Diving's Weekend in Aqaba, August 2008

(a short summary from Hebrew)


My first diving vacation after returning from the Maldives. Though it was just a weekend it felt like a great getaway. At last, 14 years after the peace treaty with Jordan was signed, I found the opportunity to visit our neighbor from the east. After watching Aqaba from Eilat for the past several years, I crossed the border to the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Me and the rest my diving family stayed at the Coral Bay Hotel, south of Aqaba city and used the in-house Royal Diving Centre. The hotes is simple, yet quite good for a diver's basic needs, plus.
The jetty at the Coral Bay Hotel's private beach The jetty at the Coral Bay Hotel's private beach

The diving centre at the hotel was very good with good service. The staff was great. We had two guided dives per day, altogether six dives. We could use some more time in Aqaba to explore the rest of the diving sites. The diving sites were all fun to dive in with lots of macro life. Apart than that, the underwater scenery was unlike what we thought it would be, very different than Eilat's. The downside of this trip was that my u/w camera didn't wotk well and I got some crapy shots..
The dive sites map of Aqaba
The dive sites map of Aqaba

Coral Garden | 36 min | 22.6 m | avg 13.7 m | temp 28° | ***

Entry point from the local jetty. A very nice dive with beautiful macro creatures like pipe fish and a sea horse and nice fish such as crocodile fish and various species of box fish, some small coral heads and some patches of sea grass.
A some what decent picture from the Coral Garden site
A some what decent picture from the Coral Garden site

Saudi Border | 40 min | 30.5 m | avg 12.5 m | temp 28° | ***
An OK wall diving, not as impressive as in Sinai. The visibility was relatively poor maybe due to the phosphate port near by. Some large coral heads, no fish at all. At the bottom of the wall there were big and dense lettuce coral formations.
The reef on the way to the wall of the Saudi Border
The reef on the way to the wall of the Saudi Border

Cedar Pride | 35min | 19.5 m | avg 10.1 m | temp 28° | ***
One of the nicest dives in Aqaba. A wreck of a cargo ship that caught up in fire and later was sunken as an artificial reef. Seeing her being revealed from the blue is a superb sight.
The anchor hole of the Cedar Pride
The anchor hole of the Cedar Pride

New Canyon + Tank | 43 min | 20.7 m | avg 10.1 m | temp 28° | ***
A very good dive, large formations of corals all over the reef from the depth of 10 meters to 20+ meters. A nice sight when crossing the canyon from above towards the tank, an idle place to have the safety stop at around 6 meters.
The Tank
The Tank

Cedar Pride+Japanese Garden | 41 min | 18.6 m | avg 11 m | temp 28° | ***
The 2nd dive at Cedar Pride, beautiful as always and after, northbound to the Japanese Gardens which was somewhat disappointing, none the less a nice dive.
The Cedar Pride for the 2nd time
The Cedar Pride for the 2nd time

Aquarium | 37 m | 18.3 m | avg 10.1 m ' | temp 28° | **
Again, entering from the jetty, this time to the north side. Less beautiful than the Coral Garden from the south side of the jetty. We spotted a frog fish on the way back.
Aquarium
Aquarium



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