Snorkeling in the Veil

This is another Dahab story. A week ago, I was snorkeling in the Red Sea at a site just outside of Dahab called the Islands. It is my favourite spot to go snorkeling/diving in the Dahab area, but that is beside the point. Lesley, Freddie, and I walked down to this spot together. It is normally a semi deserted area, with maybe one or two groups of divers and a few snorkelers. But that day was a national Egyptian holiday and so Dahab and everywhere around it was particularly busy. As we were putting on our sunscreen, a lady walked up. She was an entirely covered woman. I don't remember if she was wearing gloves, but she had on the full length, black, ghost-of-Christmas-yet-to-come gown. Her clothes left only two slits open for her eyes, but she was wearing sunglasses so I couldn't even see them. I was quite startled when she spoke to her children in a heavy Southern accent. I would have spoken to her, but she was upset with her children and sounded hot and tired and not in the mood for a chat. I wanted to know how she came to be here, how long had she been muslim, where was she from exactly, did she miss home, etc. But I left it and went snorkeling with my friends. The coral was beautiful (of course) and I could have stayed out there forever were it not for the loss of body heat and the herd of jellyfish I had stumbled upon. So we all came back to shore. We set our towels up on the beach to lay out, dry off and warm up. As we were getting settled on shore, the Southern covered lady and her covered friend were getting in the water in full costume (veils, gown, shoes and all). Not only were these ladies going in for a swim and a much needed cool down, they were going snorkeling. It took them at least 20 minutes to get their snorkels situated on the heads without removing the veil and revealing their faces. I was happy for them, that they didn't let their modesty codes keep them from having a good time. But I must admit that I stared in wonder at the whole process, fought of snickering about them and thanked God that I was not a veiled woman.