Took a weekend trip to the Farasan Islands on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. The Farasan Islands are a group of 260 islands in the Red Sea. We flew from our house in Dammam to the city of Jizan, then took a ferry over to the islands.
The flight was on a super budget airline where you got only one bag to either check or carry on. Maurice ended up plastic wrapping his two bags together to make it a single bag to check. Good trick to keep in mind for future flights.
Jizan is a much more conservative area of the country. Male and female separation was actively enforced. This was a surprise to our travel group who have been living in areas where the practice of separation no longer exists. On the ferry our travel group grabbed seats together, then were approached by security because we were on the single man side of the ferry. Married men plus all women had to move to the other side of the boat. Single men had to stay. Front of the ferry was reserved for women only. Women had to wear long pants and long sleeves and abaya on the ferry trip. After exiting the ferry, the group changed clothes into bathing suits and short sleeves ready to explore the beaches and islands.
Day 1 was spent snorkeling with lunch at a camp set up on a beach on one of the islands. Water was cool, clear and a great turquoise color. Temperature was in the 80’s
These are some pictures of the beach camp where we had grilled fish for lunch. Afternoon was spent looking for shells and exploring the island.
Charlotte collected a platter of shells that look good enough to eat.
Matthew of Arabia 