Med Sea, Dead sea, Galilee, Red Sea!!

July 21, 2010
This morning I walked Dixie and Sheila up to the cab, shed a few tears as I said good bye then headed back to the hostel. Talked to my new friends Jennifer and her daughter Ellianna from Scotland. They are from Scotland, have Jewish heritage and are trying to immigrate to Israel. They have come there for a couple of months almost every year. They said they would love to go to the beach with me but Jenn advised me to go to the bus station first to purchase my ticket. She led the way and I decided to purchase a ticket right back to Jerusalem. i had toyed with the idea of going to Beer Sheva, looking around, then catching the bus out of there to Jerusalem, but I was unable to purchase that leg in the Eilat station and I didn't want to be stranded in Beer Sheeva.
After that, we took a cab to Princess beach. I had rented a snorkel from the hostel and Ellianna was my capable guide as to where all the best fish lived. There is some coral reef there are quite a large variety of fish. The Red Sea is much colder than the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea, and it was really hard to get into that water but once I was in and swimming, it was fine. I love snorkeling as there is so much to see. It wasn't long until I knew where all the coolest fish hung out as well. I am continually amazed by the variety and colours of fish in the oceans and I only get to see a tiny portion of them so close to shore. The vibrant blues, greens, yellows, the stripes, spots and swirls, the variety of shapes and sizes all lead me to marvel at God's imagination in creation. I was going to spend an hour in the water but ended up spending 4 hours. Jenn and I had a great talk and I feel she is a real soul mate. At about 2:30 we caught the bus back into town, had some lunch and I headed to the bus station. As I was walking down the street, I noticed that my back and the back of my legs were hurting and I realized that I had a sunburn. Too much time floating on my belly! I stopped for some Aloe Vera at the drug store and then went to my bus. Jennifer gave me very good advice for the seats were sold out on the bus. We are assigned seats, but everyone who had bought a return ticket and was returning to Jerusalem were not assigned a seat so they had to stand, sit, or lay in the aisle of the bus. There were six people in that situation. The bus ride took 4 hours, and I was blessed to sit next to a lovely Jewish man who was willing to talk about his experiences in the army and the various wars that he has been through. Every young man in Israel must do three years in the army and every young woman must do two years either in the army or in social work. That is why we see so many young people, in uniform, with guns.
The bus pulled into Jerusalem at about 9:30 pm and I took Bus 18 back to the apartment. It was so exciting to be back 'home' and to see my girls again. Diane and Michelle were excited to hear about our adventures and we stayed up too late talking, but it was another great day!