Jordan has a tiny stretch of coastline at the north end of the Red Sea, sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Israel with Egypt just across the water. Aqaba is the only town and the last stop on our visit.
The main commercial activity is the container port. The main tourist attraction is the coral reef which runs along the coast and starts only a few metres from the shore. Diving schools have sprung up along with luxury hotels.
We had promised to take the girls snorkelling. We checked out the deals at various dive centres and Mohammed Sea (apt name) had the best price and even threw a beach rug into the bargain - a necessity as the sand is coarse and uncomfortable.
We headed down to the beach and met up with Mohammed's uncle, who directed us to the best snorkelling spot. Masks were on, flippers were at the ready and then the uncle uttered the words that were to ruin the day: "Take care, sir, with your babies. There are sea urchins. Black spikes. OK if have shoes or flippers but just to know to take care."
Isabelle stopped dead in her tracks, her face frozen in horror. What are these spiky black sea urchins, she demanded. We explained that they were on the sea bed a little way out from shore and that she would swim right over them. Nothing to be scared of. They couldn't move and even if she put her foot on one by accident, they couldn't penetrate a flipper.
She refused to move. She started to cry.
"Don't you want to see the beautiful coral, see Nemo?" Ian cajoled. She was having none of it.
Olivia backed her up: "We don't want to die".
So Ian and I went alone. The girls saw the reef later in the day from the safety of a glass-bottomed boat.
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