Sharm el-Sheikh – Not just for divers
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - March, 2007
Would you love to swim in clear blue waters surrounded by colourful fish and coral but can’t dive? In Sharm el-Sheikh you can enjoy all the beauty of the Red Sea without even leaving your hotel!
Known as the Red Sea Riviera or the City of Peace, Sharm is spread out along the desert coastline.
The Red Sea and Sharm el-Sheikh are famous the world over for being “the” place to dive. It’s also a year round holiday destination and particularly popular for those in search of winter sun. Sharm – as the locals call it – is located at the tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that is lodged between mainland Egypt on the left and Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan on the right. On the horizon behind the resort lies the breathtaking Sinai mountain range and in front the Red Sea.
Known as the Red Sea Riviera or the City of Peace, Sharm is spread out along the desert coastline. Despite being a holiday destination since the late 60’s there are no high rise buildings blocking the views of the mountains, instead Peace Road will take you the short distance from the airport to one of the many hotels set in tropical gardens. However, as you drive past the numerous attractions, casinos and shopping malls you could easily forget you are in Egypt.
The coastline is made up of a series of bays - Sharks Bay, Tiger Bay, Garden Bay and Nabq Bay before arriving in the south at Sharm el Maya, the original fishing village. In the middle is Na’ama Bay so popular that it has become a resort in its own right. During the day its small harbour is bustling with boats filled with day trippers heading to Ras Mohammed National Park and Tiran Island and in the evening they return to fill the town’s numerous bars and restaurants.
Na’ama Bay has been well designed, mixing the old with the new. Its restaurants range from Bedouin tents with silk cushions and water pipes to food chains such as Hard Rock Café, Pizza Hut and KFC. Small boutiques and gift shops selling hand made jewellery and personalised papyrus scrolls surround a brand new air conditioned shopping mall boasting designer labels. Rooftop bars overlook decorative cobbled streets lined with old fashioned street lamps and palm trees decorated with fairy lights. Alternatively, you can enjoy a drink in a double decker bus and then dance the night away in trendy clubs such as Pacha.
It is not until you leave the land behind and head out to sea that you get a real feel for the coastline. White hotel buildings and palm trees sit astride sandy bays, craggy inlets and cliffs and in the distance the dusty pink, craggy mountains create a stunning backdrop. Each morning a flotilla of up to twenty identical white cruisers sail down the coast arriving at Na’ama Bay and load up with divers, snorkellers and swimmers. An hour later they all head back along the coast towards Ras Mohammed National Park on the southern most tip of the peninsula.
Rooftop bars overlook decorative cobbled streets lined with old fashioned street lamps and palm trees decorated with fairy lights.
Ras Mohammad was set up in 1983 to protect more than 200 species of corals, 1,000 species of fish, 40 species of star fish, 25 species of sea urchins, more than a 100 species of mollusc and 150 species of crustaceans. It is also an important migratory and breeding location for numerous sea birds such as storks, ospreys and herons and dolphins are regularly spotted along the coastline.
The park has several recognised dive and snorkelling sites but due to its ever increasing popularity there can be anything up to six boats at each site turning the sea into snorkel and flipper soup. For the serious diver the best way to avoid the crowds is to stay on a live-a-board that will take you to more remote sites and ship wrecks.
Although it is extremely pleasant to spend the day at sea you can enjoy the same underwater delights without even leaving your hotel. Several hotels have their own house reef with a coral-friendly floating jetty that will take you beyond the coral bays to a reef cliff. Before even putting a toe in the water you can enjoy the colourful fish swimming in and out of the shallow coral right beneath your feet.
Snorkelers jumping off the pontoon will find themselves in Jacques Cousteau’s world. Over twenty species of fish appear before your mask darting around you as they make their way to nibble the coral. The sea is full of so many fish you will think you have jumped into an aquarium. You don’t even need to be a strong swimmer! All you have to do is pick a section of reef, tread water and enjoy the marvellous yellow, green and blues of the different varieties of Parrotfish and the shimmering turquoise blues and purples of Angel and Butterflyfish.
Although it is extremely pleasant to spend the day at sea you can enjoy the same underwater delights without even leaving your hotel.
Cornetfish float next to the sea’s surface and shoals of tiny black and silver Scissortail Sergeants swim that close you feel you could reach out and touch them. The water is so clear that you can see divers swimming underneath you enjoying the same coral cliff only 15ft further down. The best time to snorkel is first thing in the morning before the sunbathers start using the sea to cool down. Before breakfast you can have the whole reef to yourself and if you are lucky dolphins will swim right past you and bid you good morning.
For land lovers there are day trips to Mount Sinai and St Catherine’s Monastery - a fortress built in 527 around Moses’ Burning Bush or to the appropriately named Coloured Canyon. Golf, camel rides and 4x4 jeep safaris are also available if you can tear yourself away from your hotel pool.
Sharm is relatively cheap; a ten minute taxi journey from your hotel to Na’ama Bay will only cost £3. Food is also very cheap and beer, spirits and cocktails reasonably priced. The local wine, particularly the white, isn’t great and imported wine is very expensive. If you are a wine lover it is recommended that you purchase wine from the duty free and most restaurants will charge only a small corkage should you decide to enjoy it with your meal.
The Egyptians that live and work in Sharm are extremely hospitable although in Na’ama Bay they can be exceptionally creative in finding ways to entice you into their restaurants and shops. With an obvious police presence you will feel very safe and it is reassuring to know they take the resort’s safety seriously.
With dramatic scenery on land and under the sea there is plenty to keep you occupied and you might even feel the desire to take diving lessons and with numerous schools you will have no excuse. If, however, you are looking for a chilled holiday lying in the sun with a good book but don’t want to miss what lies beneath the waves all you have to do is grab your snorkel and jump in.