11/1/2022 0 Comments Red sea snorkelingWith our time in Aqaba, Brittany, Joseph and I went on a boat trip in the Red Sea for a snorkeling adventure! The boat tour was set for a 4 hour tour, with two stops for snorkeling, and lunch on the boat. On the boat with us was a large European tour group with a few Americans, of mostly older people. At one point in the Red Sea, on one side was Jordan, one side was Israel, further down was Egypt and even further we could see Saudi Arabia! The boat had an enclosed bottom deck with glass to see into the water, and an open top deck. We started on the top deck and had an incredible view of the water. Unfortunately starting from the beginning, one of the old men on the boat kept looking me up and down very creepily, and I was in my freaking one piece with clothing on. It was so disturbing because his wife was literally between us and he just kept looking me over. I came very close to saying something, but I was worried it would make things awkward for the next 4 hours, so I just turned around and talked with Brittany, who also noticed him staring at me and the other women. **Isn't it sad that in society it's worse if we point out men making us uncomfortable because it will make bigger things awkward and that it's just that we should accept his creepiness :(((
ANYWAY, we enjoyed the boat ride amongst ourselves as we traveled down the Red Sea for about an hour and a half, until we went downstairs and got to see as we started going over the coral reefs. There was also a plane that had been sunk, on purpose!, by the King for scuba divers/snorkeling. There was also a little fish and coral community that was set up with these like rock homes they put in to promote the growth of the coral reefs and for the fish to live. It was so cool to see! We then stopped the boat and everyone got ready to go snorkeling. We were towards the middle of the line getting into the water. When after 4 of the older people got in the water, they started complaining that the SALT WATER sea was 'too salty' and ew it was getting in their mouths and that the water was too choppy (it wasn't). So instead of just pulling them out of the water, they took all of them out and had us move to another spot, which took about an extra 40 minutes, ugh, which was also farther from where the big coral reefs had been and meant we would only get to snorkel in one spot. Once they found the new spot, Brittany, Joseph and I all ran down and made sure we were first in line because we were getting in that water!!!! They had a few tour guides for the snorkeling portion of the trip, so one of them took the three of us out alone and we had the most incredible time! We left the others and went over to where the plane was and it was sooo cool!! Like there was a freaking plane below us! We then went across to another side of the water under this big dock, which did make me nervous because I know sharks like those areas, but there were no sharks and just beautiful coral! At one point there were scuba divers below us. We swam around and through major groups of fish and just watched them as they swam around. Everything was beautiful and just breathtaking. Towards the end our guide challenged us to a swim race, and oh man I was so close to beating him but I didn't know when to stop so as I started getting a little tired he pushed forward and then said it was over haha. But it was fun and it felt really good that I was swimming like that. Joseph said he looked up at one point and saw the guide and I had smoked him haha. We headed back to the boat where the other group was all already out and eating lunch, it turned out we had been in the water for about an hour! But it was so incredible and worth it since we only got to snorkel in one spot. We washed off and enjoyed a basic lunch of rice, chicken and hummus, that was very satisfying after a ton of exercise. After lunch we made the trek back to the dock, and the tour ended up lasting about 5 hours. There were a lot of ups and downs, especially with how rudely the European group had been treating our guides and us, but we just made it the best we could amongst us and had our own fun with the guides. Later at night we went out and hung out on the beach for awhile with Jona. Then we got clean and pretty, and went to this pretty area right off the area that had a bunch of little shops and restaurants, very Beaufort feeling for my NC people! I tried the local Pinot Grigio, pretty good, and a salmon fettuccini. Joseph and Jona tried camel burgers, which we were like ahh we're riding them in two days, but it's the local meat from the area. Afterwards we went and grabbed some ice cream and just enjoyed the night. It was a really great day and way to spend time in Aqaba!
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