Friday, July 19, 2013

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

After a short 1 hour plane ride from Cairo, we landed in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Sharm is located due east of Cairo on the Sinai Peninsula and is the holiday destination for most Egyptians. We would have never thought of Egypt as a relaxing, holiday destination, but Sharm El Sheikh is beautiful and peaceful.

We stayed at the The Ritz Carlton on the Red Sea. The trick we learned from friends that have stayed there before us is to upgrade to the Club Level Rooms to take advantage of the free food and drink. It was a great deal, good food, and lots of beer and wine!

The reason we went to Sharm in the first place was because the Red Sea is considered to be the second best diving site in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. On our first day, we jumped into the sea and started snorkeling off the house reef. To our delight, we could see down at least 60 feet and all around us were beautiful coral reefs and schools of tropical fish. It was literally breathtaking.

We spent most of our 3 days in Sharm snorkeling and scuba diving. On Friday we went out on a dive boat to Ras Mohammed National Park and dove at several sites. Brian saw an old shipwreck from the late 1800's that was carrying porcelain bath tubs and toilets. The area around the shipwreck was covered with toilets. Can you imagine the photo possibilities (if we had a proper underwater camera - next time).

Sharm El Sheikh is extremely beautiful and the Red Sea is a divers dream. Flights from Abu Dhabi are easy and the accommodation is inexpensive. It's definitely on the list to return.



 


 
 






 

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Your photos are gorgeous. I just stumbled on your blog. We are an American family who just found our way to Abu Dhabi. This vacation really confirms my hope that Abu Dhabi will be an amazing place to live--so close to so many amazing places. Thanks for sharing. Liz Totton

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. These are definitely some beautiful pictures! I'm glad you had fun there, and just hope more people find out how lovely Sharm El Sheikh could be. Specially these days, with tourism around Egypt has taken a major hit.

    Egyptian Tourism Blogger

    ReplyDelete