Aqaba

After much debate, I decided to brave the long drive to Aqaba (and an international border crossing) with the kids so we could join the others for the weekend.  My friend, Lesley, and I decided to carpool together Friday morning instead of joining the rest of the mommy caravan, which was leaving right after school on Thursday.  Our first hurdle was getting out of Jerusalem, because the day we left was also the day of the Jerusalem Marathon, so most major roads were closed.  We had to take a long, roundabout route, which added a good 45 minutes to our already long drive.

Once we hit the highway, it was pretty smooth sailing until we needed to stop for a restroom.  There just aren't that many choices for pit stops.  Gas stations are few and far between, and rest areas like we have on US interstates are non-existent.  We ended up stopping at a national park (Masada), which turned out nice and clean and was about halfway through the trip.

Once we got to the border crossing, we were joyous, as Aqaba is right on the other side.  We were almost there!!!  Everyone told us how easy this border crossing was compared to Allenby (the nearest one to us), so we were pumped...until we were both told by the Israelis we could not take our cars into Jordan.  You see, both our vehicles are registered in our husbands' names only, and the customs folks wanted power of attorney to prove we could take the cars.  I was mad.  Geoff' name is in all three of our diplomatic passports, listing us as dependents of his, but that wasn't good enough.  I had to call Geoff, who in turn sweet talked the folks at customs into accepting a faxed copy of his passport instead of power of attorney.  All in all, we spent a good two hours at the border crossing, waiting for this to sort itself out, and then on the Jordanian side where we had to get currency, buy temporary insurance and registration, etc.

But once we were through---WE MADE IT!  We found the hotel on our first try, and Geoff had a beer waiting for me.  Good man!  And after that 7 hour trip (which should have taken 5), it was nice to be in the warm sunshine at the sea.

 We woke up to this lovely view.

 And this cutie too!

 The kids enjoyed the hot tub,

 but the highlight of our weekend was the "three hour tour" on the boat!

 See those hills?  That's Egypt.

 Basking in the sun on the Gulf of Aqaba

Saudi Arabia is off to the left, Egypt and Israel to the right

(click here for map)

 A glance of the reef through the glass

Excited boys looking at the fish

 My boys

 Liam wanted to try snorkeling.

 But when he climbed down the ladder and felt the water, he changed his mind.

 Geoff braved the cold though!

And after a nice grilled meal, the kids got to take turns steering us back to the shore.

Captain Liam loved it!

With Geoff with us on the way back, the border crossing was extremely easy, and Sam even napped some this time!  We'll be back, if for no other reason than to eat all the seafood we possibly can.  MAN do we miss shrimp!