Sharm el Sheikh

We had one more flight to catch before the end of our Egyptian adventure. We left Luxor on Friday morning and arrived in Sharm el Sheikh later that evening. Sharm el Sheikh can best be described as the Cancun of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s a resort town full of all-inclusive hotels on the beaches of the beautiful Red Sea.

We stayed at the Hilton Shark’s Bay. The hotel was a huge complex with multiple pools, swim-up bars, restaurants, a hookah bar, and beach access. But like the hotel’s name implies, sharks are prevalent in that area of the Red Sea. And due to recent attacks, warning signs were posted everywhere reminding tourists the hotel was not liable for any injuries and the beaches were closed. :(

We had booked a snorkeling tour a couple of months ago for all day Saturday, but we were unsure if 1) the weather and water would be warm enough to swim in and 2) the waters would be safe enough to swim in. The tour company assured us the weather would be great and wetsuits were unnecessary, but they could not guarantee our safety, especially when the shark attacks started to increase in early December at the Ras Mohammed natural marine park. Coincidentally, this is where our snorkeling tour was scheduled to take place. At the last minute, we decided not to cancel the tour, because really, what are the chances of being eaten by a shark?

Against the wishes of some of our friends and family members, we boarded a boat on Saturday morning from Naama Bay and headed out to sea. We were pretty tired from the night before because our hotel had hosted a New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner complete with Egyptian fare, belly dancing, a whirling dervish, and a dance floor and DJ to ring in 2011. But we managed to take naps on the boat on the way out to the first dive site.

David's ready to celebrate!

The boat was completely full, but not everyone decided to go swimming. Some ended up playing it safe (and warm) by staying on the ship at the different sites. This sounds terrible, but David and I did feel better once we learned we were with a group of first-timers. If a shark is going to get anyone, we were sure we could out-swim the newbies.

Instead of going to Ras Mohammed, which was on the itinerary, our guide took us to Tiran Island, a safer area. There were three different coral reef sites around the island where we snorkeled. Even though we didn’t see anything big, unlike in Jamaica where we saw sting rays and even a nurse shark, it was still some of the best snorkeling we’ve done so far. The waters were crystal clear and there were a ton of fish. When we snorkeled last November in Cancun, our guide had to feed the fish to get them to come out. But here they were everywhere – and there were so many different, colorful kinds.

Naama Bay

Shipwreck on the coral reef

While packing for the trip, I faced a swimsuit dilemma. I wasn’t sure what kind of swimming attire was appropriate. They do actually make burka bathing suits, and some of the girls on the boat were wearing them (sans headpiece) but I ended up sticking with my standard bikini. Only one other girl wore a bikini, but whatevs.

I have to mention this because I thought it was so interesting. Have you seen Sex and the City 2? Well if you haven’t, there’s a scene in the movie where the women of Abu Dhabi take off their burkas to show Carrie and the ladies of NYC their designer clothes underneath. I saw that and thought it was a load of crap, but it turns out a lot of Muslim women do dress like Western women underneath their coverings. In the Sharm airport, David and I noticed a group of women in full burkas carrying designer handbags and wearing Gucci sunglasses. When one of them sat down across from us, she crossed her legs and I was able to catch a glimpse of her skinny jeans and suede knee-high boots. So cute! It’s too bad no one ever gets to see her cute clothes except her oppressive husband.

Anyway! Just thought I’d mention that in case you did see Sex and the City 2 and were skeptical like me…

After we got back to our hotel on Saturday afternoon, David and I had dinner at the Italian restaurant and called it a night. We woke up early the next morning to soak up the last of the Vitamin D before heading on a plane back to London late Sunday.

We had such an amazing time in Egypt and we realize we are so blessed to be able to travel so freely right now. We will continue to take advantage of this before we move back to the states and have kiddos. To see all of the pictures from our trip, click here.