On the Shores of Qatar

To those who claim there exists nothing to do or see in Doha, I submit: snorkeling.

Entalek, a relatively new company specializing in eco-tourism, organizes snorkeling trips during October, the best month for bearable water temperatures, clear water and lots of fish to see. As a happy holidays, happy birthday gift I treated myself to a snorkeling adventure at the Al Fuwairit beach (near the northern tip of Qatar). KZog and I snorkeled nearly every day we spent in Aruba, and ultimately we preferred it to scuba diving.

How did the Qatari reef compare with those in Aruba? Well, like the Caribbean, the Persian Gulf water was very clear. I saw damsel fish, angel fish of a deep blue with electric green accents and fish that use their fins to crawl along the sea floor. I also saw brain coral the size of ottomans (ottomen?), blue coral and sea urchins perched everywhere. Overall the reefs in Aruba cover a greater area and have more, and a greater variety of, marine life. But, I spent an entire morning at the beach, in the water, swimming with fishes. Hooray!

I also made a new puppy friend named Dillon (Dylan? I didn't ask how to spell the dog's name.) who happily posed for some photos for me. He is a flat-coated Newfoundland retriever and quite a sweet and handsome dog. Of course he reminded me a bit of PeppeRoni Pizza, who would have loved swimming in the Gulf, too.

Before I took this trip, I looked into buying a GoPro camera for some underwater shots (we had borrowed Dad's for Aruba and ended up with some neat footage), but I thought the prices here too high, even considering the instant gratification factor. A new, top-of-line model in the US costs around $400; the same here would run me about $540. So no-go on the GoPro for now.

Sun Over Al Fuwairit

JZog on the Beach, "Shell Ya"!

New Puppy Friend

Edge of the Fish Trap

Tidal Pool

Clear Water

I do believe this takes care of numbers four and one on my Doha Countdown list. Entalek also has kayaking trips, which I plan to take advantage of in the next couple of weeks. I hope to convince some of my colleagues they should give it a try. 

And . . . Go Cardinals! Did you know they won the 1982 World Series on my birthday? 

XO,
JZog