badge

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Yellow Submarine




‘Preparing to Dive’! The Captain announced on the intercom. The ballast tanks were being flooded with sea water as the sub slowly submerged into the depth of the Red Sea. Just a few moments ago we had entered the comfortable Yellow Submarine through a narrow gangway, berthed alongside in the beautiful resort town of Eilat, in Israel. It was like being a part of James Bond movie in the real life! The adrenalin pumped in excitement of my first dive in a submarine, meant for tourists!

I along with the other three Indian, two Israeli and one Italian friend had checked out of the hotel on the earlier day. Luigi, the Italian, agreed to drive the car hired for a weekend trip to Eilat. The city is at the south most tip of Israel and is around 400km away from Tel Aviv. It is flanked by the port of Aqaba on the Jordanian side and village Taba on Egyptian side. These cities can be viewed from Eilat on a clear day. The city's beaches, nightlife, Marine Park and other attractions including alluring desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourists.

We drove through the arid Negev desert where one can see sprawling sand dunes for miles! It is a melange of brown, rocky,dusty mountains interrupted by wadis( dry riverbeds that bloom briefly after rain) and deep craters. One can occasionally sight a local tribesman called Bedouin.The sun shone strongly and the weather became hotter as the day progressed. We had a brief stopover at the towns of Beer Sheva and Dimona before reaching Timna Park. This place is located 30 km short of Eilat. It has some of the most wonderful multihued volcanic rock formations, sandstone columns which are a nature’s creation! They appear vibrant with color as the sun rays dance around to give a feel of descent of a rainbow on the ground. One can collect at least a dozen samples of colored sand here which have been formed, with erosion of these volcanic rocks, as a souvenir! We reached Eilat in around six hours and checked in the hotel to retire for the day.

Next day after breakfast we reached the Coral World Underwater Observatory. One can see the marine life like stingray, turtles and sharks from close quarters here.

Our next halt was a ride in The Yellow Submarine!
The Yellow Submarine is one of the world's most advanced public submarines.
The safety and comfort is assured using advanced technologies and an experienced crew. The Submarine leaves the Underwater Marine Park, and slowly moves to deeper water, to a depth of 60 meters. The submarine has viewing windows of Perspex which transported us to a whole new world! In this journey one experiences the slow changes in light levels, the color and underwater life at different depths. The different color of water and variety of marine life in the Red Sea is a rare display as a direct consequence of the sun-light that reaches the different depths. In its course, the Submarine traverses the steep "Wall of Corals" that reaches to a 45-meter depth. The beauty of the corals and the underwater-life, including school of multicolored fish, the sea horse, octopus and many more acquatic creatures are  on display, just as the nature created it. The submarines also goes around a sunken ship wreck covered with barnacles!
The area marked for the dive is a natural reserve. Fishing, coral extraction and fish feeding is illegal in this area to preserve the fragile natural balance between the different forms of life under water.The submarine has three different crew men: the captain, the captain's helper, and the 
Stewardess that explains and describes the different stages of the journey as it happens.

Next we went to see the Dolphin’s show at the Dolphin Creek where watching dolphins performing and swimming with the tourists is a great fun.

We started our journey back to Tel Aviv and finally reached there at night, with some of the best memories to treasure.The classic Beatles song:

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines

So we sailed on to the sun
Till we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

keeps reminding me of the lovely experience!

PS Image  kind courtesy Google

32 comments:

  1. I have never been into a submarine. It's a bit scary for me! But from your wors I see that it must be a great experience!

    ReplyDelete
  2. a very vivid description of the sea life.. you must have enjoyed a lot :)

    Weakest LINK

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice..specially the vibrant yellow color!
    charges you up!
    I bet nobody can body can miss this submarine...:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. WOW! I thoroughly enjoy reading your travel stories. They make me want to travel more!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have been to submarine in Australia but this yellow submarine is amazing. nice to know about it and I liked as well as enjoyed reading your travel post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Must be having a lovely time. Enjoy! :) I didn't knew about this yellow submarine, nice info :) And definitely that beatles song is awesome, THE BEATLES: one of my favorite classic band. ♪ ♫ :D

    P.S. Listen to the song: "while my guitar gently weeps" (-the beatles) its awesome \m/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow - what a fabulous experience!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Would have loved to see pictures of the beautiful landscape you have described.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a lovely experience! Wish I can try the Yellow Submarine experience too :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. it must be a great experience, I wish I get to travel on a submarine once :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. @ Ashok-Thanks a ton!
    @ Francesca R- It is amazing!
    @ Rachit- True! It was an absolute ball of a time!
    @ Harman- It is definitely worth taking this trip once!
    @ Gayatri- Thanks for your nice comment! Will continue sharing more in future too:)
    @ Magic eye- Certainly, great fun!
    @ Babli- Yes I heard there is one in Australia too! Please share details in one of your posts! :)
    @ Shreya- Thanks D: for liking! So good to know that you too like Beatles! I will hear the song suggested by you!.. :)
    @ Simran- Welcome to my blog! Thanks for liking this one!
    @ Lady Fi- It was a great experience!
    @ Purba- Thanks for your suggestion! I will try to include more pictures in future posts to get a feel of the place..:)
    @ Eden- Thanks a lot! I think there is one in Australia itself!
    @ Purvi- Sure! Must visit if you get a chance! Your creative genius will take you places!!
    @ Art- Thanks a lot for liking

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh wow, sounds like an epic adventure! I think I may be claustrophobic on a submarine, is it?

    ReplyDelete
  13. All of it does sound adventurous, exciting and fun! Beautifully described, loved reading it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. @ Sam-It is meant for tourists so it is very comfortable and there is no claustrophobic feeling!
    @ Arti- Yes indeed adventurous but very safe!Thanks for liking

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've always wanted to travel in a submarine :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks PhilO! It is fun and you must travel whenever you get the opportunity!

    ReplyDelete
  17. dats really nice to know abot the yellow submarine... song was lovely...

    i once visited a submarine in our college tour... dat was kept only 4 public visiting... we saw many compartments... its really cool..

    ur post sailed me in to deep sea & i imagined hw it would be...

    ReplyDelete
  18. must b feeling like military experience :) would like to visit a submarine, at least Indian, if not Israeli ;)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Such an informative post, and it came beautifully alive with your enthusiatic narration. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. @ Kalai- So nice to learn that you saw a submarine and liked being on board!
    @ Megha- I spent so much time in Navy that it was like going back home!:)You must see one..
    @ SprigBlossoms- Thanks a tone for that lovely comment!

    ReplyDelete
  21. yellow submarine :D
    the title only gave a big smile on my face.

    I wish to have this experience at least once in my life time !!

    Awesome read !!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you Jyoti, for those bouquet of words! Hope you too experience this!

    ReplyDelete
  23. wow what an amazing experience- I have never been in a submarine and I'm not sure I would want to be in one- but how exciting for you!! What a great travel story.

    ReplyDelete
  24. It would have been nice if you put the pictures of the places you described.

    ReplyDelete
  25. All the Best with the contest :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Your style is unique compared to other people I've read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this blog.

    Feel free to visit my blog; music

    ReplyDelete
  27. I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to
    do it for you? Plz respond as I'm looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. cheers

    My blog post: este usuario

    ReplyDelete
  28. For most up-to-date information you have to visit world-wide-web and on web
    I found this website as a best web site for newest updates.


    My homepage pussyxxx

    ReplyDelete