One of my minor bucket list items was to snorkel in the Red Sea. I got my opportunity today.
Our ship was docked at Sharm el-Sheikh, which has blossomed into a sparkling new resort town at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Instead of yesterday’s visit, where we saw structures built 35 centuries ago, nothing in Sharm is older than 35 years.
We had been asked to submit our shoe size in advance to ensure that we had the right size swim find on board. Of course, the process turned out to be a totally haphazard jumble of the ship’s hands tossing flippers around to everyone to see if anything fit. But we were underway soon enough.
Our first stop took us to the south side of Ra’s Nazrani. Here the reefs came very close to the surface in spots, and our guide led us through a maze between the coral outcrops.
There were at least 10 snorkeling boats anchored side by side in clusters. The guides yelled out to the swimmers on occasion to try to keep us all together, or at least to show where they were leading us. “Mah-SOOOOOO-ra!” (Our boat) or “Sandy’s Group, follow me!”
We spent 30 minutes or so in the crystal-clear, 80-degree water marveling at the many different reef fish. Many were unfamiliar variants of other fish I’ve seen in the Caribbean.
Next we moved to another spot between Reef Oasis Blue Bay and the Sheraton. I had noticed the nearest building on the way out. It appeared to be crowned by an observatory dome, but at second glance, I think it might have been ornamental. Here the current was a little stronger. I didn’t see as many fish, but I was blown away by the brilliant colors of the coral. I’ve never seen such beautiful electric blues, violets, lavenders, and pinks in nature before. I didn’t bring my underwater camera with me, because all previous photos I’ve taken on snorkeling trips have been disappointing. But I sure wish I’d had it today.
One of our group was missing when it was time to leave! We had to wait for all the other groups to leave to see if she was still floating out there somewhere. We knew at least that she was wearing a life vest. And we were very close to shore, so she couldn’t have gotten into too much trouble. We found her a few minutes later. She had gone several hundred yards past our group and into another group of snorkelers. Another boat picked her up and returned her to our group. What a scare!
The sun set as we left Sharm to motor up the Gulf of Aqaba. The full moon rose over the island of Jazirat Tiran off our starboard side. It was Egypt’s decision to close the straits here to Israeli shipping that precipitated the 1967 War. And now Saudi Arabia and Egypt are talking about building a causeway across Jazirat Tiran and the strait to link the two countries, with Israel’s concurrence. It will offer a new path for pilgrims to reach Mecca from the west, and it will facilitate Egypt’s plans to repopulate the Sinai Peninsula.
