galmc2Report

We like to think of ourselves as savy, seasoned travellers who know how to ask the right questions so as to get what we want (or sometimes make a decision to not do something). But sometimes, as we were reminded today, things just don’t happen as you expect them to.

Case in point our desire to snorkel in the Red Sea. We actually packed our own masks and snorkels so as to optimize our ability to snorkel on the trip as we knew we’d be in some great spots for it, the Red Sea being one.

Yesterday we did a little research. There are a number of public beaches just south of Aqaba where the snorkelling is thought to be excellent. You can just walk in off the beach and away you go. And we have a car so easy right? Just the cost of the gas and away you go. We had a discussion on how to handle securing our valuables and car keys and realized we’d have to snorkel one at a time. No biggie, but we thought we’d speak to someone at the hotel to get more information.

That may have been not the best idea. We were directed to a guy who told us of a snorkel trip from the hotel that he could book us on. After some discussion we signed up. Seemed like a good idea. Not too expensive (everything is expensive here LOL), we wouldn’t have to deal with driving and we could snorkel together. Giddy-up!

Today came and we met up with the dude. All seemed good. We paid and all went down to the dock to await the boat. I guess the first warning flag was when he gave me the receipt with instructions to give to the boat captain. As our dude had a backpack on him I presumed he was along for the ride. Nope. But no worries….

So powerboat comes, gets us and takes us out to the main boat, which we had been told was a glass bottom one. No problem. We get on the boat, and that’s when we started to wonder what was up. There were about a 15 people, including little kids. All seemed to be somewhat local. And definitely no one who looked like a snorkeler.

We started to cruise down the shoreline, albeit very slowly. After close to an hour (and a fish-eye view of the local port) we seemed to stop, and were quickly told that this was the snorkel stop. Heather and I look around, see that no one else is making a move to snorkel, and make our way into the Red Sea. Despite the chill we pushed away from the boat and started to explore. We actually were joined by one of the crew, who motioned us to take the right path as the coral in many spaces was just below the waterline.

The snorkelling was actually fantastic. The clarity of the colours, and the aquatic life was super cool. We did have to contend with some divers in the area, but it was all going well.

And then our guide motioned to see if we were finished. We motioned for another couple of minutes, and then acquiesced and headed for the boat. We figure it can’t have been longer than 15-20 minutes in the water, which was half of what we were used to from Thailand.

So back onto the boat and the waiting group. I’m sure they were thrilled to have to wait around for 2 Canadians to jump in the water! We dried off and had a BBQ meal that was actually very good, and then the usual music started back up with some dancing by the men on the boat. And despite my best attempts to look like I was engaging Heather in a very serious conversation, I was recruited to participate.

Heather and I had a quick huddle on how we wanted to handle a potential second snorkel stop. Given the time, we were suspicious that it would happen at all. Turns out we were right. Our boat simply started heading north, and additional snorkelling was never even on the table. Eventually we got back to our hotel and disembarked, watching the boat then head for the nearby Israeli shoreline to dock. Not quite the experience that we thought we would be getting when we booked. As we headed back to our room, we both looked at each other with the same thought….I guess we should’ve just taken the car!