Time for another update from Jeddah

Well I just completed my first full week of work and settling in nicely.  Everyone at post is extremely friendly and have made us feel welcome.  Jolene starts work this Sunday and is really looking forward to it.  This week we went out with some others from work and had a sea food dinner Bedouin style... sitting on carpets and sharing several different plate.  Here's the spread...

We had sea bass, parrot fish, shrimp, and calamari.  Crystal and Jolene ate a little bit of everything.  They actually like it.   I handed Crystal one of the shrimp above and she said, "What do I do with it... It still has the head on it, Dad fix it for me...."  So I pealed her shrimp for her.  Needless to say everything tasted excellent. There was 15 of us for dinner and we had enough food for another 10 people.  But we made good use of the leftovers, bringing them to the Marines on duty and the security guards.

So this is the beach we went to today, it's called the La Plage. For those of you that know French, yes the beach is called "The Beach".  I know very original.  There is another beach that we will eventually make it to called "Silver Sands"  For you back in the USDA, I'll let you know how it compares to the Silver Sands in NY.

The water is quite warm, but a little cooler than the pool in our housing compound.  As you get out about 5 feet or so it gets quite comfortable.  The tent in the distance is where you can rent snorkel and dive equipment.  There is a reef that drops off where the divers head out, but the reef is awesome with a snorkel. One of the Marines that was with us today, had an underwater camera, so if his pictures turn out I'll get them uploaded here.  But until then, here's what it looked like...

Obviously we need to rush out and get our own fins and mask so we don't have to rent them, but we are really looking forward to learning how to dive and exploring further out.  I hear there are several ship wrecks that are great diving places.

Well that's it for now ...

مع السلامة
Sounds like ... Ma’a salama
Translations... Good Bye