Egypt - Sharm

after a 5am start we arrive at the Renaissance Golden View Beach Hotel in Sharm-El-Sheikh. Luckily the barman spots that we are in need of refreshment, delivers a couple of the usual and we are soon relaxed.	one of the 4 pools	OK, I have to admit there are quite a lot of underwater photos coming up. the novelty of the waterproof camera still hasn't worn off and quite frankly there wasn't much else worth photographing in Sharm... so here goes... a fish.	a coral fan, at about 15m deep, managed to hold my breath long enough to get down and take a quick snap.	feet and fish
first day and another pool, we spend the next couple of days unwinding alternating between the sun loungers and the reef, it's a hard life.	fat spined red urchin.	reef canyon, looked more impressive while swimming through it, honest.	the explanation I'm about to give can't do justice to the sheer wonder of the reef and the life teaming around it. it's like flying over an alien jungle, there's life at every scale, it's mind-bending but here goes... reef, fish.	fish (bigger one)
more fish and some coral (are you starting to see a theme here?)	purple coral	yellow coral (and fish)	cute (fortunately vegetarian) parrot fish with big teeth	another fish (probably the most common largest fish on the reef - very tame and quite photogenic)
yellowy-green coral	found this spotted fish (grouper?) lurking at 15m	fish (basking whale!) in natural environment - looking slightly menacing at the photographer	finally managed to drag Jules in on day 2	fish
snorkelers from fish's eye view	free-diving	happy feet	Stu in his element	water's so clear it's perfect for practicing your free-diving (not that Stu needs any practice). loads of scuba divers around so you don't feel lonely when you're down there.
baby barracuda-like fish	looking north up the coast from the main jetty. nothing but hotels and reef as far as the eye can see	the wobbly floating jetty. we thought this was tricky going snorkeling until we tried it weighed down with full dive gear...	under the boardwalk	coral and fish
more coral and fish	see previous comment	the "house reef" covers the whole shore for hundreds of miles in every direction. knee deep for the first 30 meters then a sheer vertical wall of coral down to about 20m.	fish	bubbles
another fish	jetty from below (with Russian bum for scale)	fish under jetty	rip-off mountain. nice location(old Sharm mountain), terrible (very expensive) beer	eating like an Egyptian (they refused to serve us until we put on these silly hats)
how not to pour Egyptian beer	bet you can't eat that in one go...! we get these weird balloon shaped bread things. very tasty they were too with our mezza starter	another sea fan coral, bit more time to photograph this one as we do our check dive on the house reef	first dive of the holiday	fish on the reef
Jules snorkeling like a pro	Stu off into the deep (again)	Look ,big fish! Where? There? Where? Over there!!	more coral	view into another world, one of working, cleaning, ironing...
yellow-tailed fish (technical name tbc)	scuba-pro (well sort of, we had to do a 2nd check dive...Jules' fault)	spotted a blue-spotted ray on the house reef	smile, you're on clam-era..!	cool see fan coral
lion fish - not often you see them swimming free like this.	very pretty but very poisonous	family of lion fish - about 5 on this one bit of coral	diver (Jules)	coral garden
fish in sunlight	bubbles in sunlight	having successfully mastered the house reef we get more adventurous and book ourselves on a diving trip. equipment and divers waiting to be taken on board.	the organised chaos as we await the arrival of the dive boat.	once at sea we follow the flotilla of dive boats heading for the Tiran Straits in search of Jackson reef.
the rules at the marina say strictly no more than 3 boats on a mooring. any more room for a small one?	distant view of mount Sinai (well, in that direction anyway) where Moses was spoken to by God from a burning bush and given the 10 commandments. (today's trivia)	we kit up for the first dive and bravely leap (or backward roll) into the water.	on the way down we pass a shoal of divers - this normally rare and timid breed tends to congregate in the red sea, their numbers reaching epic proportions	angel fish
all over yellow fish (as distinct from the previous yellow tailed fish) Tell me if the technical terms are too hard to follow.	some kind of spotted fish	another lion fish, a bit closer this time (Stu pushing his luck getting closer to the spines)	I'm forever blowing bubbles!	red sea goldfish
mad red sea goldfish	another rare breed, loosely related to the divers spotted earlier, this one preferring the warmer surface waters, the "Italianus buoyancyaidus snorkellus maxiumus", aka the Italian snorkelers (with life vests).	towards the end of the dive, Jules was befriended by a trumpet fish, mistaking us for a bit of underwater flotsam. it hung out for a while watching us as closely as we were watching it.	the friendly trumpet fish posing for a photo	We found Nemo!
look, we even hold hands underwater!	kissing however, is more problematic...	pure unadulterated amazing coral	Jules applying anti-fog to mask for the second dip	boat and dive master as we swim towards Thomas reef to start our second dive
oh and yet another fan coral (I did warn you)	Stu getting water in his ears	at times it felt like there were more divers than fish!	towards the end of the dive we spot a turtle feeding on the reef below us, kicking up a great cloud of debris.	Jules showing us how its suppose to be done, looking serene.
another pair of clown fish (even the fish charts call them Nemos)	looking down into the bottomless depths with the sun behind you, the sunbeams form a rippling radiating pattern, mesmerizing to look at.	the rusting hulk of a Russian ship that ran aground on the reef in the 80's they reckon he had been at the cargo, vodka.	strange how we resemble frogs when dipped in water.	just a bit of overhanging reef
ah, the delights of Naama Bay, kind of Benidorm meets Egypt. if this is what half the people who come to Sharm come for it didnt do it for us. even the pizza was rubbish :)	did I really dive that deep? just hold your breath and keep swimming down, remember to pop your ears on the way.	big dark green and orange fish.	more long thin fish in the shallows	the view from the terrace overlooking the sea, stitched 360x180 panorama then flexifyed into a small planet.
to relieve the monotony of the fantastic reef we spend an evening racing around the desert on quad bikes, much faster and more fun than camels!	Jules got disturbingly into driving fast	i may look stupid to you but this head scarf is the height of fashion and at £35 Egyptian pounds was the most stung we managed to get all holiday. not bad.	we stop for a break in the middle of nowhere, you got a great sense of the desolation of the place	dust, dust and more dust. (now you see the importance of the head scarf)
The obligatory camel ride at authentic bedouin tea stop. And for the best remark of the holiday, there we were later that evening, walking down the street when a local offered me 25 male camels for such a lovley woman, I was tempted to accept before a jab in the ribs bought me to my senses.	weird eroded rocks	us looking cute again.	one of our guides, some parts were too bumpy to sit down.	another small planet.
light	Jules hits the Stella (the Egyptian variety) still it can only improve the driving	Acapulco Joe's the best restaurant in the hotel, wicked chocolate, Tequila, bread pudding.	the lobby panorama	now this fish, it doesn't look that big until one evening we spotted it feeding on the smaller fish under the jetty, it would accelerate out of the depths to plough through the shallows so fast you could only just follow the motion. then return to the depths spitting out scales. It only just fit in the 2ft of water below the jetty, very cool.
brain coral	fish	large blue clam	same blue clam up close, sunning colours, had to hold still for a minute to get it to come out of its shell.	kind of yellow ridged coral
post card coral	coral polyp	another Lion fish, this one on the house reef, spent ages just watching it, amazing creatures.	sea anemone type thing	more fish
panorama of the hotel and one of its pools	yellow fish under the jetty	little whitebait sized fish, would make a nice appetizer.	the view of Jules snorkeling from about 15m away	reef, fish
stags horn coral, huge and green.	cool soft coral, the whole thing ungulates in the current.	great big pufferfish, huge eyes, despite several minutes chasing it round the reef i couldnt get it to puff up (probably a good thing).	fish, under the floating jetty.	last swim of the trip and came across this stone fish, first one I'd seen. fantastic camouflage, only spotted it because it moved. (very poisonous)
out in the blue and a huge shoal of blue fish arrived, swam around me for a minute then swam away.	view along the reef (from above for a change)	Last day by the pool, after some debate we conclude - its only the contrast between holidays and normal days that makes holidays so good.

Egypt - Sharm-El-Sheikh - 2007