Children's Beach

Yesterday, our swimming pool was being cleaned so I took the kids to the beach. The Children's Beach is right in front of our apartment with about a couple hundred meter walk each way to get to the free beach. Usually, being the cheapos that my wife and I are, we instead opt to walk the extra distance. I just wasn't in the mood for that on Saturday so we just went to the first gate we saw. I was happy to pay the 15 dirhams ($5) for the two kids and me. It's 10 dirhams for adults and 5 dirhams for kids 5 and over. The woman who charged us didn't seem to care when my daughter very clearly said that she was 5 years old.

Once we were in we spread our beach blanket in the sand next to the water. Unlike last year, there were very clearly marked swimming areas and boating areas. There also seemed to be a lot more amenities than the last time that we were there. When I use the word "amenities," I don't mean to suggest that they were free. Everything from the lounge chairs on the sand to the lounge chairs floating on the water had a price.

I did find it amusing that one guy, either not knowing or not caring that the floating lounge chairs weren't free, lay down on one of them. The lifeguards stood there blowing the whistles to get his attention, but of course he had his eyes closed and wouldn't have known that they were whistling at him to move along. Because none of the lifeguards wanted to actually go into the water and swim out to tell him, nothing ended up happening about it.

The kids and I had a fun time splashing around in the water and digging in the sand. The next time I go, though, I think I'll bring a newspaper and splurge on a 25 dirham lounge chair with sun umbrella.