A new museum experience. And at the same time, a different immersion within the reach of all audiences. This is the Underwater Military Museum Dive Site. In this post we tell you what it is exactly, what its visit consists of and why it can be interesting.
What is the Aqaba Underwater Military Museum?
As its name suggests, the Aqaba Underwater Military Museum is an exhibition space that is located under the sea, and the pieces on display are of a warlike nature. In total, about twenty located at a depth of almost 30 meters, including several tanks, a combat helicopter and a military crane. It is located very close to the waterfront, about 12 km south of the city, very close to the Aqaba Aquarium.
Why such a museum?
With its inauguration in 2019, the Jordanian tourism authorities expressed their desire to bring new and different experiences to their travelers, thus enriching their stay in the country, beyond the usual and unmissable destinations such as Petra or Wadi Rum. But why underwater vehicles?
First of all, we must remember the worldwide prestige of the Red Sea as a diving and snorkeling destination, thanks to its crystal clear waters and underwater richness. And on the other hand, as we have been telling in other blogs of the Mandala Tours group of agencies, one of the attractions of diving in the Red Sea is to discover Sunken wrecks, i.e. old ships that, for some reason, sank and have remained at the bottom of the sea ever since.
Diving through these wrecks is a very suggestive experience that contains many stories. But at the same time, these wrecks become integrated into the seabed ecosystem and become home to coral reefs and marine wildlife. And that is precisely one of the objectives of this Underwater Military Museum in Aqaba, probably inspired by others of a similar nature located in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Florida, the Canary Islands or the Bahamas.
In addition, Aqaba, due to its strategic location and having been a key city in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, has great military significance for its population. For this reason, the ASEZA (Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority) has chosen this site for the exhibition of vehicles and war pieces of the Jordanian army.
How to visit this museum
One of the attractions of the Aqaba Underwater Military Museum is that to visit it there is no choice but to immerse yourself in the water. And this can be done in three ways. The first, putting on the wetsuit and doing a dive, like those that a diver can do in other spots to see marine fauna or wrecks. The second is to snorkel, that is, to see the aforementioned pieces by swimming in the water but without submerging, since the clarity of the sea in Aqaba allows you to observe them from above, from a certain distance.
The last option is to get on a boat with a transparent glass bottom, usually used for the sighting of marine fauna but in this case it makes it easier to see these objects of war comfortably. This trip is designed for families with children or for people who, due to their age or physical limitations, cannot or do not want to swim or dive in the water.
So, whatever your traveler profile, if you are interested in the Aqaba Underwater Military Museum and want to visit it during your stay in the city, organize your trip with us and we will integrate it into the program.
