Snorkeling in the Red Sea

As we drove south through the desert, visibility just got worse.  It was the first day in Jordan in which the sky hadn’t been impossibly blue and clear, but it wasn’t cloud cover that marred our views:  it was dust.  Something in the wind patterns was causing the dust to rise and swirl around, blocking our views of the lovely surroundings we drove through.  As we approached the highway turnoff for Wadi Rum, I decided to call an audible.

Our plan had been to head into the desert of Wadi Rum for the day and another evening of camping.  But with the limited visibility it seemed like we would miss out on most of the benefits of visiting the desert.  So we just kept driving south to Aqaba, Jordan’s city on the Red Sea.  We traded a day in the desert for a day at the beach snorkeling amidst the colorful coral and fish of the Red Sea.

Red in name only, the Red Sea is actually a nearly fluorescent turquoise color.  Set against the harsh desert coastline, it’s rather striking.  Below the surface the water is teeming with life – the area is well known for its large coral reef and diverse fish population.  The water is some of the most saline in the world (not as much as the Dead Sea, of course, but apparently it is much higher than the majority of the world’s oceans.)  When we’d had enough of the rather salty ocean, there was a fresh water pool to dip in.  Not bad for our Plan B for the day.

Despite our usual aversion to beaches, the underwater life was a nice break from desert views and a lovely way to wait out the dust storms.  Our visit to Aqaba served as more evidence that Jordan has it all – ancient ruins, deserts, beaches, amazing food and the friendliest people we’ve met anywhere in the world (more on that later.)  By the next day, visibility had returned to normal and we skipped back out of Aqaba and into the desert once more.