The Red Sea

Oct 23 - After tramping around ruins for a week, we are now ready for some relaxation.  We started our morning with snorkling at the Royal Diving Club.  If you ever get the chance to snorkle in the Red Sea, take it.  It is wonderful.  The water is about twice as salty as the ocean.  The water is a deep sapphire blue, that becomes more teal as you get into the shallows and is turquoise close to shore.  The surface of the waves looks like chipped obsidian. In the afternoon we had a lecture by the Jordanian Commissioner for the Environment on the marine biology of the Red Sea.  Then we had a sunset cruise.  The boat was like something out of Jason and the Argonauts.   Wooden, with a high prow (carved like a dragon head) and stern.  It had a square sail, and a rectangular awning over the main section that provided some shade for the main seating area.  There was more seating in the stern and I claimed it for Bruce and I, we reclined like Ceasar and Cleopatra.  We motored around for a little while, and then they unfurled the sail.  This was not done as efficiently as I would have liked.  After the sun had set they turned us cross-wise to the wind and furled the sail.  By this time the wind had picked up quite a bit, so this was a rather exciting (and somewhat dangerous) endeavor.  The boat pitched about a good deal during the operation.  Finally the sail was furled and we motored back to port.

Here is a picture of the Royal Palace in Aqaba.

And the flag of the Arab Revolt, flying over the old fort.

This beautiful glass sculpture/light fixture by Dave Chihuly hung in the lobby of our hotel.

Wadi Rum

Oct 22 - On our drive south to Aqaba, we went through Wadi Rum, where the Arab Revolt was headquartered for a time.  We took Land Cruisers through the desert.  At our first stop we spotted a desert lizard.  He is hard to spot due to his coloring, but he is right next to Ra'ed's hand.

As you can see, the Wadi is not lifeless, although this is the Saharan bio-geographical zone.

This is a rock formation that has been renamed by Lawrence fans - they call it "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" after his book.

You can also see several of our vehicles.

Can you spot the camels in this picture?  We also stopped to look at some petroglyphs.

This marvelous rock formation was at the spot where we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we continued on to Aqaba, to our luxurious hotel (The Intercontinental).  Here is the view from our balcony.