Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt April 5, 2022

 More pleasant temperatures  and a light breeze await us.  The strangest looking port ever. 

Sharm el Sheikh is on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypts seaside resort and often called the “City of Peace” for the numerous international peace conferences that are held here.  Once a modest fishing village it has turned into a true tourist town with mega resorts and shopping centers.  It is the most clean and glitzy of Egyptian cities I have had the opportunity to see.  It is renowned for its unrivaled scuba diving with gorgeous corals, dramatic rock formation and underwater cliffs, all teaming with fish, many only known to the Red Sea.   

While I would have loved to snorkel here, even though the air temperatures were reaching 95, the waters were still cool and only around upper 70’s.  So we opted for a glass bottom boat ride to view this so touted underwater world.  The tour got of to a rocky start,  we had to meet in the Theater as we also had to show our passports with our Egyptian visas before boarding our buses and they wanted to avoid crowding. We had to wait 30 minutes, now 30 minutes past our departure time.  Finally through the immigration process and on board the bus we were ready to go,  instead further delays, another 30 minutes.  Then as we thought we would finally be underway, they do a random checking of passengers at the Ports Exit.  First we thought we all had to get off the bus, but then they took just the first 5 people to be run through a security check.  We finally get these five somewhat confused people back and are finally on our way.  YEAH!!  The 15 minute bus ride brought us to one of the many ritzy beach resorts.  We get off the bus and are already overwhelmed my the heat.  We walk across the beach area among all the hotel guest lounging  under beach umbrellas and  Palapas.  The wooden blank walkway across the beach ends and our sandals almost melt in the sand.  Then comes the fun part, a floating dock (not a solid surface floating on the water but rather made of connected plastic square planks,  it was like walking on a waterbed).  Luckily there were some young Egyptians eager to help you navigate that rather precarious dock to the boat.   Once we all finally made it into the glass bottom boat, we had about an hour on board, with 30 minutes of it gliding over magnificent corals, one they claim to be 500 years old, viewing the fishes as they swam in and out of the corals and rock formation.  There were major drop offs, revealing beautiful coral walls, corals of all types and color.  It made me wish I had braved the cold waters to once again snorkel among such beauty.  The actual time viewing the coral formation and fish was much too short.  We all went to the top level to enjoy some refreshments, the view and the HEAT.  

Back on land, the heat was even more intense and shade at a premium.  Although we had thought to take the shuttle to town latter to explore on our own, we decided to stay on the ship, where we would not die of a heat stroke.      BTW the reason for one of our delays was that several people with mobility issues  and some even with wheelchairs had booked this tour and had to be advised that this was not a tour for them, even though the tour was labeled “easy”.  They forgot to mention the floating dock.  

The very strange port that we docked in.  There used to be buildings on that cliff, now just rubble.  You can see some of the tour buses that were ready for us.  

It’s a very rich city, tourist destination with many fancy resorts

The resort beach from which we took our Glass Bottom Boat ride. 

The floating and somewhat precarious dock that led to our glass bottom boats. 

Just a few of the corals  and fishes we saw.




On the upper level of our boat we enjoyed refreshments, the view and the HEAT.

The long and well landscaped entry and exit of the resort where we took our glass bottom boat ride. 

Just one of the many flamboyant resorts.  

Excellent roadways and actually little traffic considering its a major tourist resort town. 
One of the many huge indoor shopping malls that we passed on the way back to the port,
And, we bid another port goodbye.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Montevideo, Uruguay. City tour and La Rabida Working Farm

Image
 We arrived February 13th in Montevideo and will be staying overnight, as our port of call to Punta del Este was cancelled due to sea conditions not being favorable for tendering.  And, Punta del Este is a tender port. We were greeted with, while cool temperature, bright sunshine and fair winds.  We booked the 7 hour tour to the La Rabida Working Ranch for the first day.  The tour started with a brief glimpse of the city which did not impress me at all but then proceeded for an hour and half through the lovely Uruguayan countryside, which was absolutely gorgeous, even though generally flat.  The gentle rolling hills and its varied vegetation with blue skies and puffy white clouds just was such a pleasant site after many days at sea.  We arrived at the ranch and were greeting by some members of the family on horseback.  We were directed to a large pasture field with many huge shade trees and open-air buildings where we were given a brief history of the ...
Read more

Scenic Cruising Amalia Glacier and El Brujo Glacier

Image
 February 6, we awake to very cold, overcast and low hanging cloud day and wonder will we actually see the glaciers.  The ship was gliding through the fjords ever so slowly and as we got closer and closer to the Amalia glacier more and more ice chunks and mini icebergs floated around.  And then miraculously the low hanging clouds lifted and allowed us to see the majestic glacier.   This glacier skirts the northern rise of the Reclus volcano located right behind it.  The ice flow goes all the way into the water.  This area was once the world’s largest continuous ice field, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.  Today it is merely a fraction of it’s former self.  Though still very impressive.   There we were also blessed with a glimpse of  some marine otters.  The ship did a 360 to make sure everyone was able to view the glacier.   We continued at a slow speed to the next glacier the El Brujo glacier even more impressive than Amalia...
Read more

Istanbul, Turkey April 18-19, 2022

Image
 Istanbul,  what an incredible city, one that deserves a second visit, but not when it is in the 40s, rainy, windy and a real-feel temperature of the 30’s.  The at-sea-day before already was an indication of the miserable weather to come.  We could not see anything of the passage through the Dardanelles Strait, Sea of Marmara and Bosphorus Strait due to the heavy mist.  I truly had seconds thoughts of getting of the ship and going on our tours, but as Margit reminded me, you have never been here and who knows if you ever will be again.  So I mustered all my energy and braved the cold.  I am glass I did.   Part of Istanbul (formally called Constantinople) is on the European continent (60%) and the other 40% is on the Asian Continent with the Bosphorus Strait between the two sides.  It’s the only transcontinental city in the world, which alone makes it unique.   Depending on which tour guide you believe there are about 15 to 18 million inh...
Read more