Glass bottom boat trips and other Aqaba, Jordan Things to Do Tips

My friend and I took a ride on a glass bottom boat during our visit to Aqaba in February 2005.

With little in the way of activity on Aqaba's beach, a boat ride seemed like an ideal way to pass a bit of time.

Things started ominously when I managed to display the worst haggling performance in history - managing, after a lengthy discussion with the boat's owner, to get the price down from 20 Dinars to.....20 Dinars! I thought we were negotiating on a per person basis, so after getting the price down to 10 Dinars - both my friend and I handed over our 10 Dinars....much to the owner's surprise (and delight!).

We got on the boat and were joined by the owner's young son and a few of the owner's friends. The first port of call was to drop his friends off at a boat of their own some way off the Aqaba coast. We then made another unscheduled stop by the pier so that his young son could go and buy him a packet of cigarettes and some chocolate biscuits for us.

Finally the trip got underway. The owner took us out to where a military tank had been sunk off the coast. We circled above the tank for what seemed like ages. We didn't know how the tank had got there and all the owner was able to tell us, in broken English, was "King Hussain....tank....boom", which didn't further our understanding too much! We later found out that the tank has been sunk there deliberately in order for coral to grow on it.

As the bottom of the boat was not particularly clear, the owner instructed his young son to dive into the cold water, swim underneath the boat and clean the window with a cloth. This he duly did, but in all honesty there was not much worth seeing! We just seemed to drift aimlessly along the coast for half an hour with the best views being back to land rather than under the sea!

Considering this is a popular diving resort, the underwater scenery near Aqaba was very disappointing - but the memories of that boat trip will last forever!

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I visited the beach resort of Aqaba in February 2005 as part of a trip to Israel and Jordan. The main reason for doing so was to take in some winter sunshine and maybe spend a bit of time relaxing on a palm fringed beach!

The weather was excellent. My friend and I started our trip in Amman which, at that time of year, was cold and wet. We then progressed southwards to Petra which, due to being at high altitude, was close to freezing (and there was actually snow falling on the roads as we left!). With Aqaba being just a couple of hours' drive south of Petra I didn't hold out much hope for hot weather. However, we arrived in Aqaba on a warm and sunny afternoon, plenty warm enough for shorts and t-shirts!

With the weather being favourable, I was looking forward to hitting the beach....but it was a huge disappointment. The town beach was dirty and litter strewn in many places - not at all what I expected from a reasonably popular diving resort. The sea was fairly clean, but there was nowhere on the beach that looked appealing for a sunbathe.

The beach is backed by a host of shaded cafes, frequented almost exclusively by local men smoking either cigarettes or shisha pipes.

Later in the week, we took a trip to a beach club operated by the hotel that we were staying in. This was located several miles along the coast from Aqaba - a 15-20 minute bus or taxi ride away. The beach here was far cleaner than Aqaba town beach, and was very remote, with no facilities other than the hotel's beachside bar and swimming pool.

If you are considering visiting Aqaba for a winter beach holiday - think twice!! The beaches across the Israeli border at Eilat (just a few miles away) are far cleaner and more suitable for sunbathing and swimming.

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