Aqaba Marine Park tide times

The Aqaba Marine Park occupies the southern section of Jordan's 27-kilometre coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba, running from the port breakwater south toward the Saudi border. It was formally established in 1997, after decades of coastal development — port expansion, resort construction, and phosphate loading — had degraded sections of the reef that had been among the healthiest in the Red Sea. The park's protected zone covers approximately 7 kilometres of reef and sandy seafloor, and restoration work has brought back significant coral cover in areas that were largely dead by the mid-1990s.

The reef here sits at the southern end of the Jordanian continental shelf, where the Gulf of Aqaba — a narrow, deep tectonic rift — drops steeply to 1,800 metres within a few kilometres of shore. That depth creates a cold-water upwelling effect that keeps the reef more resilient to bleaching than many Red Sea sites: the corals at Aqaba have survived temperature anomalies that caused mass mortality on the shallower reefs of Sinai and the Saudi coast to the south and west.

The main reef for shore diving and snorkelling is the First Bay (locally called the Marine Reserve Beach), accessible from the beachfront parking area just south of the Aqaba port. The sandy approach to the reef runs about 80 metres from shore; the reef top sits at 1–3 metres and drops on a wall to 15–25 metres on the outer face. Coral cover includes Acropora tables, brain corals, and leather corals in good condition. Fish life in the park is noticeably richer than areas outside it — lionfish, pufferfish, sea turtles, and occasional reef sharks are regular sightings.

The Gulf of Aqaba tide is semidiurnal with a well-known spring range of around 0.7–0.9 metres. This is meaningfully larger than the wider Red Sea (which is nearly tideless) because the Gulf of Aqaba sits at the end of a resonant basin that amplifies the tidal wave entering from the south. The semidiurnal period of roughly 12.4 hours is close to the natural resonance period of the 180-kilometre long Gulf, which produces this amplification. For divers, the tidal state matters: the ebb draws cooler, nutrient-rich water from depth along the wall, and fish activity tends to peak on the tidal flow changes. Plan entries around slack water for the clearest visibility; plan observation dives for the first hour of ebb for the best pelagic fish activity.

Shamal wind afternoons are the main planning variable for surface conditions. The NW Shamal typically builds from around 10:00–11:00 and peaks at 20–30 knots by early afternoon before dying with sunset. Morning entries before 09:30 give flat-calm surface conditions. Equipment rental and diving services are available from the park entrance area and multiple operators along the Aqaba corniche to the north.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine. For Gulf of Aqaba conditions, local dive shops provide real-time visibility and current updates that complement the tidal prediction.

The park's location at the north end of the Red Sea gives it unusual biological significance as a connectivity node: larvae from Aqaba's reef drift south with the currents into the central Red Sea, while larvae from deeper Red Sea populations occasionally recruit northward into the Gulf of Aqaba. This larval exchange is part of what makes the park worth protecting beyond purely local dive tourism — it is a regional ecological anchor. Jordan's investment in reef restoration, including transplanting coral fragments from healthy sections to degraded areas, has been running since the early 2000s and the results are measurable in coral cover surveys.

The park entrance area has basic facilities: changing rooms, toilets, and a small fee station. Parking is adjacent to the beach access. All major Aqaba dive centres are familiar with the Marine Park sites and can arrange day trips with equipment included.