Tourists walking on the pier that leads to a yacht at the Red Sea in Sharm el Sheikh

Sharm el Sheikh is a town near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula that is famous for being a tourist destination visited by a large number of people every year. As late as the 1950's, the strategic location of Sharm el Sheikh meant that it was being used as a naval base, but after that, the town went through changes in ownership, having been conquered by Israel twice and being returned through treaty. It was being set as a tourist town and with its beaches, coral formations and infrastructure for snorkeling and scuba diving, it draws a large number of visitors on a regular basis. From the pier, people use yachts and small ships to head to the locations for snorkeling and scuba diving, and it can get pretty busy in the morning times when the ships all head out. This is a photo of the pier, with tourists making their way to the various yachts and ships that are headed out. In the background you can see the hills that are very close to the shore at Sharm el Sheikh.

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