As we arrived back to the visitor´s center, we were approached by an Italian couple. They asked us, where we were heading and if we were willing to share a taxi with them to lower our costs. We gladly accepted the offer, because none of us wanted to deal with those people anymore.
The drive towards Aqaba was short. We made it even shorter by exchanging each-other´s travelling experiences. Soon we saw the sea and we knew we finally arrived - back to the civilization.
First we found the hotel and took a long shower. Now it was time to find a diving club. We began by visiting the one´s around our hotel, but we weren´t happy with what we found. Either the instructors didn´t speak English well enough, or the diving was too expensive. We decided to go back to the hotel and ask the clerk at the reception. He recommended a friend and we decided to give him a chance. He came to our hotel, where we talked about what we wanted. We were planning to stay in Aqaba for 8 days, so we had enough time for Jerneja to do her Advance Open Water Diver´s license and for some additional recreational dives. He has an English diving instructor and he gave us a good price, so we decided to dive with Jordan diving center.
The very next day Nabeel (the manager of the diving club) picked us up at 9 o´clock at our hotel and took us to the diving center, which is located about 5 km to the south of the city. There we met our diving instructor, 54 year old Graham Skelly and some other local guys, who help around the center.
Before we dived in to the water, we talked to Graham, what we wanted. AOWD class demands 5 dives and we agreed upon the following: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Wreck Dive, Deep Dive, Navigation and Night Dive. Boris joined all these dives as Jerneja´s buddy. Additionally to AOWD dives we took 5 more recreational dives, also with Graham as our instructor.
We got our equipment ready and put it in to the truck and Graham drove us to the Rainbow reef, where we had our first dive after a very long time. The purpose of Peak Performance Buoyancy dive was to refresh our knowledge.
After lunch we went to the Cedar´s pride. This is a 75 m long ship wreck, which was put in to the water by King Abdullah II, so he could do a wreck dive. 20 years later, the wreck became a home for a lot of sea animals and is as rich with sea life as any other reef.
The next morning, Nabeel picked us up again, took us to the best falafel place in Aqaba, where we bought our lunch and got us some real Arabic coffee. He was really spoiling us.
As we arrived to the diving center, Graham was already there, waiting for us. After we prepared the equipment, he took us to the Eel garden, where we did the Deep Dive. We went 30 m under the sea level. To estimate diver´s abilities and influence on the diver at such dept, Jerneja had to solve two exercises - one in the center and one at 30 m depth. Result: in the center she needed 1 second to find the correct result and under the water it took her 6 seconds.
After lunch we went to another diving place. We were particularly excited about this one, because we went to the Seven sisters and underwater tank. Jerneja passed her Navigation Dive there. With compass in her hand, she had to find the tank and shape a square while swimming.
On a third day, we did the last dive to complete AOWD. It was the Night Dive. But we wanted to do a recreational dive before the night, so Graham took us to the Gorgonian, where we saw stone fish, lion fish, blow fish, gray moray and huge see fan.
We were waiting in the diving center for night to fall. They have a pool, which was a lot of fun.
As the night fell, Graham took the truck and went to pick up a military navy clerk. According to Jordan regulations, there has to be a military navy clerk present during a night dive, because of vicinity of Syrian boarder. As they came back, we went back to diving sight, we already knew - Seven Sisters and the Tank. It is always a good idea to do a night dive at the place you know. It was pitch black, so we had torches. The military clerk stayed at the beach as we dived in to the water. It was most definitely the most memorable dive, we ever did. The sea looks completely different at night. Other animals come out during the night and the visibility is a lot worse. We saw red octopus, sleeping stingray, squid, shrimp and star fish.
With the night dive the AOWD was complete.
Greetings from Aqaba,
Jerneja & Boris
The drive towards Aqaba was short. We made it even shorter by exchanging each-other´s travelling experiences. Soon we saw the sea and we knew we finally arrived - back to the civilization.
First we found the hotel and took a long shower. Now it was time to find a diving club. We began by visiting the one´s around our hotel, but we weren´t happy with what we found. Either the instructors didn´t speak English well enough, or the diving was too expensive. We decided to go back to the hotel and ask the clerk at the reception. He recommended a friend and we decided to give him a chance. He came to our hotel, where we talked about what we wanted. We were planning to stay in Aqaba for 8 days, so we had enough time for Jerneja to do her Advance Open Water Diver´s license and for some additional recreational dives. He has an English diving instructor and he gave us a good price, so we decided to dive with Jordan diving center.
The very next day Nabeel (the manager of the diving club) picked us up at 9 o´clock at our hotel and took us to the diving center, which is located about 5 km to the south of the city. There we met our diving instructor, 54 year old Graham Skelly and some other local guys, who help around the center.
Before we dived in to the water, we talked to Graham, what we wanted. AOWD class demands 5 dives and we agreed upon the following: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Wreck Dive, Deep Dive, Navigation and Night Dive. Boris joined all these dives as Jerneja´s buddy. Additionally to AOWD dives we took 5 more recreational dives, also with Graham as our instructor.
We got our equipment ready and put it in to the truck and Graham drove us to the Rainbow reef, where we had our first dive after a very long time. The purpose of Peak Performance Buoyancy dive was to refresh our knowledge.
After lunch we went to the Cedar´s pride. This is a 75 m long ship wreck, which was put in to the water by King Abdullah II, so he could do a wreck dive. 20 years later, the wreck became a home for a lot of sea animals and is as rich with sea life as any other reef.
The next morning, Nabeel picked us up again, took us to the best falafel place in Aqaba, where we bought our lunch and got us some real Arabic coffee. He was really spoiling us.
As we arrived to the diving center, Graham was already there, waiting for us. After we prepared the equipment, he took us to the Eel garden, where we did the Deep Dive. We went 30 m under the sea level. To estimate diver´s abilities and influence on the diver at such dept, Jerneja had to solve two exercises - one in the center and one at 30 m depth. Result: in the center she needed 1 second to find the correct result and under the water it took her 6 seconds.
After lunch we went to another diving place. We were particularly excited about this one, because we went to the Seven sisters and underwater tank. Jerneja passed her Navigation Dive there. With compass in her hand, she had to find the tank and shape a square while swimming.
On a third day, we did the last dive to complete AOWD. It was the Night Dive. But we wanted to do a recreational dive before the night, so Graham took us to the Gorgonian, where we saw stone fish, lion fish, blow fish, gray moray and huge see fan.
We were waiting in the diving center for night to fall. They have a pool, which was a lot of fun.
As the night fell, Graham took the truck and went to pick up a military navy clerk. According to Jordan regulations, there has to be a military navy clerk present during a night dive, because of vicinity of Syrian boarder. As they came back, we went back to diving sight, we already knew - Seven Sisters and the Tank. It is always a good idea to do a night dive at the place you know. It was pitch black, so we had torches. The military clerk stayed at the beach as we dived in to the water. It was most definitely the most memorable dive, we ever did. The sea looks completely different at night. Other animals come out during the night and the visibility is a lot worse. We saw red octopus, sleeping stingray, squid, shrimp and star fish.
With the night dive the AOWD was complete.
Greetings from Aqaba,
Jerneja & Boris
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