I love the Red Sea! Awesome coral just off shore stretch for kilometres and kilometres, all the way to the Saudi Border (and I guess, beyond, but ye olde Naval Base kind of stops you....).
I wanted to go snorkelling, and somehow ended up diving. Because I've been before, I got to go over 12m, and was down for over 45 minutes (even though I'm not qualified!) but as you can see by that white-knuckle grip on my regulator, I wasn't particularly relaxed for the first 20 minutes. I also had a lot of trouble regulating my bouyancy and the current was quite strong. While Juan was taking these pictures, I floated away and he had to come and rescue me. And, then I panicked and had no air - proud of myself for calming the fark down so very quickly (Shmick - you would be proud too! Chilling the fark out at it's very best!!!) and just getting on with it....
After snorkelling, and then diving, well - I know which one has the better results....
The soft coral was amazingly vibrant....
They sunk this old Jordanian army tank at about 5m deep to create an artificial reef - there were some interesting fish to look at before we headed down into the coral lined New Canyon.
It's bad enough seeing gun-toting tanks dotted all along the Jordanian roads - I got a shock when one appeared under the water.
Aqaba is in a Special Economic Zone (read: No Taxes, Anywhere) - something to do with the fact that it's at the junction of the borders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel (I mean Palestine - long story) - and Jordan. That means that it being the weekend here, the town is full of people visiting here and loading their boots full of tax-free stuff (read: crap. There's nothing to buy in Jordan, I assure you).
Yesterday after my diving experience, I planned to hang around the beach for a while - we were about 12k's out of Aqaba on the South Coast, over halfway to the Saudi border. That plan got kyboshed - I was told I could wear a bikini if I wanted to, but even sitting on the beach fully dressed I got quite sick of being stared at, so I called it and headed back into town.
The night before, I went out with Claire and Lee. The cultural difference is hard to explain - it is by no means dangerous here, I can walk everywhere and for the most part people are very helpful and friendly - but as a single woman, travelling around is challenging to say the least. I put on longish pants and a tshirt to go to the bar, and headed out of the hotel - it being a Thursday night meant that it was the start of the weekend, so there were people EVERYWHERE. I walked a block, and lost my cool very quickly - the 15th guy to say something copped a spray. I then turned around and went back into the hotel. I put on a long sleeve top and a baggy shirt over the top, and jeans that covered my ankles (it is like 35 degrees in this joint), contemplated a headdress but thought that there was no WAY I'd pull it off, and headed back out. People stared slightly less the second time around, and the comments in my direction seemed to be ever so slightly less intimidating, but.... I still got a taxi for the 400m ride - I had had enough.
Lisa's theory is that Arabic men have only seen western women in movies, and in particular porn, so they see people acting that way and think it's what we expect as western women. The guys just stare and stare and stare and then say something inappropriate like "you have a beautiful body" or something similar - I think what they're trying to say isn't meant to sound hideously sleazy, but the language barrier and the fact they've never seen it before means that it comes out all wrong - and it's very, very annoying. I walked here to the cafe this morning, I was the only woman on the street, and I have dressed more than discreetly - and it's just neverending - the gawking, the honking, the comments, cars slowing down and drivers talking to me through the window well I'm just a bit over it. Like I said, it's by no means dangerous, just very different and something that you can't possibly ever prepare for.
Yesterday I tried to find a laundry to get some washing done - women aren't allowed to work in shops here (because they aren't smart enough to deal with tourists, one man told me) - but I happened to walk into a shop to ask for directions that had three women working in it, and not one of them would look at me and help me - let alone talk to me. In all, a culturally educational day.
Taking my laundry to the laundry was interesting - a muslim man going through my smalls and counting my pairs of knickers - I don't know who was more embarrassed, me or him!
So today I'm heading to the private beach at the Royal Dive Centre - the snorkelling out front is meant to be amazing, and I can chill by the pool without being looked at. I have a margarita headache today after a night out with Lee, Claire, and the bad muslims that drink at the local bar, so some time out of this mad crazy place will be great!
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