Aqaba, Jordan (Day 1) -- The Dead Sea

Thursday 10 November – Aqaba, Jordan – day 1. Pulling up slowly through the Gulf of Aqaba, we could see Jordan on the right (East) side and Israel on the left (West) side. This was an interesting sight and feeling for us, but something that the people in the Middle East have known for generations.

This was the first day of tours that Barbara Anderson of Victoria, BC, Canada, arranged.  There are 16 of us on the two days of tours in Jordan: Barbara and Mike  (Canada); Sandra and Rick (USA); Donna and Gary (Canada); Angus and Dorothy (Scotland); Camilla and Kurt (Sweden); Sharon and John (USA); Stephen and Mandy (South Wales), and us (USA). So we had a nice international group. We signed up with Barbara because at the time the ship didn’t have any tours scheduled in Jordan or Israel as they’re not standard ports. The ship later added similar tours (larger group sizes and higher prices). The flag on the right is the Jordanian Revolutionary flag flying high near the port entrance. It is similar to the regular flag except it doesn't have a white star inside the red triangle.

We were finally able to leave the ship about 10:30 AM with passports in hand to begin our 3-hour drive to the Dead Sea. We made one stop along the way, but the main purpose the trip was getting to the Dead Sea. We ate lunch at the Holiday Inn Dead Sea (they call it a 5-star resort), and then we were free for about an hour and a half to change into swimming attire and get into the Dead Sea. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Floating on your back was simple; what you had to be careful of was to not lean too far forward and go face forward into the extremely salty water. Some used the “healthy mineral mud” before getting into the water; strategic placements made it look like war paint on some people.

After rinsing the salt off, taking a shower, and changing back into our clothes, we climbed back into the van for our drive back to Aqaba and our ship. Although we were staying in port overnight, we still needed to be back on board the ship. Even though we were mostly on the van, we were tired, but we made it down for dinner at 9 PM with George and Tawni.

Knowing that we had an early start in the morning for our drive to Petra, it was off to bed right after dinner.