The Marsa Alam Tourism Investors Association reported that 95 percent of the city’s hotels have shut down, with only four out of 72 hotels and tourist villages are currently operating.

I spent the Eid vacation between Hurghada and Marsa Alam. It was my first vacation since the January revolution broke out, and was badly needed. It was strange though being in the south without Ismail Marzouk. He’s been on my mind a lot.

You can find some of the pictures I took during the trip here in this Flickr set.

I’ve been posted for nine years here in Marsa Alam. Not a single murder case. Not much work in general. I like it here, although I’m away from my family and the drinking water is undrinkable. You don’t do much work, don’t have vendettas, don’t have shootings, don’t have security directors you have to salute day and night. Above all that, you get to see naked beautiful women. Why should I ask for a transfer? I hope they keep me here forever.

The picture, below, was taken in Tondoba Bay.

A tattoo on the back of a young woman diver.

Me: In your case, communism means that you and other divers will get to run the diving center, vote on all decisions related to your workplace, without a boss who owns but doesn’t work.

Diver: That doesn’t sound bad.

Me: Moreover, you’ll get free medical insurance and decent housing. And if you have kids, their education will be for free. And those police check points on the road, that keep stopping and searching you as if you were in the West Bank, will disappear.

Diver: Sounds really great! So why did my father use “communist” as an insult?

Me: What did your father do for a living?

Diver: He was Mukhabarat.