Marhaba from Amman!: Aqaba

So we've moved from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. We drove 4 1/2 hours to Aqaba and it was SO hot there. It was awful. But grand at the same time. We had lunch and then went to this dive shop before heading to the beach. To scuba dive. So. Cool.

So we went in two groups. I was in the second group so had to wait a little bit. Scuba diving is not easy. Well it is once you get the hang of it. And of course, as I am, I had a panic attack in the water and couldn't breath and had to hang out at the surface forever. I thought about swimming back and not doing it. But then I decided I needed to suck it up because I was going to do this. One of the two guys helping us had to come help me, obviously. The problem was that I was taking too short of breaths, making it feel like i wasn't getting enough oxygen. And its really weird to be breathing under water. It's so unnatural and you have to think about breathing which is odd too. I finally figured it out and the guy held my hand for half the time under water.

So first off, the tanks are REALLY heavy and mine was like crooked so I was swimming slanted the whole time. But that was fine. And my goggles kept filling up with water and that sucked so I had to keep clearing them. The pressure on my ears wasn't fun, but it was only really bad one time. And I survived the fish. I didn't even freak out being so close to them which is really awesome. The coral was really cool too. It was just so weird to be under water like that, but also one of the best things I have ever done. It was a great experience. We saw lion fish, Nemo (clown fish), angel fish, Dory (the blue whatever they're called), puffer fish, and a bunch of small fish everywhere. It was only about thirty minutes in the water and I'd totally go again, now that I understand how breathing under the water works.

After that we went home and showered and then we all went out to dinner. Our director took us to this great seafood place and i was ecstatic. I'm glad to not be living off hummus and filaffel. I got a fish (yes and in Middle East, like Greece, it has the head and everything) and my roommate god shrimp and we split it. It was so tasty, the fish was awesome! It was tender and so delicious. not as good as the fish I had in Greece, but it's probably second best.

When we went back to our room we hung out for a little longer.

The next day (day 2 in Aqaba) we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then once again got in our suits and went to the beach. We got on a glass bottom boat and got to see the coral reefs again. There were eel everywhere on the bottom sticking up from the ground. It was weird, but cool. We jumped off the boat and snorkeled for a bit. I don't know why, but the fish freaked me out more when I was snorkeling than when I was scuba diving. Who would have thought? Ridiculous. And then after twenty minutes of that we got into the boat again. We drove over a sunken ship. It was a huge ship. And when I say huge, I mean tremendously large and really sketchy looking. And we snorkeled over it. We got in the water and SNORKELED OVER THE SUNKEN SHIP! It was so freaky. Not even funny, I couldn't handle it. I just hung out by the boat and swam around in the water. I looked at the boat for a while but it was still really freaking. It was probably only like 20 feet below us too. Ahhh.
ALSO where we were at in the water we could see four different countries. It was so wonderful. So obviously, we could see Jordan. Duh. But we could also see Israel/Palestine, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It was so amazing. I mean obviously I couldn't just be like oh that's Egypt but they showed us and I thought that was really interesting. So I feel like a part of me has been in each of those places since the Red Sea touches them and I was in it so. I mean its my cool way of looking at it.

And then we went back to our room and showered and then like had lunch and came home. Sorry this isn't super detailed, but I'm pooped. It was so tiring.

So I'll leave it at that.

xoxoxo

On the way to Aqaba