The next morning we hired a car and along with our German friends we drove out of the mountains from Petra down through the desert to the town of Aquaba. Located on the northern tip of the Red Sea, Aqaba is Jordan's only resort town and is known for its diving and snorkeling. Its location is odd as there are four countries that share the northern coast of the Red Sea there and you have the cities of Eliat (Israel), Taba (Egypt), and Haqi (Saudi Arabia) just a stones throw away.
We found the fantastic Al-Amer Hotel which had terrific sea view rooms, hot showers and a balcony where we could sit out and enjoy the cool evenings. For the next couple of days I got over my lingering food poisoning/sickness and we relaxed, strolled around the markets and prepared for our upcoming cross into Egypt. The city was quiet, laid back, had beautiful weather and as it was a tax-free zone was inexpensive. It was just what we needed to recoup and recharge.
After resting a couple of days we went snorkeling with a local dive company to a couple of spots down by the Saudi border. The water was clear and the condition of the coral was outstanding, some of the best I have ever seen. But we were impressed by the fact that there were fewer fish there than we had seen in other locations. Maybe they were fishing there a lot. In the evenings we would climb on the roof with our German friends and enjoy a beer while looking out over the city.
But all good things must come to an end and Egypt was beckening us. So we bought ferry tickets and the next day we took the morning ferry to Egypt.
Steve
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