MapJordanAqabaAqaba / Tala BayAqaba

Aqaba / Tala Bay

Aqaba Sub-District

also known as Tala Bay, HS Water Sports Aqaba, Kitesurfing Aqaba

Part of Aqaba →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

choppybeginner-friendlylow crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Mar–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

18-22 knots

Character: mixed · cross-shore

Room to launch

access rules on record, below

Water

chop

27–30 °C in summerDeep water with chop and small swells, given as 0.5-1 m

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

low crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Aqaba (AQJ)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Eilat / Coral Beach15 km

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Aqaba South Beach / Marine Park snorkeling and diving areano page yet
Eilat North Beach / Kite Zone, Israelno page yet
Taba Heights, Egyptno page yet
Coral Beach / Eilat, Israelno page yet

The spot

Water and wind

Aqaba / Tala Bay is Jordan's resort-based Red Sea kite venue, run out of H&S Water Sports on Tala Bay South Beach inside the gated Tala Bay compound. Forget the idea of a shallow Red Sea lagoon: the water is deep from close in, there is 0.5-1 m chop and small swell, and beginner lessons are taught from a boat. Wind is usually side-shore from the north to northwest, 18-22 knots on a windy day, with the occasional day above 35 knots that belongs to intermediate and advanced riders only.

Season, rescue, and amenities

Treat the main season as mid-March to mid-October and treat the detail as unsettled: April-September is named as the strongest stretch, while July-August is reportedly weaker than the rest of the windy season. The rescue boat is what shapes riding here. One is on the water whenever the centre is open, and kiting in Aqaba is not permitted without it. The setting is convenient rather than wild. Tala Bay has the accommodation, the restaurants and the shops, and Wadi Rum and Petra are within day-trip range.

The wind

Direction

cross-shore

Dominant direction

North to northwest. The mean direction across the 2013-2017 station record was 344 degrees, NNW; NNE also works, and the wind is usually side-shore 80-90% of the time.

Character

mixed

Average strength

There is no usable long-term measured average. The Tala Bay weather station only ran between January 2013 and February 2017 and returns a 5-knot all-hours mean; the King Hussein International station has no statistics at all. What matters for planning is the windy-day figure: 18-22 knots when it blows, 15-25 knots as the September working range.

Typical strength

18-22 knots on a normal windy day, with 15-25 knots the usual working range across the season. Days above 35 knots happen and are for intermediate and advanced riders only.

Side-shore 80-90% of the time. It reads as a regular thermal from the north to northwest, though it is given elsewhere as thermal and frontal; which one is driving a given day is unconfirmed.

Two season framings circulate and they do not agree. One is windy year-round with the strongest wind April-September. The other is a windy season of mid-March to mid-October, wind on about 75% of the year, and July-August weaker than the rest of the windy season.

Windy days

Modelled windy-day counts at 12 knots or more come to about 129 days a year, peaking at 20 days in each of June and July, then 12 in August, 7 in September and 4 in October, with 13-18 across March-May and 3-8 from November to February.

September

September is still marketed as one of the windiest months and is when the centre runs its coaching camps, at an average of 15-25 knots, 37C air and 27C water.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan26
Feb40
Mar, riders' month16
Apr, riders' month48
May, riders' month47
Jun, riders' month57
Jul, riders' month32
Aug, riders' month55
Sep, riders' month70
Oct, riders' month52
Nov48
Dec29

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

26%Jan22°
40%Feb21°
16%Mar21°
48%Apr22°
47%May23°
57%Jun25°
32%Jul27°
55%Aug27°
70%Sep27°
52%Oct26°
48%Nov24°
29%Dec23°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal.

Every figure, month by monthWindy days · Force 4+ · 12 kn or more · Knots · Wind from · Peaks at · Air · Water · Readings

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	Wind from	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	26%	56%	35%	11.5 kt	N	16:00	21.1 °C	21.7 °C	62
Feb	40%	72%	56%	12.4 kt	N	15:00	22.8 °C	21.1 °C	57
Mar	16%	47%	40%	10.8 kt	N	14:00	26.1 °C	21.1 °C	62
Apr	48%	68%	62%	13 kt	N	15:00	30.6 °C	21.7 °C	60
May	47%	68%	61%	13.2 kt	N	16:00	35 °C	23.3 °C	62
Jun	57%	87%	82%	14.1 kt	N	16:00	38.3 °C	25 °C	60
Jul	32%	56%	55%	11.8 kt	N	17:00	39.4 °C	26.7 °C	62
Aug	55%	74%	71%	13.5 kt	N	14:00	39.4 °C	27.2 °C	62
Sep	70%	88%	78%	14.5 kt	N	13:00	36.7 °C	26.7 °C	60
Oct	52%	87%	71%	14 kt	N	14:00	32.8 °C	25.6 °C	62
Nov	48%	65%	55%	12.8 kt	N	16:00	27.2 °C	23.9 °C	60
Dec	29%	48%	42%	11.4 kt	N	14:00	22.2 °C	22.8 °C	62

How this is modelledmodelled · 2023-2024

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

chop

Standing depth

None. The water is deep from close in, so there is no standing area anywhere in the riding zone; beginner lessons run from a boat after land-based safety and wind theory.

Tides

Tide independent. No tidal window governs the launch and no local operating hours are set by tide.

Temperature

Summer (°C) 27-30 through June-October; the summer mean sits around 26.7-27, and September water is about 27.

Winter (°C) 21-23 through January-March, with a winter mean around 22.

Modelled monthly average: 21–27 °C

Wetsuit

Shorts in summer, shorty in spring/fall, full wetsuit in winter; sea-temperature ranges imply many riders may not need neoprene in the warmest months.

Conditions

Deep water with chop and small swells, given as 0.5-1 m. Descriptions run from chop with small waves to choppy small-to-medium waves with reef as the main danger. This is the Gulf of Aqaba, warm year-round. No standing lagoon area.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners are taught here, and the course list runs discovery, beginner, intermediate, advanced. Treat it as a supported deep-water spot: lessons run from a boat, and kiting is not permitted without a rescue boat. Rider-level ratings elsewhere run from intermediate and expert only to beginner through expert, so the range is unsettled.

The scene

What riders come here for

intermediatefreeridedeep-water lessons with boat supportwingfoilfoilwarm-water resort riding

Who it suitsbeginner

Small resort scene built around H&S Water Sports inside Tala Bay. The riding area is very large and rarely crowded by other kiters or boats, though a medium crowd level is reported for the spot as well; the resort gate probably keeps casual beach traffic down.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: ok

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

1 spot nearby

Eilat / Coral Beach15 km

The one spot within 40 km is under Nearby

Rescue

A rescue boat is on the water whenever the centre is open, and kiting in Aqaba is not permitted without one. Each rescue is charged at 10 JD (2026). Downwinders run with a boat escort along about 5 km of coast, with the pick-up included at the end.

Launch

Launch and land from the H&S Water Sports beach at Tala Bay, South Beach, inside the Tala Bay compound, open 10:00 to sunset seven days a week with help to set up, launch and land. The beach strip itself is small and mixed sand and stones; the riding area offshore is large. Riders on their own gear pay a 10 JD daily service fee that covers setup, launch, landing and pack-down (2026).

Hazards riders report 8 reported

Wind

Possible very strong wind days above 35 knots are reported, suitable only for intermediate to advanced riders.

Crowds and zones

Swimmers, stones and bystanders are reported.

Bottom

Reef is reported.

Waves and currents

small swell/chop
0.5-1 m chop and small swells are reported.

Other

deep water with no standing area - beginners need a harness/support plan
Deep water immediately used for lessons; no standing-depth area.
Summer heat: June to August average air temperatures of 38-42C.

Rules & access

1 min read

Rescue and operations

2026: kiting in Aqaba is not permitted without a rescue boat. H&S Water Sports at Tala Bay is reportedly the only kite centre in Aqaba, which it puts down to coastline and land regulation, and it runs the boat; each rescue costs 10 JD and a 10 JD daily service fee applies to ride from its beach.

2026: the centre operates 10:00 to sunset, seven days a week.

Access

2025: the launch sits inside Tala Bay Resort, so contact the school before arriving to arrange access through the gate.

Marine regulations

2001: Regulation No. 22 places the Aqaba Marine Park between the Marine Science Station in the north and the Public Security Officers Club in the south, reaching 350 m seaward of the high-tide line and 50 m inland, and bans hunting or harming marine and land animals, collecting shells, coral or organic material without authorisation, destroying plants, damaging habitats and facilities, introducing alien species, polluting, littering and camping.

Whether the Tala Bay launch falls inside the later Aqaba Marine Reserve boundary is unconfirmed; the 2001 southern limit is north of it.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Contact H&S before you go. The launch sits inside Tala Bay Resort, so gate access has to be arranged through the school (2025).
Do not plan an unsupported session. Kiting in Aqaba is not permitted without a rescue boat, each rescue is charged at 10 JD and riding on your own gear costs a 10 JD daily service fee (2026).
Rig for 18-22 knots, then check the forecast anyway: July-August can be weaker, and days above 35 knots happen.
Turn up with your waterstart, board recovery and boat-rescue routine sorted. There is nowhere to stand anywhere in the riding zone.
Do not stand on coral, and take no shells, coral, rocks or marine life near South Beach and the marine protected area.
In summer, plan around the heat as much as the wind. June to August air temperatures run 38-42C.

Getting there

Airport

King Hussein International Airport, Aqaba (AQJ)

Route

Tala Bay sits south of Aqaba city inside a gated resort compound. Downtown Aqaba to Tala Bay is 20 minutes by road, and private transfers from Aqaba airport to the Tala Bay hotels commonly run about 27-35 minutes. Arrange access to the riding beach with the kite school or the resort rather than assuming a public beach road.

Transfer (minutes)

20 from downtown Aqaba; about 27-35 from AQJ airport by private transfer.

Cost level

medium-high

Staying

Inside Tala Bay there is the Grand Tala Bay Resort, the Marina Plaza Hotel and Tala Bay Residence, with a private beach, a marina, restaurants, retail, resort facilities. Aqaba city hotels are the other option and need a road transfer to the kite beach.

No-wind days

SUP, wakeboarding, waterskiing, snorkeling on low-wind days. Tala Bay also runs diving, dining, beach club facilities and shopping, with desert excursions out of the compound: about 1 hour by road to Wadi Rum and about 2 hours to Petra.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Tala Bay?

The windy season runs roughly mid-March to mid-October, though sources disagree on whether July-August is the strongest stretch or a weaker one.

Is Tala Bay suitable for beginners?

Yes; H&S Water Sports teaches beginners from a boat, since the venue is deep water rather than a standing-depth lagoon.

What is the wind like?

Usually side-shore north to northwest wind blows 18-22 knots on windy days, with occasional days reported above 35 knots.

Is there a kite rescue service?

Yes, a rescue boat is kept available at all times, and the operator states kiting in Aqaba is not permitted without one.

Are there access restrictions?

The launch sits inside the gated Tala Bay resort compound, so riders should arrange access with the kite school before arriving.

The bigger pictureEverything about Aqaba

Last updated: August 2026