Red Sea Report

We took off Monday morning with the Nachtigalls for El Gouna on the eastern coast of Egypt. This resort community is a vacation paradise in the middle of the desert. The community has restricted access so only registered guests or villa owners have access. There are several hotels divided by condos, shops, restaurants, & entertainment along the multiple marinas overlooking the Red Sea. It's the desert, so there's blue skies with hot sun throughout the day, but wonderfully comfortable evenings.

We all took a snorkeling excursion today--a first for all except for Keli and Jamie. We saw a large group of dolphins early in the trip and some of the experienced swimmers were able to jump in and swim with them at one point! We continued to two stops along coral reef and we all got in and observed real life scenes from Nemo; clown fish, angel fish, & silver fish (and many more we didn't know). With the opposite coast in sight, we realized we were closer to the Sinai Peninsula than the main of Egypt--CORRECTION: upon further investigation, we were in sight of a couple islands of the coast of Egypt (see added map pics).

Pics from snorkeling will have to come later, but here's a collage from around the marina nearest to us.

This has been a wonderful break for our family; a needed break from the routine before we begin some new work. It's given us great family memories, and helped the kids to have a different, positive experience in Egypt. We are grateful for the leadership and friendship of the Nachtigalls to encourage this--we're looking forward to our next trip to the Red Sea.