A morning at the beach

A few weeks ago I spent a few hours at the beach. Aramco has locations all over Saudi Arabia, and one of them is on the coast of the Gulf of Arabia, called Ras Tanura. Part of the site is a private beach, probably a mile long, just for employees.

I went over to meet a guy who was selling me a printer and monitor. I need the monitor, and my friend needed the printer so it worked out very well.  Aramco provides a fleet of buses that go all over the region, and one of them goes back and forth to RT several times a day. So I loaded a camera and my backpack and hat and took the mid-morning bus for an hour-long drive.

Not much to report on the drive - hot, dry, desolate. Everything is made of concrete, so even the buildings that are painted tend to blend into the background. I noticed several communities well off the highway that most people wouldn't have noticed, just because I was really looking and happened to see something stick up above the horizon that didn't below there.

The beach was lovely. I do love big water. It calls to me just like mountains do and I could spend way too much time in, on, or near either and be very happy doing it. But this beach was all mine. No one was there until a lifeguard showed up 30 minutes later, climbed into his tower, and tried to get comfortable.

The water was turquoise and much cooler than I expected, but relatively calm.  I don't think they get much tidal action here, and the waves are driven by the wind which was howling. Not quite a gale but way beyond a stiff wind! The visibility was surprisingly low - the haze that always hangs on the desert was here too - just a brown smudge always across the horizon.

And it was hot - 100+ at 10 a.m.  But I wore my hat and stayed mostly in the shade. I didn't want to swim, mostly I just wanted to see and hear the water, and I enjoyed doing that for about an hour.

 I had nice lunch at a small cafe right off the beach, and it was pleasant to sit under an umbrella outside and still enjoy the sight and sound while eating. Then it was time to call my contact, who was going to meet me with the gear so I could get on the 1 p.m. bus back to Dhahran. Turns out he had typed his number wrong when he emailed it to me, so I couldn't call him! Sadly, he ignored the very thorough plan I sent him of where I would be at what time and even what color shirt I would be wearing (I figured orange would stand out easily enough!)  He didn't call me until I was back on camp and walking into my room!

Oh well, I had a nice morning, saw a new place I'd wanted to see, and we ended up meeting last week to get the stuff.  Not a perfect day according to plan, but all in all it worked out just fine!