Just completed my week of diving at Aqaba using Dive Aqaba for the second time, I had already been here in February earlier this year.
Water temperatures were a bit warmer at 26C, but a northerly breeze most days was slightly chilling, so it was important to get out of the wet gear as soon as possible and into the dry area for a hot drink.
Visability during the week ranged from a poor 15M up to 50M on one day where the water was totally flat, awesome diving in that viz and you need to be careful as it is easy to descend deeper than you plan. Dive Aqaba supplied Nitrox for myself and my two buddies Christian and Veronika, and our mix request of 32% was fulfilled with the occasional days at 31 or 33%, all tanks were the same
The dive boat, Laila 1, was quite busy with between 15-20 divers and on the first couple of days we were one of three groups. The main group consisted of 12 divers from Scuba Diving for All (SDA) plus two disabled divers (Down's Syndrome), as well as another small group of divers from the UK. Occasionally there were some "day trippers" and discover scuba divers.
Kit and tanks are loaded on to a truck and taken to the Royal Yacht Club where Laila 1 is moored, then unloaded onto the boat. The walk from the dive centre to the boat is no more than 10 minutes.
Food on board is typical Arabic style and you can expect at least three different carbohydrates (Rice, potato and bread) as well humous, salad, chicken and lamb. Never left the boat hungry.
The diving in this area although with a limited coastline has some awesome dive sites, including a few wrecks, some of them quite deep, and Dive Aqaba are a Tek centre also.
Reef life is very interesting, lots of small stuff including sea moths, Red Sea Walkman, frogfish, shoals of Anthias adorn most larger coral outcrops, however not much in the way of big stuff, although I spotted a 1M barracuda under the bow of the Cedar Pride on one dive. Areas of sea grass contain the really interesting small stuff, including sea horses.
This will not be my last trip to Aqaba and I will certainly use Dive Aqaba again. Their boat is comfortable, the dive crew know the sites well, and they are a good safe group to dive with. Huw (Welshman) does all the gas mixing and he is a pro, Ashraf, Omar and Ezz take care of the diving side and boat crew take care of you exiting and entering the boat.
The only negative point about diving in Jordan is the bureaucracy. Nobody can dive here without a confirmation from the navy, which means the list of people going on the dive has to be faxed to various offices and returned with an authorization before the boat can go out, and I believe a similar process is in place for shore diving too. The boat usually does not leave before 10am which is frustrating at times, but there is not much one can do about that.
Can't wait to come again
Water temperatures were a bit warmer at 26C, but a northerly breeze most days was slightly chilling, so it was important to get out of the wet gear as soon as possible and into the dry area for a hot drink.
Visability during the week ranged from a poor 15M up to 50M on one day where the water was totally flat, awesome diving in that viz and you need to be careful as it is easy to descend deeper than you plan. Dive Aqaba supplied Nitrox for myself and my two buddies Christian and Veronika, and our mix request of 32% was fulfilled with the occasional days at 31 or 33%, all tanks were the same
The dive boat, Laila 1, was quite busy with between 15-20 divers and on the first couple of days we were one of three groups. The main group consisted of 12 divers from Scuba Diving for All (SDA) plus two disabled divers (Down's Syndrome), as well as another small group of divers from the UK. Occasionally there were some "day trippers" and discover scuba divers.
Kit and tanks are loaded on to a truck and taken to the Royal Yacht Club where Laila 1 is moored, then unloaded onto the boat. The walk from the dive centre to the boat is no more than 10 minutes.
Food on board is typical Arabic style and you can expect at least three different carbohydrates (Rice, potato and bread) as well humous, salad, chicken and lamb. Never left the boat hungry.
The diving in this area although with a limited coastline has some awesome dive sites, including a few wrecks, some of them quite deep, and Dive Aqaba are a Tek centre also.
Reef life is very interesting, lots of small stuff including sea moths, Red Sea Walkman, frogfish, shoals of Anthias adorn most larger coral outcrops, however not much in the way of big stuff, although I spotted a 1M barracuda under the bow of the Cedar Pride on one dive. Areas of sea grass contain the really interesting small stuff, including sea horses.
This will not be my last trip to Aqaba and I will certainly use Dive Aqaba again. Their boat is comfortable, the dive crew know the sites well, and they are a good safe group to dive with. Huw (Welshman) does all the gas mixing and he is a pro, Ashraf, Omar and Ezz take care of the diving side and boat crew take care of you exiting and entering the boat.
The only negative point about diving in Jordan is the bureaucracy. Nobody can dive here without a confirmation from the navy, which means the list of people going on the dive has to be faxed to various offices and returned with an authorization before the boat can go out, and I believe a similar process is in place for shore diving too. The boat usually does not leave before 10am which is frustrating at times, but there is not much one can do about that.
Can't wait to come again
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