This is a short Entry because today was a long travel day. Seems like every tour has a day where you have to drive more than you visit. We left Petra at 9am, and made it across the border by noon. It went very smoothly entering Israel at Eilat, other than the fact the security agents thought some of our boys were cute and hassled them an extra long time. One girl told Ben Stout that his Snicker Bar was illegal in Israel, which confused him hinge he bought it in Israel! (I personally think there is something sick about a person that its a Snicker bar and keeps it for several days before eating it…)
To break up the travel, I dropped some of the kids off at Corel Beach, a national park on the Red Sea for a little snorkeling. This is not really a “biblical” site or activity, but it was popular with the students. They had a great time swimming, and the break from the tour was good. The rest of the group went a bit further down the beach to a public beach with a mall and several coffee shop options. I did have a nice latte in Cafe Neto and later an iced coffee at Cafe Cafe, which is probably an indication of some sort of addiction.
That night we arrived at the camp at biblical Tamar, which is about 35 miles north of Petra, in Israel. It would have been more convenient to drive across the Aravah, although quite a bit more illegal. Tomorrow we visit Mamshit, Arad, Masada, and will float in the Dead Sea.