Located on the southern tip of the Gulf of Aquaba the tourist district of Sharm El-Sheikh consists of the small town of Sharm El-Sheikh which was built in 1968 overlooking Sharm el-Maya Bay and six kilometres to the north, Naama Bay.

Naama Bay is a thriving bustling town which has expanded rapidly over the years as a low cost short flight destination for Europeans seeking warm water coral diving.

1995

In 1995 Eve and I spent a week staying at the Aida Beach Hotel overlooking el-Maya Bay. The location was not ideal as we needed a bus to either visit Sharm El-Sheikh or Naama Bay. This was a last-minute booking. Following an appendicectomy, Eve had been in no condition to travel and we had cancelled a Nile cruise and a week in Hurghada, booking a week in Sharm El-Sheikh when she felt able to travel. Eve of course was unable to dive but did do a lot of snorkelling. I did six dives at Far Garden, Ras Kati, Middle Garden, Near Garden, White Knight and The Tower. All were boat dives with Discover Scuba and as I had only done 12 current-free dives prior to this holiday I found the diving in Sharm challenging.

In September Eve and I spent a week based at the Hilton Dreams, diving with Divers International, a predominantly French dive centre. Our remarkable dive guide for the week was Guillaume Sailler whose dive briefings and enthusiasm were inspirational. As we left the Sharm jetty to set off for our first dive at Jolanda Reef, Guillaume spotted the tip of a manta ray briefly breaking the surface of the Red Sea. My first ever sighting of a manta ray. Fish highlights of the week included whitetip reef sharks and milkfish commonly known as a tourist shark, a feathertail stingray and an angel shark. In addition to Jolanda Reef Guillaume took us to Jackfish Alley, Ras Ghozlani, Ras Nasrai, Ras Gamila, Near Garden, Woodhouse Reef, Jackson Reef, Ras Katy and Far Garden.

2001

In July Eve and I spent three days in Sharm once again diving with Divers International. They took us to Jolanda Reef, Ras Ghozlani, Woodhouse Reef, Jackson Reef, Thomas Reef, Ras Za`tar and Sofitel Reef which was the best dive of our stay in Sharm. Guillaume, a shadowy Peter Pan-like figure, led our group on an atmospheric night dive, our torches switched off, moonlight reflecting all along the underwater reef.

2005

In February while Eve went on an organised group walk through the Sinai Desert with my dive buddy Richard Preston, another of my regular UK dive buddies Chris Baker and I had intended to dive in Sharm El-Sheikh. Unfortunately at the last minute Chris had to pull out.

It proved to be a strange week. I had booked a six-day dive package with Emperor Divers staying at the Rosetta Hotel in Naama Bay. Emperor Divers have a deserved reputation for being a friendly and well-organised dive organisation but I was less impressed with the Rosetta Hotel. Many of my dives were spoilt by problems with a new dive mask. I had recently been diving in Grand Cayman where my Cressi Matrix mask had started letting in water and a tear had appeared in the skirt of my backup Seac Sub mask. I had purchased a new Vision X mask and hoped that there would be no need for me to risk using the Seac Sub mask.

Based at Travco Marina, Empress Teresa took us to Ras Kati and Temple for our first two days’ diving with dive guide Adrian Stacy and my new dive buddy Ian Speakman. Unfortunately my new Vision X mask flooded badly throughout both dives. During the first dive I switched to my Seac Sub but the tear in its skirt seemed to get worse and it flooded almost as badly as the Vision X mask. On the second dive I tried continually adjusting the Vision X mask and the Seac Sub mask without success and even put on my old Cressi Matrix mask but all three flooded. Under the circumstances underwater photography was nigh impossible. 

The next day Adrian Stacy and Empress Teresa took us to Jackson Reef. I had purchased yet another new mask, a Tusa Visulator. To my relief it formed a perfect seal. My dive buddy for the first three dives of this trip, Ian Speakman decided to have a rest and the two on-board dive guides Jimmi Monk and Adrian Stacy took it in turns to partner me as we dived Woodhouse Reef and Ras Nasrani.

The following day with Ian as my buddy and Adrian as my dive guide, I dived Jolanda Reef. Overnight I had changed the strap on my new Tusa Visulator mask to a velcro strap. In the past I preferred velcro straps finding them more comfortable than the regular mask strap but possibly because I had changed the strap, my new mask began to leak and to start fogging up. By the end of this dive I felt quite demoralised! Our second dive of the day was the wreck of the Dunraven which is reported elsewhere on this website. The final dive was at Ras Za’atar. Using a cigarette lighter Adrian had burnt some of the silicone off the inside of my new dive mask and this seemed to eliminate the fogging completely. Adjusting the velcro strap also seemed to reduce the leaking. However after this dive I refitted the original mask strap and have not used a velcro mask strap since.

The next day Ian and I dived Shark Observatory and Ras Ghozlani and Adrian and I dived Jolanda Reef. Best of all I had no problem with my mask.

The final two days of this holiday were spent diving the wreck of the Thistlegorm and visiting Dahab, reports of which are elsewhere on this website.