This past week was Eid holiday (annual pilgrimage to Mecca time) which meant that school was out and Colin was home. We decided to lay low and enjoy some local sights and fun. One of those days was supposed to be a trip to the Dive Center beach for a day with some friends. The day before, Sarah told me that they had decided to go beach camping for one night with another group from school and would we want to try it with them? I started half-hyperventilating since we've never taken Aberly camping overnight and also because I HATE packing for things I haven't done before (with that piece of information you can well imagine how packing for moving overseas was for me).
I have camped before, so packing for camping isn't out of my experience, but packing for Aberly and for a beach trip in another country... I was a bit ruffled. We could've said no, but I knew we had to go. Colin really wanted to. A lot of Aberly's little friends would be there and we would be in good company and support with our friends. And it was only a couple hours a way so if things went south, we could drive home. Besides, we had all morning to pack too since we would leave after lunch and drive through the heat of the day and Aberly's nap.
So I started packing away for me and Aberly the next day, and prepping food from our menu we jotted down. Colin took care of himself, supplies and logistics. At one point, Colin came in and looked at the clothes I had laid out on the bed. "Are you going somewhere for three days?", he asked kindly. I sighed, "No, I just wanted to lay out clothes for possible scenarios and then have you help me downsize." I wasn't sure, would it cold at night? What if clothes got wet and dirty? Would I need an extra pair of clothes? We got me set and packed. Colin got himself packed with even half of my downsized amount. Aberly was also packed.
At 1:30, we met our friends to head to the store to get ice for the coolers and then follow them over the mountains to our destination. The first three gas stations didn't have ice. The 4th did. 40 minutes was wasted on ice hunting alone. On the road, we took this cool switchback highway up and over the hills. And I am talking switchback. Like, you go 10-20 mph around the corners and then your poor car works in overtime to get up speed. Going down on the way home was crazy. The views were amazing and of course we didn't have our camera ready (next trip!). We got to the other side and entered much more barren landscape with a small town in the middle. It was beautiful in it's own way. We drove about an hour through this rocky and deserted landscape until hitting the coast line and continuing down another 1/2 hour until we reached Fins beach. Oh, and about 5 minutes before reaching Fins beach is when I realized I forgot to pack Aberly diapers. Like, NONE besides her two swim diapers. Good thing three other families with 2 year olds would be there.
While Colin set up camp, I got Aberly stripped down to play with her friends on the beach. Since it was 4:00, the sun wasn't much of a worry as it starts to set at this time and UV rays are low. The kids had a blast and it was great to watch four 2-year olds run around in their birthday suits. This helped reduce the need for diapers as well, thankfully. I think I only had to borrow four all together.
The trip went well overall. Aberly loved playing. The food we packed worked great. The water was beautiful and we got to see lots of fish action. Like, did you know manta rays jump out of the water and flip in the air? Neither did we, but we saw lots of them doing it. Apparently it's to get rid of some parasite that attaches on to them. We also saw lots of small fish jumping out of the water in unison, and in the morning, all kinds of fish hang on the surface of the water so the water is constantly moving.
The night wasn't too bad. Aberly did have trouble getting to sleep but it was a mixed blessing. To help her relax, Colin took her for a walk up by the cars. As they were walking, a huge shadow appeared in from on Colin, about 3 feet away. It was a camel. Where this camel came from, we'll never know because no one saw it come through and we didn't see any camels around the area when we drove in. She finally fell asleep around 9:00 and slept straight through till 6:00. A shorter night but uninterrupted, and that was fantastic! And the early wake up allowed us to see the beautiful sunrise and active fish in the water. The worst part of the night was actually me feeling something crawling on me in my sleeping bag in the middle of the night. I opened it up, expecting to find a small bug. Oh no, it was some kind of sand crustacean that was like a big pill bug in a way. It was at least an inch long and moved fast. When it came in, I don't know. At least we got it out. Bleah...
That morning the kids played while we hung out and slowly packed our things. I took a quick swim in the ocean with some goggles and was "mauled" but a school of small fish that apparently didn't see me floating around and tried to swim through me. It feels weird to have fish bump into you because they are firm little suckers! I look my face out of the water to protect it and upon opening my mouth to take a breath, I about had a fish jump into it (I think it hit the side of my lips). The folks on the beach said it was crazy to see all these fish jumping around me. That was an experience I'm not sure I want to have again.
Colin and I definitely have to get some more supplies. We had no table and chairs so we bummed them whenever we could. You can't just set things down beach camping because if you do, your item will be caked in sand, end of story. We also need to get a lantern, a stove that will work with local gas tanks (ours does not, unfortunately), and various other small things. Camping with the group was the way to start since we could make up for missing supplies with them.
Will we do it again? For sure, but not right away. Even one night of beach camping is exhausting and is a mess with all the sand that gets everywhere and in everything. It took us a couple days to get things cleaned up and washed, and to not find sand in things.
Happy Eid!
I have camped before, so packing for camping isn't out of my experience, but packing for Aberly and for a beach trip in another country... I was a bit ruffled. We could've said no, but I knew we had to go. Colin really wanted to. A lot of Aberly's little friends would be there and we would be in good company and support with our friends. And it was only a couple hours a way so if things went south, we could drive home. Besides, we had all morning to pack too since we would leave after lunch and drive through the heat of the day and Aberly's nap.
So I started packing away for me and Aberly the next day, and prepping food from our menu we jotted down. Colin took care of himself, supplies and logistics. At one point, Colin came in and looked at the clothes I had laid out on the bed. "Are you going somewhere for three days?", he asked kindly. I sighed, "No, I just wanted to lay out clothes for possible scenarios and then have you help me downsize." I wasn't sure, would it cold at night? What if clothes got wet and dirty? Would I need an extra pair of clothes? We got me set and packed. Colin got himself packed with even half of my downsized amount. Aberly was also packed.
At 1:30, we met our friends to head to the store to get ice for the coolers and then follow them over the mountains to our destination. The first three gas stations didn't have ice. The 4th did. 40 minutes was wasted on ice hunting alone. On the road, we took this cool switchback highway up and over the hills. And I am talking switchback. Like, you go 10-20 mph around the corners and then your poor car works in overtime to get up speed. Going down on the way home was crazy. The views were amazing and of course we didn't have our camera ready (next trip!). We got to the other side and entered much more barren landscape with a small town in the middle. It was beautiful in it's own way. We drove about an hour through this rocky and deserted landscape until hitting the coast line and continuing down another 1/2 hour until we reached Fins beach. Oh, and about 5 minutes before reaching Fins beach is when I realized I forgot to pack Aberly diapers. Like, NONE besides her two swim diapers. Good thing three other families with 2 year olds would be there.
(Aberly got her own tent to fit the pack-n-play)
The night wasn't too bad. Aberly did have trouble getting to sleep but it was a mixed blessing. To help her relax, Colin took her for a walk up by the cars. As they were walking, a huge shadow appeared in from on Colin, about 3 feet away. It was a camel. Where this camel came from, we'll never know because no one saw it come through and we didn't see any camels around the area when we drove in. She finally fell asleep around 9:00 and slept straight through till 6:00. A shorter night but uninterrupted, and that was fantastic! And the early wake up allowed us to see the beautiful sunrise and active fish in the water. The worst part of the night was actually me feeling something crawling on me in my sleeping bag in the middle of the night. I opened it up, expecting to find a small bug. Oh no, it was some kind of sand crustacean that was like a big pill bug in a way. It was at least an inch long and moved fast. When it came in, I don't know. At least we got it out. Bleah...
Colin and I definitely have to get some more supplies. We had no table and chairs so we bummed them whenever we could. You can't just set things down beach camping because if you do, your item will be caked in sand, end of story. We also need to get a lantern, a stove that will work with local gas tanks (ours does not, unfortunately), and various other small things. Camping with the group was the way to start since we could make up for missing supplies with them.
Will we do it again? For sure, but not right away. Even one night of beach camping is exhausting and is a mess with all the sand that gets everywhere and in everything. It took us a couple days to get things cleaned up and washed, and to not find sand in things.
Happy Eid!
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