Snorkeling, Geology and Living Frugally in Eilat

Today we spent a great deal of time in the Red Sea at the Coral Reef Nature Reserve (also called the Almog Coral Reserve) which is part of Israel's National Parks system. The snorkeling here was top-notch,with the main draw back being that we had to stay within a boundary and on the "path." But this was actually a brilliant idea as the coral was in incredible shape. We saw parrotfish, an octopus, angelfish, and a clown fish in an anemone, just like Marlin in "Finding Nemo." Really, the park was spectacular. The beach was crowded and it was roasting hot there, but if you're in the water, it doesn't really matter.

The entrance is on Route 90 and looks like this:

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Later we went to Timna Park, which is not a National Park but still very interesting. We went on a tour, which I think is the only way to go to this park. Timna Park has many amazing geological formations to look at and climb on but really, what it was was an early iron mine. The iron in the rocks was from detrital sediments and was revealed to us when the tour guide poured some water on the ground. Pretty cool.

That evening we stayed at a funky place...the SNPI Field School in Eilat. Six bunk beds, four of us, it was weird but fairly affordable. And we hear that's how the Israeli families get around the country on the cheap. It was right across the road from the Coral Reef we snorkeled around in earlier. There was a view of the Red Sea (if you squint).