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Yemen's Red Sea beach resort!

As beach resorts go, Al-Khowkha is not a bad place. It is certainly laid-back, and has some excellent snorkelling above the reefs offshore, but the beaches aren't really great. But I enjoyed my few days here, as I've never been to a tropical beach before, and was in need of a bit of relaxation after several months of studying non-stop in Sana'a.
I stayed at Sindbad's, which was a very basic collection of palm and brick huts surrounded by gardens and palm trees. The owner Ramzi was very friendly, particularly as I was the only guest, and I had one of the best qat chews there with him. The food was excellent...fried fish and rice, which was a welcome change to the spicy stews of Sana'a. And to share with me my meal, about a dozen cats and thousands of hermit crabs (which make a very loud clicking noise during the night, especially if they have a shell which is too heavy for them!). The shower was basic, the toilets even more basic, and the rooms were ...yes, basic. But that was part of the charm of the place.
On my final day, Ramzi organized a boat trip with his friend known as "The Hunter", and we headed out of the lagoon into the open sea to do some snorkelling. Before I go on to describe the snorkelling as amazing, I have to point out that this was my one and only experience of snorkelling, so it probably pales in comparison with snorkelling over the Great Barrier Reef...however, it was good enough for me, and once I had got over my fear of being eaten by sharks (Lonely Planet is to blame for that one..."Don't swim out past the sandbanks, as there are plenty of sharks!"), I managed to spend over two hours gawping at brightly coloured fish. Ramzi told me that he had only just learned how to swim, and I must say he was very impressive, especially when it came to diving. He also told me that he was planning on going to the Honeish Islands, recently the subject of an international dispute with Eritrea, which are supposedly renowned for excellent diving...only problem is getting there.

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Al-Khowkha is well known (in Yemen, at least!) for it's traditional wooden ship-building. Much of the activity takes place on the beach, and it is a great opportunity to see an ancient art-form still in use today.

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The beaches were always busy, with fishermen bringing in their catch, women washing clothes in the lagoon, and children selling fruit and sea-shells to day-trippers from the cities and the odd foreign tourist. Al-Khowkha is ear-marked for development...mind you, it had been for several years before I arrived, and nothing had ever come of it. Another plan is for a coastal highway linking Hodeida with Al-Mokha...this seems quite likely to happen in the near future, so Al-Khowkha's special atmosphere could well change for the worse soon.