Ras Mohammed National Park Snorkeling Day Trip from Sharm El Sheikh

Your day begins with pickup from your hotel in Sharm El Sheikh in a private air-conditioned vehicle. The road heads south along the coast of South Sinai, through open desert framed by bare granite mountains, to the entrance of Ras Mohammed National Park.

The park covers the headland at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, the point where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba meet. Beyond its famous reefs it protects desert, salt flats, and mangroves, and it is managed as a strict conservation area. Your entrance fees are included, so there is nothing to pay at the gate. Security checkpoints on the road are routine in South Sinai, so carry your passport or a copy as your guide advises.

Snorkeling equipment is not listed among the inclusions, so ask when you book if you should bring your own or arrange it locally. Pack your swimsuit, a towel, reef shoes or water sandals for the rocky entries, a rash guard or T-shirt for sun protection in the water, a hat, sunglasses, and plenty of reef-safe sunscreen.

Your first stop in the park is Yolanda Reef, where you go straight into the water for the morning snorkeling session. The reef owes its name to the Yolanda, a Cypriot cargo ship that ran aground here in 1980. The hull later slipped into deep water, out of snorkeling range, but part of its cargo of bathroom fittings, including toilets and bathtubs, is still scattered across the shallows, now crusted with coral and patrolled by fish. It is one of the strangest sights in the Red Sea, and a popular one to photograph.

Around the debris the reef is full of life. Look for table corals and soft corals, schools of orange anthias, parrotfish grazing on the reef, butterflyfish in pairs, and the occasional moray eel watching from a crevice. The water at Ras Mohammed is usually very clear, so you can see well into the blue from the surface.

Listen carefully to your guide's briefing before you enter. Currents at the tip of the headland can be strong, and you should stay with the group, float rather than stand, and never touch or kick the coral.

After the first session, you come ashore for time on one of the park's beaches. This is your chance to dry off, warm up in the sun, rehydrate, and rest your legs before the afternoon snorkel.

The beaches inside Ras Mohammed are very different from the groomed resort fronts of Naama Bay. Facilities are minimal, the sand meets rock and reef within a few steps, and the setting is quieter and wilder, with the mountains of Sinai behind you and the open sea in front. If you want to stay in the water, you can swim in the warm shallows close to shore while keeping within the area your guide indicates.

Use this break to look after yourself. Drink some of the bottled water provided, reapply sunscreen, and put on a hat or cover-up; there is little natural shade, and the sun reflecting off the water is intense even on breezy days. Red Sea water temperatures range from the low 20s Celsius (low 70s Fahrenheit) in winter to the high 20s Celsius (low 80s Fahrenheit) in late summer, so a thin wetsuit or rash guard makes the day more comfortable in the cooler months.

In the afternoon you move on to Shark Reef, the twin of Yolanda Reef and one of the most celebrated sites in Ras Mohammed. Here the coral grows on a wall that drops steeply into very deep water, so you float above a living cliff, with coral gardens near the top and deep blue below.

Despite the name, sharks are not something you should expect to see from the surface, and a sighting is never guaranteed. What you can count on is abundance: shoals of reef fish around the coral heads, angelfish and wrasse, and, when conditions are right, larger fish such as jacks or barracuda passing along the wall. Ras Mohammed is famous among divers for exactly these encounters, and snorkelers get a real share of them from above.

Because the reef sits at the exposed tip of the headland, follow your guide's instructions about where to enter and exit and how far to swim. Keep a relaxed pace, breathe slowly through the snorkel, and hold still for a minute now and then; fish that scatter as you approach often return once you stop moving.

After the second snorkel, the rest of your time in the park is yours. You can photograph the coastline, sit by the water, or simply enjoy the quiet of a place where development is kept out. This is also when lunch fits into the day; a traditional Egyptian lunch is included, and your guide explains the arrangements on the day.

The landscape at Ras Mohammed rewards a slow look. The contrast between the pale desert, the dark mountains, and the bright bands of turquoise and navy over the reef is striking, and the light softens nicely as the afternoon goes on. Keep your camera or phone in a dry bag when you are near the water.

Remember that this is a protected area. Collecting shells, coral, or stones is not allowed, feeding fish disrupts the reef, and litter of any kind should leave with you. These rules are part of why Ras Mohammed still looks the way it does after decades of visitors, and park rangers take them seriously.

In the late afternoon you leave Ras Mohammed National Park and settle into the air-conditioned vehicle for the drive back north to Sharm El Sheikh, with drop-off at your hotel.

After a day of sun and salt water, most people are pleasantly tired on the ride home. Rinse your skin and swimwear when you get back, and rinse any snorkeling gear you brought in fresh water before it dries; salt crystals are hard on straps and seals. If you burned despite your best efforts, aloe gel and an early night help, and your hotel shop will usually have both water and after-sun lotion.

Tipping is not included and is customary in Egypt. A modest tip for your guide and driver is appreciated, and carrying some small Egyptian pound notes makes it easier. If the reefs have won you over, Sharm El Sheikh has many more snorkeling and diving options, though any additional trips are booked separately and are not part of this excursion.