5/5 Steve R. 1 year ago on Google
When
my
wife
&
I
started
looking
for
a
place
to
go
for
a
week’s
diving,
Jordan
wasn’t
actually
on
our
shopping
list.
Our
main
parameters
were
fairly
warm
water
–
not
always
easy
to
find
in
February
–
and
a
reasonably
short
flight,
since
we
didn’t
want
to
spend
half
our
week
wrecked
by
jet-lag.
We
visited
the
Boot
trade
fair
in
Düsseldorf,
which
usually
has
some
good
offers,
but
it
turned
out
many
of
the
bases
didn’t
open
until
March.
Then
we
met
Abdullah
on
the
Jordanian
stand.
He
showed
us
a
booklet
about
wreck
diving
in
Aqaba
on
the
Red
Sea.
This
contained
fotos
of
a
C-130
Hercules,
a
Tristar,
tanks
and
several
ships,
and
we
were
sold.
The
special
offer
covered
B&B,
10
dives
and
visits
to
the
Unesco
sites
at
Petra
and
Wadi
Rum.
It
didn’t
hurt
that
there
was
a
direct
flight
from
Germany.
The
rooms
in
the
dive
centre
turned
out
to
be
clean
and
basic
and
quite
comfortable.
Everything
worked
and
the
staff
were
very
friendly
&
welcoming.
There
was
a
good
breakfast
and
it,
together
with
the
couple
of
pieces
of
fruit
we
took
with
us,
kept
us
going
thru
until
our
evening
meal.
Hamza
did
us
some
great
evening
meals
–
the
fish
was
fantastic
–
and
we
were
very
satisfied.
The
dive
centre
itself
was
well
organised
and
the
material
(BCDs,
suits
etc)
was
fairly
new
and
in
good
condition.
The
sites
we
visited
were
all
shore
dives
close
to
the
centre,
to
which
we
were
driven
in
the
minibus
along
with
our
gear.
The
dive
briefings
were
more
detailed
than
anything
I
had
been
given
in
a
long
time,
which
I
found
very
positive.
Safety
was
very
much
in
the
forefront
of
the
dive
guides’
thinking,
and
buddy
checks
were
both
expected,
&
followed
up
on.
Sadly,
we
saw
a
lot
of
dead
coral,
but
also
could
see
where
efforts
were
being
made
to
maintain
the
reef.
There
were
few
very
big
fish,
but
lots
of
smaller
ones,
including
many
clown
fish.
There
seemed
to
be
a
certain
level
of
lethality
present
too,
since
lionfish,
scorpion
fish,
stonefish
&
small
morays
could
easily
be
found.
For
the
macro
photographer,
there
were
nutribranch
and
many
different
sorts
of
anemones.
Our
dive
guides
were
always
aware
of
where
we
were,
but
kept
a
good
eye
out
for
interesting
things
to
look
at.
The
wrecks
were
fun
to
dive
and
my
wife
appreciated
for
the
first
time
what
a
good
wreck
dive
can
be
like.
The
Cedar
Pride
was
sunk
40
years
ago,
which
has
given
enough
time
for
the
corals,
fans
and
fish
to
establish
themselves,
and
with
a
depth
of
10-27m
gives
both
OWDs
&
AOWDs
something
to
do.
Two
of
our
fellow
guests
were
doing
an
OWD
course,
which
both
passed
successfully.
Our
impression
was
that
the
course
was
well
carried
out.
Abdullah,
Omar
and
their
team
were
always
ready
to
help,
whether
it
was
to
organise
a
taxi,
recommend
a
restaurant,
or
just
give
us
a
lift
into
Aqaba.
We
really
enjoyed
our
stay
at
the
Red
Sea
Diving
Centre
and
would
freely
recommend
it
to
anyone
wanting
to
dive
a
fairly
unique
and
less
frequented
site.