The fall semester is over, my grades are out (which were not exactly what I hoped for but still fine), and I have a short vacation. So I went to the Red Sea for a few days of R&R. I spent 3 days loafing around Naama Bay, snorkeling, reading and drinking overpriced coffee.

There are so many Russian tourists in Sharm El Sheik you’d think Moscow had annexed it. Not that I have a problem with Russian tourists, it’s just those who dive or snorkel among them who really piss me off. I mean, exactly what part of “Do not touch the friggin reef” do they not understand. Of course they do understand it, since the signs and handouts are in 4-5 differnt languages, they just want a little souvenir to take back home. The divemasters often turn a blind eye to that kind of behavior since they fear for their livelihood, intentionally oblivious to the fact that if they keep on not doing something about it, these beautiful coral reefs on which their jobs depend aren’t going to be there for too long. And I don’t mean to say that its only the Russians who do that, they might have been just the ones that I have most frequently personally caught red handed while on a diving trip. The perils of mass tourism.