Many new underwater experiences–wetsuits, sand-less beaches, sea cucumbers, and harmless jellyfish–during study abroad in Israel.

– Bethany Febre, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019

Today was an amazing day! We stayed at a hostel in Eilat last night that had the most beautiful view–nothing you could ever see in Florida, it was just absolutely breathtaking.

The main thing on our itinerary for the day was snorkeling in the Red Sea. After breakfast, we took a short bus ride to the dive club down at the southern end of Eilat. On the bus ride we passed by the border between Israel and Egypt which was amazing to see.

When we got to the dive club, we rented gear to snorkel. They gave us a wetsuit, a mask, and a snorkel. I had never worn a wetsuit before, and I couldn’t believe how tight it was!

We then headed down to the beach which was nothing like I was expecting. The water was crystal clear, I could see right down to the bottom and see all the fish and coral with no issues.

However, the sand here is non-existent! Literally, the entire “beach” is rock, there is no sand. Needless to say, my feet got a bit torn up because I forgot my water shoes. The water was also a bit shocking because it was FREEZING. The water was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much too cold for me, even with the wetsuit!

The under-water view was definitely worth the freezing cold water though. The coral was beautiful and actually had so much color to it, no picture can do it justice. Along with the coral I saw other amazing marine wildlife, but the thing that shocked me the most was the amount of sea cucumbers I saw; there were so many! I saw so many black sea cucumbers, which literally just look like a sea slug.

The most awesome thing about the entire snorkel was that I saw the entire Finding Nemo cast. On the side of one of the coral reefs was a sun anemone and I actually saw a family of twoband anemonefish (clownfish) swimming in and out of the anemone. I also saw so many yellowtail surgeonfish, which aren’t the same fish as Dory, but they do look a lot alike! There was an overwhelmingly abundant number of brown surgeonfish which, sadly, aren’t as beautiful to look at, but it was still super cool!

The weirdest thing about the entire snorkel was the moon jelly. The moon jelly is a type of jellyfish that doesn’t sting. They just float around in the water unproblematically, and you can even pick them up and grab them with no problem. The day was absolutely amazing, but it was exhausting. Going back to the hostel and showering had never felt so good, and once my head hit the pillow I was out like a light! All in all, it was such an amazing and beautiful day–definitely something that I will never forget!

– Bethany Febre, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019

Thank you for sharing Bethany!

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