The Red Sea

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After leaving the Wadi Rum, we drove another couple hours to the Red Sea in Aqaba. The best options to visit Aqaba for foriegners is to buy entry into a hotel beach. The public beaches are not too welcoming I've been told. We decided to opt for a longer drive but better snorkling and cheaper prices at a resort area about 30 minutes south of Aqaba called The Royal Society for Diving... or something like that. It was perfect.
We entered for 7 JD each and rented snorkling gear for 5 JD. The beach was very clean with shade and chairs and the resturant very good. The water was crystal clear and blue as the Carribean. The snorkling was just off the beach with a very nice coral reef and many colorful fish. I was pretty much the only one who had done much snorkling in the past so was bombareded by questions as we suited up... "Do my flippers fit?" "How do you put this on?" "What's this for?" ...
The day was amazing with a majority of the time spent in the water. As young girls in bikinis, we felt only slightly uncomfortable and tried to stay with one of our guy friends at all times. It was perfectly safe but just made it feel better. Not a problem!
When we changed later, I took one glance at three of my friends backsides and gasped... they had a very nasty sunburn. Luckily though, I managed with no redness and a nice brown tan. We all climbed back into the bus and headed back tiredly through the night to Amman and our waiting beds.

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Photos

Lunch on the Sea
The crystal clear water behind.

Snorkling
The world famous Red Sea snorkling.