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On my previous Israel travel post, you joined me in my Israel visit to the botanical garden in Eilat. Today, let’s visit one of Eilat’s greatest tourist attractions: The Underwater Observatory. In Eilat aquarium and observatory will see the sharks, turtles, and fish of the Red Sea.
Let’s go:
Eilat Is The Southernmost City in Israel
While the majority of cities and towns in Israel are located on the Mediterranean shore or relatively close to it, Eilat is located on the tip of the Red Sea. Here’s a map of Gulf of Eilat/Gulf of Aqaba (which also borders Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia):
The Red Sea is the world’s northernmost tropical sea, and has a variety of stunning marine life and corals. As such, it is a major target for divers. My lazy self is not a diver, though, even though I like to swim, so I really appreciate the existence of underwater observatories.
Enter The Underwater Observatory, or in its full name: Coral World Underwater Observatory.
The Underwater Observatory Eilat
This summer, I came to the underwater observatory in Eilat for the first time in almost two (!) decades. I came with my family and arrived rather late, approximately 1.5 hours before closing time, so we had to rush through a bit and skipped the Aquadome experience on the lives of whales. I was a bit disappointed. Still, we managed to sea see a lot in this limited time.
But first, let’s say hello to a cute little sparrow:
Our first stop was the shark pool, which – surprise surprise – attracted a lot of attention from many visitors, including us. (Have I already told you not to visit Eilat during August? If not, I say it now. Anyway, back to sharks.) The pool has different species of sharks (for instance, blacktip reef sharks, hammerhead sharks) and stingrays and there’s also a feeding time, which we, of course, missed.
I think we gonna need a bigger boat:
Next we saw the turtle pool and went over to see the other aquariums, housing rare fish (stonefish, lionfish and others), creatures from the deep (sea angel, frogfish) and more. Lastly, we wanted to have a deeper look (pun intended) so we went for a diveless dive in the observatory tower.
The tower has a high vantage point (well, it’s a tower after all) but we skipped that part, and went directly underwater. Walking down the stairs, you get to see what lies beneath 6 meters of sea levels. It’s truly beautiful.
The View
After climbing back up, I tried using my Nikon Coolpix zooming superpowers for taking a closer look at the shore of Aqaba, but the weather midday was so hot the photos were extremely blurry.
Here’s a view of Aqaba on the opposite shore:
Let’s Sum It Up
1. The Underwater Observatory tower
2. Shark pool
3. Rare fish aquariums
4. Red Sea reef
5. Turtle pool
6. Creatures from the deep
7. Aquadome
Yes, we had a very nice experience. The Underwater Observatory in Eilat is truly a must if you visit the city for the first time.
More Things to See in Eilat and Israel
Other Places
