A ship stopped near a coral formation with tourists taking a look at these coral formations near Sharm el Sheikh

The shoreline near the Ras Muhamed Protected marine park near Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt

Sharm el Sheikh is one of the non-historic tourist locations in Egypt (well, you can get to an ancient Saint Catherine Monastery from here, but otherwise it is non-historic places, atleast none of the ancient temples and other signs of the age of the Pharaohs). It is more famous for the excellent weather, especially in winter, and also for the Red Sea. There are a number of coral formations, and the Government has given them protection in the form of the Ram Muhammed park where commercial activities except for tourism are banned. When you do get here, you do end up seeing a number of small ships and other boats that are carrying tourists here for the purpose of snorkeling or scuba diving. In this photo, you can just see a sample of the number of ships (there are a large number of ships that are visible here, with these just being a small set).

A typical example of the small ship used to carry tourists to the coral formations in Sharm el Sheikh

This is a typical example of the small ship that is used to carry tourists from the Sharm el Sheikh harbour to the various tourist locations in the Red Sea. The prime aim of these ships is to take people to the various coral formations where they can do snorkeling (fairly close to shore, and in waters that are typically not deeper than 20 feet), or they can do scuba diving in the more deeper parts of the coral or in sunken ships (all of these attract a large number of colorful marine fishes and others). While on the way to these locations, sun-bathing is a common time spending activity.

A ship stopped near a coral formation with tourists taking a look at these coral formations near Sharm el Sheikh

This is a ship meant for taking tourists for scuba diving (you can see scuba diving equipment at the rear section of the ship including the oxygen cylinders). The ship is full of tourists, on the lower deck and the upper deck. The ship has stopped near a coral formation, with the coral being pointed out to the tourists on board the ship. If you look closely, you can see that there is a difference in the color of the water near the back of the ship, which is a sign of there being some coral formations here. Some of the tourists have obviously seen this before, since they remain where they are instead of heading to the rear of the ship.

A ship close to our ship, moving at a fairly fast clip, close to the Sharm el Sheikh tourist town in Egypt

This is a view of a ship, fairly close to our ship, heading towards the Ras Muhammed Park, located a few miles away from the tourist town of Sharm el Sheikh near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. I like the view of such ships, since they seem to be fairly sleek and fast, and look well maintained (atleast from the outside). You can also see some tourists at the lower and upper levels of the ship.