Ships and yachts in the harbour of Sharm el Sheikh in the Red Sea in Egypt

Small ships and boats in the harbour of Sharm el Sheikh in the Red Sea in Egypt with backdrop of hills

Ships and yachts in the waters of the Red Sea off Sharm el Sheikh

The town of Sharm El Sheikh near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula in Egypt is very famous with tourists, given the temperate weather, the great water, and the beaches. In winter, when it is freezing in Europe and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the place sees a large number of tourists arriving. Part of the attractiveness of the location is the scuba diving and snorkeling that can be done over there. With a number of coral reefs and the associated marine life, people can enjoy these through scuba diving for admiring life below the waves while the snorkeling lets people enjoy the corals and colorful fish at around the water level. These are located some distance away from the town, and hence tourist operators have ships, boats and yachts to take tourists to these location, as you can see with these large number of ships that are normally full of tourists.

Dolphins frolicking around in the waters off Sharm el Sheikh in the Red Sea

View of dolphin under the blue water of the Red Sea off Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt

A number of bottle nosed dolphins in the waters of the Red Sea off Egypt

A view of dolphins enjoying themselves in the waters of the Red Sea. There are a number of different species of dolphins in the waters of the Red Sea (a thin sea between the main part of Egypt and the Sinai peninsula (also a part of Egypt)). Since many parts of this waterway are protected, the dolphins find shelter here. We were on our way to the coral regions off the tourist city of Sharm el Sheikh and in the middle of the trip, there was a commotion. The people handling the boat told us that there were a number of dolphins to be seen in the water, and our boat (along with other such tourist boats) headed towards them, almost forming a ring around them. Although the dolphins did not do anything other than just generally swim around, it was a great experience to see them like this, and we stayed there till the dolphins submerged and went away one after the other.

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

Rubber dhingy next to the tourist boat near the shore of Sharm el Sheikh in the Red Sea resort of Egypt

Rubber floats (small boats) powered with powerful small engines can be very fast and move easily even in shallow waters. This is such a boat next to a tourist craft. The Egyptian Red Sea coastal city of Sharm el Sheikh is a very popular tourist region, both for the beaches over there, and the coral reefs (which draw people wanting to do snorkeling or do scuba diving). Most of the tourist boats in the region cater to the needs of these tourists who come to visit the various coral reefs in the region (we were taken to 3 such coral reefs, with the ability to do snorkeling at all of them). It was a lot of fun, since in most of the cases, the coral reefs were right at the water level (in fact, it was difficult to move over the coral reef and one had to go by the side of the reef). When we were there, there were a number of such ships and tourists at the coral reefs, and we just joined the others who were also having fun over there.

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