BillJ

I am in the process of planning for our first trip to Egypt in probably Oct 2011. Just bot the Fodor's book, and perusing through the posts here and other places. I am thinking of a standard kind of a trip; Cairo and surrounds, Nile and Aswan cruises, seeing all the usual sites. Then end the trip with some time on the Red Sea for R&R and, especially snorkeling, which we love to do. We probably have about 3 weeks total. I have read about Sharm and the other Red Sea resort areas, and they are all attractive to us. So my question is, Where are some really good snorkeling spots? (We don't dive.)
We are late 60's, reasonably active. Ideally, reefs and many fish right off a hotel's beachfront.
Consider such things as: ease of entry, convenience to hotel, calm waters, reef and fish population, etc.
Excursions to special places is ok also.

I would appreciate anyone's comments on their snorkeling experience on Egypt's Red Sea.

Thanks in advance.

Casual_Cairo

When you are there, find a Sun-n-Fun kiosk and buy their one day snorkel trip. Don't know if they still have the Mabrook boat, but if they do, take her for the day. It is a blast. They know where to stop for good snorkeling. Yes, there will be other boats there, divers and snorkelers alike, but for one day how great it is. You can go in near your hotel the rest of the time you are there. The day out with Sun-n=Fun is great, I think They have 3 stops usually, and cook you a fresh fish lunch while you are out and have water and soft drinks available all day. It's really quite nice. I've done it a few times and it's always been quite nice.

Casual_Cairo

I should have specified that Sun-n-Fun is in Sharm el Sheikh. I don't know if they have expanded beyond that.

tdean

We spent a week in Dahab this past October and loved the snorkeling. We've snorkeled a lot in the Caribbean, Central America and off the coast of Zanzibar. We were surprised and amazed at the coral and sea life close to shore. We did much of our snorkeling in front of Le Meridien, where we stayed, and found plenty of fish including lion fish, gobi, parrot fish, a torpedo ray as well as good coral and anemones. The visibility was great but we might have lucked out because it can be frequently windy. Many of the dive sites around Dahab are shore dives so we bought a map, hired a taxi and checked a few out including, The Islands, Umm Sid, Moray Gardens and Blue Hole. Super coral. Some of the best we've seen snorkeling. Blue hole was a total zoo of people.

BillJ

Thank you so much. This is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for. We have snorkeled in many wonderful places, and the Red Sea has always been on our list. Thanks again, and maybe there will be others with comments.

LAleslie

I can vouch for the reef off the Hyatt resort. Walk in the water from the sandy beach and you're right there atop the reef. Easy peasy. Large area. Lotsa colorful fishies, eels, etc.
We had read that this was one of the best reefs off the resorts, and tho I can't compare to other sites, it was excellent. They have a large dive operation there where you can rent snorkeling equipment if you don't bring your own.

We spent a day there, but didn't stay at the resort. One of those giant places, with many pools, restaurants, an elaborate spa, great views, a sandy . Not my cuppa hotelwise, but may be yours. Other friends went out on boats, but there were strong currents (it was May) and they were a bit frightened. FWIW.

Novak

We snorkelled at the Sheraton Soma Bay, south of Hurgada. You can drive over from Luxor. They have a long pier out to the reef and you can drift snorkel along the reef back to the hotel beach. In Feb. it was windy and the water was cool, 70's. My son was there in Sept. and it was much warmer and not as windy. Lots of fish, clown fish, etc.

BeniciaChris

We stayed at a timeshare in Hurghada in October-part of our month trip to Egypt/Jordan. We took a day trip to Utopia Island-they dropped us off at 2 spots where I snorkled-I hadn't been snorkeling in over 20 years & forgot how much it was to reach out & touch the fish(|Not really but it seemed like it) They took a vidoe of the day which was nice-water perfect-wonderful relaxing day-Chris

Axel2DP

I took a day excursion snorkelling trip to Hurghada from Luxor. It was a very long day, but I was glad I did it. I think I went to the same Utopia Island and surrounding areas that you visited, BeniciaChris. The fishes and corals were amazing which I really wasn't expecting at all. I saw some colorful parrot fishes and the schools of butterfly fishes were beautiful. I wish I had an underwater camera to capture some of the beauty.

I'm not a good swimmer so I wore a life-jacket, which limited my mobility somewhat, but I could still enjoy the sea life.

BillJ

Wow! Thanks so much. This great! I looked up the Sheraton and the Hurghada area. Now we have some decisions to make. But Hurghada would be easier to get to from Luxor.

Novak & Axel2DP: did you drive, and if so, did you need to travel by caravan as in so many places in Egypt? How long of a drive was it?
Is it an easy flight back to Cairo?

Questions, questions. Thanks again for any more snorkeling stories.

Axel2DP

My trip was arranged via the Nefertiti hotel in Luxor. It provided a driver and car. We didn't have to travel by caravan. It took about 3 hours to get to Hurghada from Luxor. I didn't fly back to Cairo from Hurghada, but the Rough Guide guide book says that there are "numerous daily EgyptAir flights (1 hr)" from Cairo, so I'd imagine that it's not hard.

The drive back to Luxor was interesting. It seems that Egyptian drivers don't use their main head lights at all on the highway as the sky darkened. They do flash it on and off often as some sort of signal to oncoming traffic or to the car in front of it. My driver didn't really speak English so I couldn't ask him why drivers do that. There were also many checkpoint barriers set up along the road where one side of the road had to stop to let the oncoming traffic go through and vice versa and that did add significantly to the travel time.

BeniciaChris

We drove from Luxor-after our Nile cruise to Hurghada-our guide Ahmed arranged the whole thing. I think the drive was about 4 hours. I don't think it was a caravan like the Aswan to Abu Simbel. We were a week in Huraghada & then they picked us up at our timeshare & took us to the Hurghada airport for the hour flight to Cairo. It was a relaxing week by the Red Sea-so much to see & do in Egypt/Jordan that this was a nice respite-Chris

Casual_Cairo

<<The drive back to Luxor was interesting. It seems that Egyptian drivers don't use their main head lights at all on the highway as the sky darkened. They do flash it on and off often as some sort of signal to oncoming traffic or to the car in front of it. My driver didn't really speak English so I couldn't ask him why drivers do that.>>

Is it any wonder this is considered THE MOST DANGEROUS stretch of highway in Egypt?

BillJ

Casual Cairo; found Sun n Fun web site;http://www.sunnfunsinai.com/. thanks for the tip. Looks like a good excursion for snorkeling.

I'm still in preliminary stages of planning, but I'm zero-ing in on Sharm area for proximity to Catherine's monastary. Thank you so much everybody. Great info.

Axel2DP

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40449293/ns/travel-news/

"Shark maims 4 Russian swimmers in Egypt's Red Sea."

Wow, I didn't even think about shark when I went snorkeling, but this is probably a rare occurrence ?

BillJ

Axel; oh, thank you, thank you thank you for that. Are you kidding? LOL

a rogue white tipped shark. Oh, boy! Not showing that to DW. That's after the shark got 2 other Russian swimmers a couple days before. Bit a lady's leg off.
Does he only like Russians? Jeez! I'll have my passport in a zip lock so I can show him I'm not Russian. Hehehe! Or maybe wear a red white and blue bathing suit.

Thanks, Axel (said in mock disgust) ! I'll be on the lookout for more helpful posts here.

Grcxx3

<<The drive back to Luxor was interesting. It seems that Egyptian drivers don't use their main head lights at all on the highway as the sky darkened. >>

Ah....nothing like driving in Egypt at night! It's not for anyone with a weak heart!!!!

I should mention....if given the opportunity....we would go back in a heartbeat (and are looking into it!)!

MyriamC

We snorkeled/scuba dived in all the tourist areas of the Red Sea (Taba, Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam).
Best snorkeling was in the Sharm area, more specifically the Ras Um El Sid neighbourhood where many of the hotels are high on a cliff, have spectacular house reefs with up to 30m drop-offs close to the shore.

BillJ

Thank you MyriamC. The specific locale is quite helpful. I appreciate everyone's contribution. I know it's a long way off (Oct), but we have a lot to cobble together. Thanks again.

MyriamC

BillJ, in case you haven't booked a hotel yet, check out the hotel page on the Sinai Divers website. There's a little map of Sharm. By moving your cursor over the hotel names in the right column, you can see where the various hotels are located. The Ras Um El Sid (Ras Umm Sid) area is the farthest south. We ourselves stayed at Dreams Beach and Reef Oasis. Not the best hotels we've had in Egypt, but certainly on the best location! Expect the colorful fish to swim over your feet when you're walking on the jetty.
http://www.sinaidivers.com/english.htm