We went to Turtle Beach but there were no turtles there this time I guess laying season is in July and hatching is Nov-Dec. But Chris (the other father on the camping trip) said he came there in December and the kids did see turtles. I will have to figure out a better time to go so we can all see the turtles.
We got to Turtle Beach on Easter Sunday at about 6 pm after driving for 8 hours. The kids were very good about the drive. We stopped at the huge and imposing visitor center as we were stopped from camping on the beach there by a park ranger. The information center was nice and spacious inside and looked nice from the inside BUT it was quite imposing on the outside. It has to do with the way they put the windows on a 45 degree angle to the face of the building, so it looks like a big prison. Anyway the only opening they had for turtle sightings were at 4 am on Monday or 9 pm Tuesday we took the Tuesday spot. Then we went off to camp at a public access beach right around the ridge from Turtle Beach. It was a small secluded spot. There was a small village up the dirt road from the beach. We stayed up late the first night looking for turtles but did not see any. On Monday we played on the beach all day. The kids had a great time and I did as well. I went snorkeling most of the time. There were not a lot of fish or coral but I still had fun swimming around. Granted the waves were quite strong, so I got bashed by the rocks quite a bit.
As we were making dinner a police / park ranger came up and told us we had to move. It was 6 pm and the light was fading so I asked him why. He said he did not speak English. I was quite perturbed as it takes at least an hour to pack up, another hour to unpack, and I had just finished cooking dinner, so that would mean we would get resettled at a new camp site at like 9 pm. Well we just ignored him while we ate dinner and packed up most of our stuff. I had figured if he was serious he would come back. Luckily he did not.
We went to bed kind of early on Monday it had been a long day of sun and fun. Unfortunately, the kids were not the best at applying sun screen though we did pester them. They all had sunburns of some degree or another. It was strange as I had thought erroneously that Andrew was too brown to get sun burnt. Andrew had gone to the beach with his class in the Marshall Islands and spent the whole day on the beach and did not get sunburnt. But this time he was qute pink and complained about his sunburn the next day. In fact on Tuesday night I guess Chris’s son was so sunburnt that he had to sleep in a camp chair for part of the night to keep the sunburn cool.
We ate breakfast and finished packing what we had left out the night before. We were on the road by 7 am. On the way we decided to stop in Tiwi the travel book said it was a good wadi to visit. Well the travel book did not lie it was a very cool wadi and we drove up into it for 4 km if not more. It was an amazing drive and I do not think we were going to make it as the road was so tight but there was traffic and a few times we had to pull to the side so that other cars could pass us. It was an amazing side trip and I only wish that I had taking more pictures. 
Off to Al Sawadi (I think I forgot the name of it) there were two reasons to stop Al Sawadi first there is a 4 star hotel on the beach and second the marine life is supposed to great. Al Sawadi has a few small islands right off the coast and if you take a boat out to them. The original plan was we would drive up from Turtle Beach and then spend another day exploring. But it was obvious that the kids were getting a bit tired of all the camping. Oddly enough if you would ask them they would say they were having a great time, but in reality there were signs of frayed nerves on all the kids (and myself as well). We arrived in Al Sawadi at about 2 pm and decided to hit the 4 start hotel for the day. We got a day pass for just over $10 per family and although the facilities were not what I would consider 4 start it was nice to go in fresh water and to have use of the facilitates. We hung at the hotel until about 5 pm and it was off to the public beach to set up camp.
Camping on a public beach is a bit strange, but it was good as it had nice shade and the kids needed that after being in the sun. While I cooked up dinner Chris took the kids to the beach to have some more fun in the water. The beach here was a shallower than on Turtle Beach the kids could walk out quite far and it was still shallow so it was not as fun of a beach.
After diner we decided to turn in early as the kids need some time to mellow out. Now is when we realized it was strange to amp on a public beach. Once night fell the young men of the town started to hang out on the beach, driving and walking up and down the small strip. It was a Tuesday night so it was not too loud but it was strange to see all the boys hanging out. Strange as there can be no women out without the family so it was just a bunch of young guys hanging out.
The night progressed and we all fell asleep. It was not noisy, nor very busy but there was a constant din of cars and faint music for most of the night. I think they stopped coming at around 3am. At one point a car came quite close to our campsite, but they did not come over and bother us.
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