The Shores of Tripoli

There's lots of ocean (sea) front property in Libya, and there's certainly plenty of sand. It stands to reason that the beach would be a logical place to go on the weekends. My hotel is actually only about 3oo yards from a "beach". I affectionately refer to that portion of the beach as Tripoli's Wastewater Treatment Plant. Water treatment hasn't been very high up on the list of priorities over here for the last 30 years until recently. With that in mind, we drive about 45 minutes west outside of town to Janzure Beach.

Janzure is an expat beach in a private resort area with some condos. It's where a lot of the oil guys stay. The beach is all white sand and clear blue water. I've spent two of my weekends down there. We play football, or throw a baseball around. Since it's an expat beach, none of the local customs on swimsuits apply. This is particularly nice since there is a group of Portuguese stewardesses that for some reason have to call Tripoli home. It is a welcome change from the ninjas, and certainly makes it worth the 2 dinars to get in.

There's not a lot of wave action in the Mediterranean so your water sports options are limited to swimming and floating. We've seen a few wind surfers sail by, but we haven't managed to find where the rental place is yet. It's somewhere further down the beach. They offer scuba classes here though, so I'll probably get my certification some time in the next few weeks. Really the only things we're lacking is bad mexican beer and some limes.

I made a friend at the beach. He's a Libyan who apparently lived in Houston for a little while. He soaked up a little Texas culture, but is apparently still a little confused on some of the nuances. I don't think that this hat/shirt combination is allowed.