Charming Sharm? No, thanks!

Just back from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

Even as I booked the flight two weeks ago, I knew Sharm wouldn't really be my cup of tea. I just didn't realise how bad it can actually get.

The whole Sharm el Sheikh is nothing but a massive sprawl of all inclusive tourist resorts, bars, clubs and various other mass tourist stuff. Prices are, well, European, which means having a capuccino in our hotel bar was actually more expensive than having capuccino at home. Not that I'd had that many capuccinos there anyway.

Anyway we took this as striclty diving holiday. And when it comes to diving, Sharm is good. Of course they turned the whole thing into an industry, but it functions and the dives are great. Going there in January also meant we didn't have to share the reefs with hundreds of other divers, although it also meant that the hammerheads weren't there.

After five days of diving in Sharm we used the last day to go to Dahab. Although quite touristy as well Dahab has somehow managed to retain a proper Egyptian atmosphere and of course it doesn't have all the huge all inclusive hotels. We went to see the two famous dive sites of Dahab - Bells/Blue Hole and Canyon. Blue Hole seemed a bit overrated, although it might have been for the fact that we were there very late in the afternoon, so we didn't get the right lighting. But Canyon was simply fantastic, possibly the most memorable dive of my life.