Aqaba

I've never snorkled in Coral Reefs as beautiful as those in Aqaba. We collapsed in our hotels and woke to one of the hottest days we've experienced in Jordan. The temps were well above 35 C by 9am, so you knew it'd be a scorcher. We all decided to find a glass bottom boat and spend the morning on the water, but we really lucked out when a young man approached us and asked if we wanted a boat. He had a friend, he said, and for 50 JD he would take us all out for 2 hours. Well, it turns out his friend is a snorkling fan and knew right where all the great snorkling was. His boat, like all the others pulled up on shore, is a flat bottomed boat with a glass window in the bottom. Bench seats with cushions range along either side, and the whole is covered by a tassled bedecked canopy, necessary in the scorching sun. I've never experienced such fantastic snorkling or seen such incredible fish in my life. It was so beautiful. I even saw two lion fish, which I've never seen outside an aquarium. As he took us out, he hugged the coast line, slowly cruising over coral reefs so close to the surface that you could easily see the fish, even if you didn't want to get in the water. Unlike the Dead Sea, though the water was salt, it wasn't excessively salty and it was a lovely temperature; refreshing, not bathwater hot! He dropped anchor and snorkled with us, another indicator to me of a good guide. We stayed sensibly close to the boat, but there were no real restrictions about where to snorkle, you just used your own good sense and he trusted that you knew what you were doing. Finally I dragged myself back in to the boat; our time was running out. We made it back in the alloted time, and tipped our captain handsomely for a fantastic morning of diving. After a shower at the hotel, we headed home to King's Academy. I thought our day was at an end, but the finale was yet to come. Our contact person here, who made arrangements for our trips to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba, invited us to his olive farm outside of Madaba. Basil, and his wife Viola, are travel agents first, and farmers second, but you would never know that based on the quality of their oil and other produce! We stopped at his beautiful villa, set in the hills outside of Madaba, and ate fresh figs and grapes as we watched the sun set from his charming grape covered arbor. Viola served us tea and delightful homemade cookies and sweets. We were all prepared to move in and take up permanent residence! No one needed dinner after that, and we were all tired, so we headed to our dorm rooms and I, for one, slept dreamlessly!