Bottle nose dolphin above water in the Red Sea off the shore of Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt

One of the prime attractions of the tourist town of Sharm el Sheikh is the sea, the Red Sea. Sharm el Sheikh is located at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, and control of the Sinai was transferred between Israel and Egypt after 2 wars in the region. During the control of Israel of the Sinai, there were efforts made to ensure that tourism in the region was developed; this was continued after the Sinai was returned back to Egypt where the efforts to develop tourism was continued and there was the demarcation of the Ras Mohammed marine park as a protected area, in order to ensure that there was no fishing in the area, no commercial shipping, nothing that could impact the coral formations in the area. These coral formations now form the backbone of tourism in the area, since the coral reefs and their colorful fish attract snorkeling and scuba diving; further in the Red Sea there are multiple variety of dolphins. While heading to the coral formations, we were lucky to to come across a small school of dolphins and were able to see these dolphins at fairly close quarters for a few minutes before they decided to submerge and vanished from view.

Sharm El Sheikh (New Millennium Collection: North Africa)	View Larger Map