Aqaba, Jordan
October 30, 2022
Aqaba is the Port city of Jordan. If you arrive by ship to Jordan, this is the cruise ship port. The most popular tours in Jordan are; overnite at Wadi Rum, Petra, and the Dead Sea. When we were here in 2019, we did these three. I have kept in contact with our guide, Morad, over the years and he is going to take care of us today.
More customs silliness today. Usually, the ship staff takes all of the passports to customs to get them stamped. Port authorities now want to have a “face to face” with each passenger. This means that the ship has to have passengers pick up their passports and take them with them to the port. Everyone, regardless of whether they are leaving the ship for a tour, has to be off the boat by 10 am. Morad called me earlier in the morning and said that Hasan was going to pick us up at 10. We left the ship, went to the customs tent where a HAL staff member collected our passports. No port authority looked at my passport and it was never opened. More “no binoculars” calls out to passengers. I guess the King is worried that you may see him on his luxury yacht. Just a guess.
Our cruise director told us that in order to return to the port, we had to take the shuttle bus. No private drivers allowed. We made a note of that but Hasan said he can take us by car. We met with Hasan and he took us to a glass bottom boat to do some more snorkeling. Our pilot was Captain Morain. We went out for a 3 hour tour. Why does that make me think of something? The Captain had a fishing line with a lure attached. He let it out as we traveled. It looked like the string you get at home depot when you tie lumber to the roof of your car. Twenty minutes into the trip he had a large tuna. Perfect for his dinner. The boat was slow moving but we were able to see interesting things that were out in the ocean for divers. A huge Iranian airliner. A German tank, ships of various kinds. Fascinating to see.
About an hour in to our tour, we stopped at a reef for some snorkeling. Just the two of us, no hoards of people. Spectacular views. The water was extremely clear. I kept asking the Captain how deep the water was before I jumped in because it looked so shallow. 300 meters, 400 meters, were his responses. My head never even went under water when I jumped in.
We did three different areas and then headed back to the dock. Hasan was there to pick us up and he took us back to the ship. No problem getting into the port. He yelled a few Arabic words at the Port Police and away we went. We had a quick lunch in the Lido and then took the shuttle back into town. We needed to get some items from the pharmacy. One thing we failed to consider was protection from Malaria. We purchased Hydroxychloroquine over the counter from the pharmacy.
We hopped on the shuttle again and went back to the ship. Hasan was going to take us to a restaurant for traditional Jordanian food. He arrived at the ship at 5:30 and was talking with police. We started to get into his car and then he said you are going to have to go in this van and I will meet you outside the port. ??? The new driver was stopped at the port gate where he argued for almost 30 minutes. Something about having permission……
The restaurant was simple and full of patrons. The food was great. Lamb, rice, and something called Mansaf which we used as a gravy. Delicious. As you can see, street animals like it too.
As Hasan approached the port gate, the police were there and he said he would have to take us to where the shuttle bus pick up is. We went and waited. One of the pictures shows a gypsy boy trying to sell me water. He didn’t like no.
15 minutes went by and no shuttle. Hasan said we would try the port again. This time, no police and it was a breeze.
Tomorrow we have a teetime for golf at 9am. Hasan will take us.
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