Absolutely everyone was buggered this morning. I was fairly tired after staying up and watching RoTK last night; but most other people had gotten shitfaced the night before, and were hung over like a bunch of zombies. Surprisingly, most people managed to get up on time (possibly with a bit of "light help" from the Madrichim!); but they were all groaning and rubbing their foreheads at breakfast.
The bus left at 8:06am, and ironically, I was the one who made us 6 minutes late, even though I was in the extreme minority of non-hungover people. I had to go back upstairs, and change into my swimmers, since after the morning hike we were off to watersports. They told me we wouldn't be coming back tothe hotel: but of course we did, so my changing into swimmers was of course a complete waste of time.
In the morning, we went on a short hike in the arid hills west of Eilat, and climbed to the top of a mountain [Mt Tzvahot] from where we had an excellent view. On the way, Nimrod re-told the story we heard on desert survival, about the Acacia tree (the spiky one that "walked into" Michal), and how a strangling vine is killing it almost to extinction.
View of four different countriesFrom the top of the mountain, we could see four countries: Israel; Jordan; Egypt; and Saudi Arabia. The view of the gulf - and Eilat and Aqaba on its shores - was spectacular, and we got plenty of photos. Nimrod gave us a little history lecture, and we had a rest; then we made our way down the rather steep trail to Eilat and the shoreline. I was at the front for most of the way (for once!), so I got down pretty quick; but we had to wait ages for the slowcoaches at the back to get down.
Laffas in EilatWhen we reached the bottom, we found a Bedouin tent where they were selling "laffa": goat's cheese, oil, and herbs spread on a fresh-baked pita, and rolled up. The place looked so comfortable - with more than enough low couches for the lot of us - that the entire group went inside the tent and relaxed on the dodgy furniture.
The queue for laffas was extremely long, and somewhat disorganised - the laffas were damn popular - but after waiting for about 20 minutes (each one was baked and prepared on the spot, so it took some time), I got one. It tasted beautiful.
Morning tea at the Bedouin tentWe spent a long time relaxing in the Bedouin tent; and then we went down the road to the aquarium and underwater observatory. A few of us guys went and saw a surround-theatre movie for 10 sheks, all about the fish: but I was so tired, and the film was so lame, that I slept through most of it.
All of us walked down to the underwater observatory, which is built at the end of a pier, and has a tower-shaped restaurant above water. It's impressive down there: the observatory level is built on the sea bed, and out the windows you can see coral everywhere, with countless schools of fish swimming round, showing off every colour in the rainbow.
I also had a squizzy at the schmonser shop, but there was nothing much there that didn't look fishy. So we left the aquarium, and went back to the hotel for lunch (and a chance to get swimming gear, which of course I didn't need to do!).
In the afternoon, we went down to Eilat harbour, and had some mad fun with the boats. I took my jeans off (boardies underneath), and put on a lifejacket: then Me, Asher, Dane, and Beck set off for a 25-minute ride on a motor boat!
It was lovely out on the water, but it would have been more fun if the boats could go faster. However, we were dangerous enough as it was with our engine speed capped. When it was my turn to drive, I went really close to another boat, and almost got our motor smashed off. And when Asher drove, he actually rammed another boat side on!
After the motor boat ride, 8 of us got on a "banana boat" ("It's sun protection, it's 30+!"): it's basically a long tube that 8 people can sit on, and it's pulled really fast by a speed boat, much like waterskiing.
The insane banana boat, in the Gulf of EilatThe banana boat was, as I said: "so ****ing cold, so ****ing fun!" The windchill was a real bitch, but it was a thrill and a half to speed through the water and hold on for dear life. We had to lean when we turned: and one time someone leaned the wrong way, and the whole thing capsized! We fell in like a sack of fish: the water was nice, much warmer than the air; and we had to turn the boat back over and get on again. When we got back to the shore, we all jumped in just for fun.
Burnett and a few others went a second time, but I was too cold and wanted to get dry. I didn't go in the water again: after that, everyone started to get dry and change back into their clothes; and eventually, we were ready to go back to the hotel.
The rest of the afternoon (not that there was much left of it) was spent recovering from the boating by having showers and watching television. It was our relaxation before another free night out.
Good news: a whole lot of people had decided to see RoTK tonight; so I would get to see it again! However, our curfew was meant to be midnight, and we wouldn't be home until at least 12:30am if we went and saw LOTR. So, due to popular demand, the curfew was extended to 1am.
Anyway, I'm skipping ahead a bit. We had dinner at 6:30, and then the bus dropped us (as with the night before) in the thriving centre of Eilat. But unlike last night, I didn't just walk up and down the markets all night: I went straight to the shopping mall. My suitcase has completely busted - zip is utterly "bereft of life" - so I bought a second strap to go around it. Also bought the Subliminal album I've been meaning to buy for a while.
The best thing I did last night was go back to the guy that engraves personalised necklaces, and get a dog tag saying "Jaza" on the top, and "Yirmiyahu" on the bottom.
Saw RoTK again from about 9-12:30. It wasn't quite as good 2nd night in a row, but still great fun.