflecting through the water is best from 11a-1p, so we showed up at 11a.  We found a small pretty park with eleven exhibits and disney world crowds.  The observatory under the Red Sea was our favorite as we spent much time just looking at the corals and different fish.  As Kendall was watching all the fish she told me, “Daddy, those fish look just like birds under the sea!”  We also went to a “moving” movie, where your seat moves around to the film.  I thought of Nathan Johnson during it as he has a tendency to get car sick if he is driving on winding roads, and this movie had so much motion to it I got nauseous.

While traveling around Israel we have seen so many families with small children and pregnant mothers.  It has been such a blessing to witness how much Israel cares about life and family.  It is also fun to hear how fluid the people are in several different languages.  Someone will come up to us speaking Hebrew, then they may switch to German or some other language before I am able to tell them English.  Then we will have a pleasant conversation in English.  This is just one more way the Israeli people are beautiful and diverse.

Red Sea

JAWS!!!

After our encounter under the sea, we headed to the beach.  Beaches are different in Eilat as there are only a few accessible, and everywhere else is fenced off, prohibiting entry.  I am not sure if this is done to force people to go to designated spots or to protect Israel from anyone wanting to swim to shore from another country (Jordan or Egypt).  We went for a swim in the refreshingly cool Red Sea.  There are no waves here and the water is crystal clear.  It is a great place to swim in the sea.  The last thing we did before coming back to the apartment was to get a large yogurt cone.  It was delicious all the way home.

Kendall’s take:
April 8th: Different colored sea birds
I woke up at about the same time as daddy.  It was 8:00!  Well, we had decided to not go to Petra today so I dressed (I wanted to take my shower after we swam in the Red Sea today.)  And daddy took a shower.  We finished some homework, ate breakfast, and I sorted the rocks we found on the beach the other day.  When we were done, it was about 10:30a.  Well, we did a few more things, packed for the day, and then jumped into the car.  We had a few options – decided on the Underwater Observatory Marine Park.  We drove there parked and walked to the entrance.  I thought it was an underwater aquarium, so we left our hats at the car.  We got in line behind – it seemed like 20 tour buses, there were so many people.  But amazingly enough, there was not one tour in the crowd!  As we were in line, we saw that, instead of a huge fun, cool aquarium, it was a park out in the sun.  So, when we got our tickets, we ran back to the car to get snack and our hats because, one part of the park we could not go in until 2:50p.  We couldn’t just skip that because daddy paid a lot of money for that particular part, not knowing what it was.  Later, we found out it was just a show and daddy wished he had known that and not paid extra for it.  But we explored the other cool parts of the park; and except for the crowds, it was a nice and cool experience.  We saw sea turtles so big you could ride on them!  They reminded me of you, sweet Sydney sister!  (I got lots of pictures.) 

Once we saw everything, (except that special part) we had an hour and 40 minutes to get rid of.  So daddy suggested that we write down the start of our diary for the day.  So we did, and as we were writing it, I noticed kids going up to a shark’s face sticking out of the wall and putting their heads in while the parents took pictures.  It was very cute. When I finished writing up my stuff, I asked daddy if we could go back to a underwater (so you can see the fish and sea life in their own home) part of the aquarium park that I liked. So we could see if we could get a better look at the fish without so many people in the way. So we walked over there. Since we lost the orange camera I’ve had to take pictures with the nice big black one. And since parts of the park are in the dark, you can’t get good pictures with the flash (and daddy doesn’t know how to turn it off. Well, right as we got to the bottom of the stairs down into the underwater aquarium, daddy cried out in surprise as he figured out how to turn the flash off. Once he did, I took a million pictures as the camera clicked and clacked along.We saw so many very cool fish swimming around it was like Paradise!!!!! It was awesome to see them in their own home because I am not allowed to dive deep in water or anything like that because I am too young. (It was very disappointing to me at first when I heard that I wasn’t allowed to dive). We saw a shark come down and snap at the fish! It was awesome (and there weren’t too many people)!!!

After what seemed like a few happy minutes there, looking at God’s creation, daddy came over and said it was time for the show because we had been here an hour! We hurried up and got in a line to our seats(in the special place you have to pay more to see. The show was incredible especially so when our seats moved with the drama. It was so cool I’m glad we didn’t miss it! Then we walked to our car, drove to the hotel, ate a lunch (at dinner time) and walked down to the beach. The water was chilly at first, but got warmer as we got in the wind on land. As we were going home, daddy stopped at a ice cream store and got us a huge cone for $2.00 each!!!

When we got back in the hotel, I took a shower and then we iChated with mommy, grandma Boots, Chloe, Sydney, Elijah, Tirzah, Hosanna, and Mercy. They were well but missed us and enjoyed our “computer” time together! And now I must say Good-night!

Birds under the Sea