Turtles, Dolphins and Abayas

So, another weekend been & gone and we have been back to the Red Sea. Him indoors diving as per New Year and the kids & I relaxing. The weather would have been warmer than new year but there was a pretty strong breeze on both days. On the beach this just meant that I got a good exfoliation as I was sand blasted in a minor way. Unfortunately for him indoors the wind had somewhat stirred up the silt under water so the visibility was not as good as it had been at New Year. We had a great day out on the boat again yesterday, & although it was windy the sea was fairly calm. Even I had a snorkel about ( it was a bit of an experiment to see if I could get away with wearing a mask and my contacts and i am glad to say it worked, I used one of the kids masks so now I shall have to get my own) I didn't stay in too long but I managed to see loads of different fish. I missed the main event of the day however as Him indoors and our oldest managed to see & swim along side a turtle. Cue a very excited 10 year old who thought it was one of the coolest things she has ever done and can't wait to go back and do it again. The captain of the dive boat spent most of the day in a balaclava as he thought we were all a bit mad to be diving in "the middle of winter" - after all the sea temp was a freezing 28C and it was in the 80s, but as he said "things will start to improve at the end of the month once spring comes" On the way back to shore (we sail for about an hour to get to the different reefs/wrecks to dive to) we were joined by about 20 dolphins, they were fab, using the wake to do their acrobatics in, we had a full blown somersault from one absolutely brilliant - it was just like being as sea world only for real. I was sat on the boat thinking what a fab place to live right up until we came back into the creek where the harbour is & I had to put my abaya back on top of my swim suit and get back to the real Saudi. Honestly if it wasn't for the rules here they would make a fortune out of tourists. Anyone would have paid a fortune to have a day like we had yesterday.