Labor Day Paddle Board Adventure

Matt has been exceptionally busy this week. The embassy was closed on Labor Day but since work had him in and out of the airport all night, I didn't actually expect him to get up and join me for a paddle boarding adventure, until he did! We parked at a new spot on Al Qurum Beach. It's in the middle of some posh beach side mansions but it's just sort of empty parking lot looking. We aired the boards up on the sidewalk and then carried them to the water which was. . .perfect. 

We paddled along the shore looking for fish and birds and around a corner we found the lovliest, lonliest little cove. We scared a huge sting ray as we came in and got to watch him race away. Then we snorkeled around through the rocks and saw oodles of fish, sea slugs, urchins, crabs, parakeets, something I've yet to identify and lots more.

There are crabs of all sizes covering the rocks until you get close and then they find a hold and tuck in. 

I still don't know what this is, it's new to me, but can you see the little wormish thing in the crack. They can jump in and out and across the water. They get bigger, they have some type of fin on the top and they kind of wiggle around the rock a little like a salamander, switching their bodies back and forth.There's a larger one camouflaged into this rock.

I'm a very inexperienced snorkel photographer. There water wasn't very still either which made capturing small fish without grazing rocks a little tricky. I love these little yellow and black striped fish. I need to do my fishy research.

Very interesting rock dwellers. I'm still working on my identifications. I'll have to come back and edit when I figure it out.

Today was definitely a little bit of paradise. It's always good to remember where you are and why you're here. School Rules (like you have to attend Sunday through Thursday) are sure changing our family culture by leaps and bounds and I find that my favorite part of the day is picking those crazies up and trying to milk every story I can out of them in a desperate attempt to make a picture of what things look like in their new world. I can't wait to take them on this new adventure! Until I can find a place for myself sans Homeschooling, I can always scope out new adventures to teach my kids about!