El Andalous - Beach Reopened

Sleeping Octopus

I’ve been very grateful to be in Sahl Hasheesh during the coronavirus. We’re relatively secluded (despite the alarming number of illegal, short-term lets in our building!) and we’ve had our private swimming pools (20m and 30m) in operation. As it’s got hotter and hotter, having a swim has become more and more of a must.

Also, it’s easy to walk around without seeing other people, so that’s another easy form of exercise in case you don’t like swimming (or just want a change of type of exercise).

Anyway, the government recently announced that although public beaches should remain closed, beaches in touristic villages (which Sahl Hasheesh is) could open due to the smaller number of people at these resorts. Hurrah! At last!

So, I’m slowly getting back to my old routine of having my afternoon on the beach. When I was swimming in the pool, it was very functional. I’d get in the water, swim my laps, get out, return to my flat. However, when I’m on the beach, it’s much nicer to lie on a sunbed to dry off and read a bit (in the shade at this time of year). It’s surprising how much difference just this small change makes. I guess it’s seeing the sea rather than the pools making me feel like I’m somewhere truly different and sitting somewhere other than my balcony. In any case, it’s almost too hot to sit on my balcony at this time of year, particularly from 11am to 3pm.

I seem to be a bit out of condition / out of practice when it comes to sea swimming. I’m finding it exhausting and am taking lots of rests; on top of this, I’m a lot slower too (but maybe the rests are being timed in with the swimming time – I’m not too sure).

The sea is warm, as warm as the pool, I would say, so approximately 27 degrees, at a guess, maybe a bit warmer. I suppose this might be giving me less incentive to swim fast versus when it was colder. I’m now wondering how I survived those colder months. I still hesitate to plunge in.

Currently, I’m combining my swimming with snorkeling as it’s been so long since I’ve seen the fish. I haven’t seen anything new, or really noticed anything different. We have a resident octopus that sleeps on a small bit of coral quite close to shore, so I’ve seen that a few times and another owner here has taken videos of it going along the sea bed and changing colour as it pretends to be a bit of coral. It’s pretty cool!

I’m swimming in the opposite direction from before as I was getting regularly stung by (I think) jellyfish spores, which are invisible but bring you out in itchy hives under your costume. It’s too hot to wear my rash vest and I’ve read that the spores get trapped in your clothes, which is why they sting, so I’m wondering whether the rash vest would trap more spores or prevent them. I really don’t know! Even though I’ve changed the direction of my swim, I’ve still been stung once, but I think it is better in this other direction. There are also more groups of coral to look at en route, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on whether I want to focus on my swimming endurance or on enjoying my time in the water.

All in all, it’s a relief to be going back to some of my old routines!