Day 163 - Aqaba - Snorkling in South Beach

December 20, 2018

Thursday, December 13, 2018.

Today we got up at 8:00am and I immediately called my book club friends. They had texted me last night and we decided to do a video chat. I cried when I saw them. I didn't realize how much I missed them, plus it is almost Christmas and it doesn't feel like it at all. We talked for 20 minutes before we lost the internet connection. After that, we had breakfast in our living room because apparently, people don't eat in a dining room here. Uncomfortable if you ask me, but we manage, plus we are in a much nicer place.

Today we took a taxi to South Beach which is one of the best places in the world to snorkel and scuba dive. When we got there and stepped out of the taxi, we were hit by a strong, cold wind! [Gregory's note: The taxi left us and said he would be back at 3:30 to pick us up. No money changed hands. I thought, wow, this guy really trusts us! Well, he knows where we're staying, since he's a "friend" of Assem, the hotel clerk.]

Sunshine and I went to find snorkeling masks to rent while Gregory and Daniel walked to the beach to get a good spot. When we arrived at the beach I asked Sunshine, "where are they?" She pointed out Daniel, but I didn't see Gregory with him. Then, I spotted him surrounded by policemen. I was freaking out when I approached, but he came walking over to us with a big smile. I asked him what happened and he told me that a man wanted to charge for the lounge chairs so he went to ask the police if they could do that since it was a public beach. The guy hawking chairs said that the chairs were supplied by a hotel a quarter mile up the beach, so he was charging for them, but we could stay as long as we didn't use the lounge chairs. Oh well. Sadly the beach was pretty dirty, covered in cigarette butts, bottle tops, and even glass!

It was very cold and still extremely windy, but Sunshine and I decided to jump into the water right away. At first, we were in the roped off swimming area because we thought we couldn't go beyond the rope.

Well, apparently you can cross, all the other divers (we saw some others) were beyond the rope, near the coral reef, and no wonder! Oh my gosh, I was so excited, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was just amazing! I loved it so much. I discovered my new passion! We saw all sorts of colorful, tropical fish! Sunshine and I swam for about 45 minutes. The strong wind caused the current to push us far past our spot on the beach.

After being in the water for some time, we started to get too cold and decided to get out. Of course, we were even colder getting out, the wind was freezing! After we had dried a little we had our lunch of pita sandwiches, and they turned out to be real "sand"wiches with all the wind blowing.

We moved down the beach after a while, behind a building to protect us from the wind. Sunshine kept telling the boys that they had to go and see the amazing fish. The boys were hesitant, well, mostly Gregory was. I was going to take Daniel in but I was finally dry and warm so I was hesitant as well. Finally, they did go in and they loved it. We dried off, walked up the street to return the masks and had tea at the Bedouin Moon Village Hotel.

Minutes later, our taxi driver was there for us. He was so friendly. When we made it back to the city, he drove us around, showing us the nice hotel area and even where he lived. He also stopped to get tea and coffee for us. I thought he was working hard to get a nice tip, but when Gregory tried to tip him at the end, he would not accept it. Very nice people, we keep hearing such bad things about Muslims and Arabs when in reality they have been nothing but kind. [Gregory's note: as long as you pay them.]

We finally made it home where I took a long, hot shower and caught up with the blog. I apologize to my loyal readers for not keeping up. I get behind and the posts have to go through customs, meaning I have Gregory proofread them and all that takes time.

We went out for dinner to a place called Rakwet Kanaan which was near our hotel. The food was good, but the ambiance was what made the place so fun. There was live traditional music and lots of groups of Muslim women singing and clapping. The women and the men were all were smoking shisha, which doesn't smell as bad as cigarettes do. When the kids finished dinner, the walked back home. Gregory and I stayed longer and enjoyed ourselves with the music and people watching.

Afterward, we walked around the bustling street by the hotels. We found a small arts & crafts fair and were wondering why it was there. We asked some guys we bought a Nutella crepe from and they explained that on Thursdays and Fridays people put up stands to sell whatever they can to make some money. We brought back a Nutella crepe for the kids at 10:30pm. What kind of parents are we?

We went to bed late but it doesn't matter because we are not doing anything tomorrow!