Friday, February 10, 2023

10th of February 2023 - Sharm El Sheikh

The Ras Muhammad National Park is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the waters of the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez meet.  This produces strong currents providing a habitat for diverse marine life.  This morning we arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh which is a Egyptian resort town in the Ras Muhammad National Park.  Sharm El Sheikh ("bay of the wise") is also known as the "City of Peace".  We were fortunate to have a gloriously sunny day.

We drove through Sharm El-Sheikh to Naama Bay which had a beautiful sandy beach and the clearest sea water anyone could imagine.  I was interested to see the street lights which were powered by their own solar panels.  When we arrived at Naama Bay we were taken on a glass bottomed boat to view the coral reef and its inhabitants.  To get to the boat we had to navigate this pontoon walkway that was bobbing about on the sea.  I didn’t mind getting wet myself however I didn’t want my camera to get a ducking.  Thankfully there was always someone to lend a hand.

The coral reef was easy to see through the clear water.

There were plenty of fish swimming in and around the coral but I was not quick enough to capture many of them with my camera.

At one point we saw loads of very tiny fishes sometimes swimming very close together in swarms.

After the glass bottomed boat trip I went for a quick swim in the sea and was able to see some pretty pink corals not far from the beach before heading back to the Emerald Azzura.

In the evening we had the Captain's Welcome dinner where we were introduced to the key members of the crew.  There are more crew than passengers on this cruise.  People are still nervous about cruising after Covid.


Ruth and I went to bar afterwards to listen to Chloe perform a medley of songs.  She is really rather good and has a fantastic Covid-19 backstory where she spent lockdown travelling and performing around western Europe when Britain was under severe restrictions.

 

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