Snorkelling in the Red Sea
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2009
1
14
41
Trip End
Mar 19, 2009
Sharm El-Sheikh,
Red Sea and Sinai,
Egypt
Saturday, February 21, 2009
After about an hour travelling quite slowly because of the wind, we arrived at our first stop for the day. No one wanted to go in because it was so cold but I decided that we'd come here to snorkel so I didn't want to miss out. Adrian and I went in and it was just beautiful, amazing coral and lots of fish. We just swam or let the current take us along and spent most of the time with our faces underwater, pointing to things, occasionally putting our heads up to talk about what we were seeing
On the balcony of the restaurant
. The water was so warm, it was only cold when we got out. I think we were in the water about an hour. Freezing cold when we got out but I warmed up when I got changed and had hot tea.We kept going for another 30-40 mins then stopped again for another dive and snorkel. This time they all got in and stayed with the instructor for a while before going off by themselves. None of the Russians who were going in the water seemed to be able to swim so they hung onto the life bouy and let the instructor pull them along. Alanna and Mike got out after a while but Adrian and Ange stayed in longer. Adrian had taken their camera in the water this time and got some great shots of everyone underwater, as well as the coral and fish.
We sailed again after having lunch and at the next stop, Adrian, Ange and I got in. We then went to a spot closer to Sharm and stopped not far from shore. This time Adrian and I were the only snorkellers, there were several divers going down to look at a submerged temple which we couldn't really see from up top. We stayed out for ages and the fish were the best of the day, coming right up to out faces. We both were diving down and again Adrian got some great photos. We had a lost-at-sea moment when we surfaced and couldn't find our boat, but we had drifted and so had they. It was a fair way to swim back to the boat and it was a bit rough so I was tired when we climbed back on board.
It was not that far back to the marina where we hopped in our minibus again for the drive back to the hotel. We lazed around, had a shower (no hot water) and went to dinner in the Oriental restaurant. When we walked in the room, there was smoke everywhere from the open fire and it took them ages to try and get the vents working to remove it. The food was good, not too much of it. Adrian starting falling asleep at the table so we all turned in early.
