A slight sleep in was granted before we headed off on the next leg of our adventure. The mist was so thick the bus driver could barely see more than a meter in front of him, and Ayman said "now we are all driving the bus" since all eyes were anxiously on the road. We were supposed to stop at the top to see the gorge but with the mist there was no point. We were just so glad we managed to see Petra before this weather came in.
On the way we passed wadi rum and admired the beautiful desert scenery. The weather started to seriously improve. In total it took us two hours to reach Aqaba, entering the special economic zone, where items are sold tax free. Some Jordanians try to take goods out of Aqaba to sell elsewhere but they are not allowed and there are checkpoints to prevent this. As we drove in, we saw more and more palm trees, sandy coloured mountains and eventually the beautiful (blue) Red Sea. Eilat in Israel is directly opposite Aqaba, and the two towns face each other, both large, modern and gleaming white.
We were pretty impressed with the town - it was clean, modern and had a nice atmosphere. It felt like a typical seaside town, with a Jordanian influence... We checked into the Al Ra'ad hotel on the main hotel street, and were pleased with the large nicely furnished rooms and lovely lobby. After much debate, we had decided to go with the G Aventures boat trip, after Ayman assured us we would be best diving with them and that they would take us to good dive sites. The bus drove us through town to the jetty where our boat the "Blue Wave" was waiting for us.
We hopped on the spacious boat and met our dive master Khaled. We asked if we could do two dives, and if we could visit the "Cedar Pride" wreck and the Japanese garden, two of the best dives sites in this part of the world. He seemed a bit surprised that we wanted to do two dives but said he would make a plan... The plan, it turned out, was that we would do both dives on a single tank. He said the reason was that he didn't want us to pay twice. But the actual reason was that they only had 1 tank for each of us! He told us countless times to relax and try not to be oxygen thieves. He also promised us he had a surprise for us, and we may or may not like the surprise...
The boat headed off in semi sunshine and we checked out large container ships waiting for one of the most important ports in the region, and tourist resorts with lovely beaches. We reached our destination, kitted up and hopped into the water, it was about 23 degrees and we were wearing shorty wetsuits...
We started at the Japanese garden, initially the corals weren't that impressive but they really improved and we soon saw a huge Napoleon wrasse, which Khaled was pretty excited about. The fish life was good and the water very clear. We continued on, trying to conserve our air, and soon reached the wreck. It was once a cargo ship, which caught fire just outside the port of Aqaba. Two of the crew lost their lives but the ship remained afloat, despite a lot of damage. The burned ship remained a floating hulk in the port for three years, no one was willing to take responsibility for her mooring and harbour fees. The king of Jordan, a keen diver himself, decided to sink her, to make a premium dive site right outside Jordan's only seaside town. It was sunk in 1985 so now has thirty years of coral growth and has started to become a part of the reef.
We started on the bottom of the wreck, and swam around her engine. The top side was in great condition and it was fascinating to see all of the elements, with the fish and coral life totally integrated. Khaled headed inside the ship, and called us to him. He took our hands to lead us upwards. Suddenly we found our heads breaching the surface, Khaled took out his regs and spoke to us, saying "do you like my surprise?". We were very surprised to be breathing air and talking to each other 17 meters under water! It was awesome but the air was super stale so we put our regs back in quickly!
We swam further around, staying a bit shallower to conserve air, and saw many more amazing sights, the highlight being a number of tiny ghost pipefish - they were almost translucent, and seemed to appear and disappear from view. We also saw partner shrimp, clownfish, trumpet fish, lion fish, porcupine fish and an octopus. Khaled grabbed something off the ocean floor and then set it free. It was a type of jellyfish and it moved gently away from us.
About half way through the dive, we started to feel very cold. We finished back in the Japanese garden reef and then surfaced at the boat. Our friends on the boat later told us when they saw bubbles and movement they thought something exciting was under the water, and were very disappointed when it was just us! We tried to get dry and warm, but still felt chilled to the bone. The sun was unfortunately hiding behind the clouds. We were back just in time for a lunch of BBQed chicken, BBQed Vienna sausages (??), potato and veg bake, pita, hummus (of course!) and salad.
We tried to get some sun, and eventually started heading back to Aqaba. On the way, the crew got very excited when one of their fishing lines got a good bite. They started reeling it in, the one crew member helping by hand, and eventually pulled in a beautiful large electric blue tuna. They were very chuffed with their catch!
Back at the port, we went back to the hotel for some free time and made sure to sample what was supposedly the best coffee in Aqaba at Wisalak cafe. We both had headaches from the dive, probably from a build up of carbon dioxide, so we decided not to join the group for dinner. We checked tripadvisor for the #1 restaurant in Aqaba, and it sounded like a good option so off we went to Al-Shami.
It was a short walk from the hotel, and we found the sign downstairs, a guy led us to the upstairs part of the restaurant, we hoped we were in the right place but soon found out we were. It was a simple place, with plastic chairs and an outside balcony overlooking the sea. I couldn't believe we were able to comfortably sit outside when the rest of the time we had been freezing cold. The view over the twinkling lights of Eilat was nice.
We ordered what the waiter recommended in his broken English: grilled fish. Couldn't get out of him what type of fish it would be though. He also convinced us to order a salad. Then he brought us a whole bunch of appetizers: hummus, baba ganoush and other dips, pickles and bread, and our salad which seemed to be spinach leaves, tomatoes, onions and an interesting red spice. Then the fish came, and we were not disappointed at all! It was a huge plate with grilled spiced fish, rice, chips, tomatoes, and rocket. The tomatoey spice on the fish was delicious, and just slightly charred/caramelised around the edges. The fish was super moist and yummy, and I couldn't even finish it all. We washed it all down with lemon and mint drink, one of our absolute favorites from this trip.
We asked for the bill but the waiter insisted on bringing us complimentary Turkish coffee, which was also delicious. As we left the restaurant a woman in full burka approached us out of nowhere and uttered something incomprehensible and held out her hand for a donation, we were taken aback but decided to feign ignorance and moved away. We named her the burka beggar. After that we had a walk around the city, enjoyed not getting hassled at all, and then headed back to the hotel.
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