Arta Beach

September 21, 2009
Yesterday we went on our first adventure, out of the city. We went to a beach on the Gulf of Tadjoura that is located about 45 minutes from our house. It may have taken us longer to get there as the last 15 kilometers were unpaved road and we caravanned in with three other families from the community.

The scenery was what we expected as we left the city, rocky, sandy, red-dirt with camels and baboons along the way, groupings of goats eating garbage and swarms of kids brandishing their post-Ramadan toy weapons. It is going to take me awhile to get used to the kids aiming their toy Kalashnikovs at us when we drive by.

We drove by a couple of military installations on the way, a Djiboutian installation, French and a French Foreign Legion. The French Foreign Legion installation has a zip line and rope course to be envious of; we are going to try to figure out what it would take to be able to use the zip line that goes straight into the ocean!

If you look on a map of Djibouti, the name of the town where the beach is located is Arta.

The beach is on a cove, pebbly with ledges around. The view from the beach is of the North side of the bay and includes the hills in the distance. The water is a beautiful green color. The best part of the beach is that when the tide is high, you walk out 100 yards and there is a drop off onto a coral reef. I couldn’t tell how deep the first drop off was, but the water temperature changed by 15 degrees or so and it was clear down to the sandy bottom. The reef was an amazing surprise, as I had been told that there was great snorkeling at the beach but I couldn’t really fathom that we were going to see tropical fish, parrot fish, angel fish, anemones, sea urchin, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish… When the tide went out, the reef was 10 feet from the beach, simply amazing.

I have been told that the whale sharks come right up into the reef area where the drop off is, and I can’t wait to go back when they will be there, they usually arrive in the Bay sometime during October.

The kids had a great time; Max used his newly acquired in Pensacola, snorkel gear. Olivia worked through here fear of the fish touching her! The day was a nice reprieve from the house, school, and the city, we picnicked.

We are looking forward to the arrival of the rest of our snorkeling, scuba equipment and our camping gear, so that we can drive out there and stay for the weekend. Am going to get the kids snorkel vests, though, as it is so clear and beautiful that it is easy to be floating and looking at the little fishes and all of the sudden realize you are hundreds and hundreds of feet away from where you started, which can make adult, accomplished snorkelers feel panic.