Aqaba, Jordan trip report

Travel to Jordan. It’s easy enough to get international flights in and out of Amman, Jordan. From there, rent a car, take a bus, or hire a taxi to Aqaba. Expect the trip from Amman to Aqaba to take 4-6 hours. We actually drove across from Eilat, Israel and the border crossing was fairly painless.

The Hotel and Divecenter. We dived with SeaStar and stayed at their affiliated hotel, The Alcazar. The hotel is rated at 3 stars and you can choose your rooms graded as A (best), B, C, D (worst). We stayed in a “C” room and were generally satisfied – small balcony, small fridge, breakfast included – with the exception of incredibly soft mattress/boxspring. Generally 2 dives a day (1030ish and 1400ish) were offered and you can inquire about night diving. Every morning at 0850, divers would meet on the bottom floor of the hotel where Seastar has a dive briefing area. Briefings for both of the days dives would be given and then it was off, by bus, to the actual dive center/club, a few kilometers south of Aqaba. At the dive club you would throw all your kit into a crate and load it on a truck and then get back on the bus to the actual dive site. You can “kick it” at the club between dives, get yourself a bite to eat and at the end of the day, buy yourself a beer and watch the sunset over the hills of Egypt – not too shabby!

The Diving. All diving in Jordan is shore diving, so you get off the bus, kit up, and get in the water. There was some slight surface swell and we experienced current on only one dive-nothing you couldn’t fin against. Visibility was generally outstanding (25+meters/85+feet); water temps were 21-22C (70-72F). Surface temps, during the day were around 25C (77F) with stiff breezes making it feel colder. Unlike in Israel, you can’t just take a tank and go diving; you must be accompanied by a dive guide. This generally worked ok for us, we would generally hang in the back and “bring up the rear”, except on our last dive, there seemed to be quite a few dive guides in the water and they were actually directing traffic (this way ‘round the pinnacle, don’t dawdle, keep it moving, etc.). The rest of our dives we experienced none of that so we are willing to put it down as an aberration.

The Dive Sites: We did six dives

The Cedar Pride: Intentionally sunk for diving, this is a great dive. Big Barracuda, lionfish, nudibranchs,

The “Tank”: A Russian tank placed in 6 m (20feet) of water for divers and snorkelers. Some divers seemed to be over weighted and couldn’t stay off the sandy bottom around the tank, decreasing viz dramatically and all but ruining photo ops. Nice dive before you get to the tank too. Pipefish, lionfish, stonefish, white moray eels.

Saudi Border: Really nice wall, coral in excellent shape here. Lots of pipefish in the shallows, Big Napoleon wrasse. Big grouper, solitary tuna. We reached our max depth (30m/100ft) on this trip on this dive.

House Reef: Surprisingly good dive, right in front of the dive club. Flounders, lots of lionfish, big trumpet fish, stonefish, nudibranchs, banded shrimp

Kiwi Reef: One of our favorites. Patchy reef with lots of life. Lots of lionfish, in groups of 3 or more. Nudibranchs, tiny translucent shrimp, little blue spotted eel, stone fish.

Gorgonian I: Our last, and least favorite dive – lots of dive guides in the water, coral was not in good shape. Three big pinnacles and a Gorgonian.

Conclusion: We were diving in Jordan two years ago and not too much has changed – and that’s a good thing. It’s really a laid back kind of diving – easy shore entry and exits, no extreme currents to deal with, etc. We like the diving much better than diving in Eilat and if the dives aren’t as dramatic as Dahab, Egypt – there’s no equivalent of Bells or The Canyon – the coral seems to be in better shape and there are more fish. We would dive with SeaStar again and we’d stay at the Alcazar again. There’s lot’s to see and do in Jordan besides diving – we went to Petra and had a blast. Last time we camped in the desert at Wadi Rum. Jordanians are very nice and Jordan is an easy country to get around in. Things are generally fairly cheap –cheaper than Israel, Western Europe, or the States- a little more expensive than Dahab, Egypt.

Nice report and photos. Thanks for posting.
Jordan is on my 2007 travel itinerary but I had not thought of diving there. Do you know wether the diving is seasonal or operates pretty much all year around?
Alison

The dive center/hotel mentioned operate all year round and I, too, recommend it, though the weather when we were there in January was cold...brr..

alijtaylor:

Nice report and photos. Thanks for posting.
Jordan is on my 2007 travel itinerary but I had not thought of diving there. Do you know wether the diving is seasonal or operates pretty much all year around?
Alison

Click to expand...

If you are planning to come to Jordan, bring your dive gear! As Ian mentioned, they dive year round, temps might be a little chillier than some might think. Expect water temps of 20 - 28C, depending on time of year. You only need two or three days to get "the best of Aqaba" diving. You can also easily travel to Dahab, Egypt from Aqaba, Jordan. Theres a ferry that goes directly to Nuieweba (spelling) or you can take a taxi to the border with Israel, walk across the border, take a taxi to the border with egypt, walk across the border, take a taxi to Dahab - the whole trip - Aqaba to Dahab will take you (including border crossings, negotiating with taxi drivers, and actual drive time) about 4 hours.

Just be careful about getting an Israeli stamp in your passport if you're planning on visiting other countries in the middle-east. Some of the countries won't give you an entry visa if you have been to Israel.
Sometimes they solve the problem by stamping a seperate sheet that you have to keep in your passport and then throw away when you have left Israel.
Air Arabia flies from Aqaba to Sharm el Sheik and I think the ticket is about $US40 single trip which might be a better option than going through Israel.

Pretty sure it is only Syria that won't let you in even with a visa if you have an Israelie stamp in your passport - and vice versa.
Also from what I have read (before planning my Middle East Tour 21 days and counting) Egypt will stamp your book with the border location - so you are blown.
I am going snorkeling in Aqaba - I may try and squeeze in a dive... I am not lugging my dive gear for 6 weeks for nadda!