Aqaba beach - evening - HOT!!!

Aqaba beach - evening
Originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We have moved on a bit and are now back in Amman after facing the furnace of Aqaba and surviving. We had heard how hot it gets in the summer and yet when we arrived in the morning it felt OK, as it did all day - while we were on the beach and in the water swimming around and snorkeling.

It was only after we arrived back in the town of Aqaba itself, did we realise what everyone had meant. The town faces south west towards the Red Sea and so collects the rays of sun all afternoon. These are then trapped by the dry rocky hills behind such that way into the evening the temperature never really abates. At, say 38 at the hottest time, it is still 36 or so until at least 11 pm. Warm barmy summer evenings are fine but this was something else completely. A good thing we had air conditioning.

The coral reefs were great - lots of beautifully coloured fish - butterfly fish, parrot fish, lion fish, zebra fish, all sorts, swimming aroung the very healthy looking coral at the Royal Diving Centre, just south of Aqaba, where one can see four countries in one go: opposite was Egypt, up the coast Eilat in Israel, here Jordan and south Saudi Arabia. All looking bone dry, all linked by the deep blue sea.

It was great to have a couple of days on the beach and to swim in such clear waters. A good time to catch up on some sleep and some reading.

Aqaba is quite small and Eilat is just around the corner. Odd to think that a major international incident almost occured here two weeeks earlier. It wasn't clear whetehr the rockets had had any effect on tourism in Aqaba but in Wadi Rum, it appears that the tourists as good as vanished immediately. However, we are told that it is not yet high season, as this starts around the time of the autumnal equinox, when temperatures start falling a bit. Although the evenings were unbearably hot, I would not let this put me off going to Aqaba, certainly not for a couple of days. Maybe a week would be too much