Hurghada - Snorkeling Trips

Where to Look First?

I’ve been on two boat trips to go snorkeling since I’ve been back. One was a 10th Anniversary celebration for a group called Lotus Ladies. This was originally set up as a social group for wives of Egyptian men, but has since turned out to be more of an expat ladies group. It’s really quite an achievement that it’s been going for 10 years – the group holds classes (creativity, Arabic language), charity events, and various trips. Joke (pronounced “yoka”) has handed over to other members to run it, but it’s still going. It must be one of the longest-running groups in Hurghada.

It was a windy day when we went, but it’s often breezy in the morning on the coast and then calms down later in the afternoon. I’ve described one of these trips before. This time, it was a lot easier to get in the water from the boat than having to go in gently and slowly from the beach at El Andalous. The water is still fairly warm, and that’s much more noticeable from the boat.

There were visibly many more boats out in the sea now than when I last went with the Lotus Ladies, so tourism must be picking up. Even the hotels in Sahl Hasheesh are quite well occupied at the moment. The downside, of course, is that all the boats stop at the same places to snorkel and then you’ve got other people around you all floating about in the same patch of sea. I often wonder what the fish think of us!

I’m sure the Lotus Ladies boat trips started earlier before, so I’m quite relieved that the starting time was 9am and we got back somewhere between 4-5pm. Lunch is provided on board – fried fish, fried chicken, potatoes in a sauce, aubergine salad, green salad, rice, pasta with a sauce – and is very tasty after you’ve just come out of the sea! Our boat is hired privately between us, so we stay just as a group.

For the birthday celebrations, we had a cake (well, two cakes) and also some quizzes, prize draws, and raffles. There were over 20 of us there, so most of the rest of the time was spent chatting; on quieter trips, I like to read a book.

The many different blues of the sea never fail to captivate me and, of course, I love to see the fish and to see if I can spot any new ones that I haven’t seen before. This is when I think that being in Egypt beats being in Switzerland!

Sometimes you can see dolphins when you go out into the sea, but we didn’t spot any this time. It’s a super thing to do at this time of year – come February and March, the water will be too cold (I dread February and March – I still swim, but I have to fight with myself each day to get in!). It’s also good to get a change of scene (and some different company).  I'm waiting to see if I can get another trip in before Christmas...