TUESDAY 7/17/12
AQABA, AMMAN

After several hot water treatments on Leti's foot to ease the pain, she decided to try diving today. She's a trooper! Her foot was swollen and barely fit in the diving boot but she went for it. That was a good thing because our dive today was a sunken ship, our first wreck. Really excited about that!The ship was a container ship that was sunk on purpose to create a reef. Now it's full of sea life.Ge the truck loaded, go to dive spot, get equipment ready and go diving. Here's the pics:

Morad our divemaster

Spanish Dancer, I think

THE WRECK

Ship's mast

 

How could you not want to go diving and see these beautiful things? Well we only have time for one dive.So after our dive we go back to the village and get our stuff packed for the long journey home. The plan was to do one dive then leave Aqaba, drive to Mujib Natural Reserve and do some hiking around a river, waterfalls and water pools. But with Leti's foot, that was not possible. So instead we started driving towards Amman a 4hr. drive.

After we arrived in Amman we went to dinner and decided to waste some time at the local mall. It was HUGE!!! And it closes at 11pm. We caught the last showing of Madagascar 3 and then left to the airport. Our flight was at 6:30am and we arrived at the airport at 2am. After security check which we dread, but a necessary evil. We sit and wait for the time to leave.

Flight from Amman to London was only 5 hours and we were assingned seats where there was enough room for my legs. Finally some sleep. Then we arrive at London. If you ever go through London Heathrow airport make sure that if you have any liquids they fit in 2 zip lock bags, if they don't, make sure you check in the bag or they will confiscate the items. This lady in front of us who had a bottle of alcohol from Mexico, that she bought in a duty free shop, got her bottled confiscated because it was over the limit in liquid. She argued that she bought it in the airport and they didn't care. She asked that if she would have checked it in would there have been a problem, and they said no. So she wanted to check it in and they said it would cost her $90. She left there cussing them out.

Now it was our turn. We knew that was a problem from the last time we went through, so we thought we were smart and checked in our luggage with the liquids and only had my backpack with me. Last time we were told that for next time we should take out my coffee thermos and my freezable camel back bag out so they can clearly see it and not have a problem with it. It didn't do any good. They confiscated my camel back back because the gel inside that freezes, was over the liquid limit. We argued that last time we passed through and the instructions we were given to take them out, but it was of no use. We had to leave because our plane was about to depart. That was not right!!!!!

We made it to the gate as they were making the last call. 11-12hrs. later we arrive at LAX. After the long line at customs we finally get out and Musa picks us up and off to Bakersfield. For those that don't know, Musa is Moses in Arabic. Of course, we have to make the traditional In-n-Out stop. Finally we get home after a long journey. We are thankful Jehovah allowed us to make this trip. It was spiritually enhancing being with our brothers and seeing what once was the good land. We enjoyed very much the different scenery and locations we visited. We hope one day we get to go back. At the same time we are glad to be home. We hope you enjoyed the blog, don't forget to put your comments in.

Till the next adventure.....

MONDAY 7/16/12
AQABA DIVING

It's been awhile since we've been diving. So when we booked our dives we had to tell them about that, so they knew we had to get a refresher course. Anytime you go over a year without diving, it is recommended you take a refresher course. Which is basically, going over the underwater signs, how to clear your mask if it gets flooded and the retrieval of your mouthpiece in case it happens to come out of your mouth. 

Divemaster Morad on the right

 So in the morning after a light breakfast, we go over the info with the divemaster. The truck gets loaded withall the equipment and we head down to the beach, a five minute drive, just across the highway. We get to the beach and start assembling our gear and head for the beach after some final instructions. Leti and I have never done a shore dive (walking into the water from the beach and diving) we've always gone diving off of a boat. Something new. This wasn't a regular shore dive. The beach was not sand it was pebbles, good size ones too and they were slippery. Now imagine that at your feet and about 40-50 lbs. of equipment on your back plus the waves moving you around. Not the best introduction to shore diving.

 

This was our transport to the beach w/all the equipment

Beach were diving out of

Leti starts to panic, once in the water. We get to a nice sandy area to do the underwater excercises and she can't seem to sink. She always has a problem with bouyancy. The divemaster, Morad was really good at calming her.  He went through all the excercises with us and off we went. After the first dive which included a sunken tank, welcome to Middle East diving, we were getting out of the water and Leti stepped into a sea urchin after being pushed by wave. She ended up with 10 needles in her foot. OUCH!!!! Here's a few pics.

Can you see the needles?

Here's what we saw underwater. I just love diving!! What Jehovah created underwater is so beautiful, there is no doubt why he deserves all the glory and honor!!!!!

These spiky black balls are the Sea Urchins that got Leti on the foot

SUNDAY 7/15/12

WADI RUM & AQABA

After a restful night of sleep in a quiet desert we woke up to this. Breakfast in the morning and then ready to head out to Wadi Rum for desert hiking.

Olive oil, Sesame seeds baked in an open oven

Desert Volleyball court

                               Rock Camp crew










We had already contacted Saleh, a tour guide in Wadi Rum for a tour of the area. We wanted to hike and trek the five bridges of Wadi Rum. We met Saleh in the entrance of Wadi Rum and we followed him straight to his house. After a review of the tour we took off.

We parked our car there and he took us by Toyota Landcruiser, an old Toyota Landcruiser, to the different spots. We went to the famous Lawrence of Arabia's spring, we also visited his home. He lived in the area during the early part of the last century. Then, we got to the bridges. We couldn't actually trek 3 of the bridges without a climbing guide and about 2-3 hours per. So we settled for the two easy climbs and one long range pic. We saw the famous mushroom rock then we went sand boarding.

Lawrence of Arabia's house

Climbing on the bridges

Adriannnnnnn I mean Letiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

The rock was so hot Leti burned her hands

When our shoes, socks, underwear, shirts and everything else was full of red sand we went back to Saleh's house. His wife had prepared a traditional Bedouin meal, chicken on a bed of rice, kind of like a yellow rice, with potatoes, eggplant and cauliflower. We had the same thing at the Rock Camp but this time it was way better. After that, we did some bartering and Saleh was paid. 

About to go boarding ala Bedouin on red sand

Bedouin dish

Aqaba here we come! Diving in the Red Sea has been something I've been very excited about ever since knowing I'd be close to it. We traveled to Aqaba after lunch, a quick 40-50 minute drive and arrived at our hotel. A hotel dedicated to scuba diving. Simple yet comfortable. The diving centre is right in the hotel and the girl there was very nice and informative on the diving activities. After settling in and programming the dives for tomorrow we hung out by the pool and had some dinner. Looking forward to some beautiful diving tomorrow. We were told that a big sea turtle was spotted on one of the dives today. Last week they said they saw a whale shark. Hopefully we get to see something like that. Talk about a highlight!

First look at the Red Sea

Our room was the Barracuda