Duty in Djibouti: Whale Sharks, Lake Assal, and Germany

Not too much to report in the last couple of months.

I went on a shale shark trip near the end of October. We took a larger boat into the Gulf of Tadjoura and then got on small boats to go look for whale sharks. You look for the end of their tail sticking out of the water and then jump into the water before they swim away. The whole day we saw about three tails. One of those sightings turned into actually seeing one in its entirety. We saw the tail, and I jumped out of the boat. I accidentally jumped out right on top of the animal so I swam away from it only to be run over by the boat. Luckily the props weren't running so I didn't get chopped up. The whale shark was pretty big but it dove after a few seconds and was gone. Only one other person got a good look at it before it swam away.

The ride back was naptacular and I was able to get some good pictures of the sunset as we returned.

The next weekend some of us went to Lake Assal. Lake Assal is super salty. It's also well below sea level.

On the way to the lake we saw some baboons running around.

Would you like some water with your salt?

It's very easy to float in Lake Assal.

After we finished splashing around we went looking for an extinct volcano that was supposedly nearby. After asking some kids wandering around in the middle of nowhere where it was, we eventually found it on our own. The old volcano is in between Lake Assal and the Gulf of Tadjoura. One of the other guys and I climbed up to the top of it.

The extinct volcano crater. Gulf of Tadjoura in the background.

I found out mid-November I would be heading to Germany to attend a class on Mortuary Affairs. Luckily, I have to friends in the area; one from high school and one from college.