Red Sea Egypt

📍 Marsa Alam, southern Red Sea coast

A shallow, sandy-bottomed bay over seagrass, and the reason many snorkelers come to Marsa Alam at all: green sea turtles graze here and the bay is one of the Red Sea's best-known dugong sites. The water is only a few metres deep, so the whole experience happens in snorkel range without a dive — you drift above the meadow and watch what comes to feed.

Be honest about the odds: dugongs and turtles are wild animals on nobody's schedule and sightings are never guaranteed. The seagrass is the food they come for, so never stand on it, never uproot it and never chase an animal for a photograph — and check what is currently permitted in the bay locally, because Red Sea seagrass areas are increasingly zoned or roped off.

📍 The southern tip of Sinai, near Sharm el-Sheikh

Egypt's oldest marine national park, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba meet the open Red Sea, and the single most famous name in Egyptian snorkeling. Inside the park there are genuinely shallow reef shelves and lagoon-edge coral in snorkel depth, with the steep drop-offs and the celebrated wrecks of Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef beyond them.

Keep the distinction straight: Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are wall dives in current, not snorkel sites, and this catalog lists the park for its shallow shelf, not for those. The park is a managed reserve with its own entry arrangements — verify current fees and rules locally, and go with an operator who knows which of the park's sites actually suit snorkelers on the day.

📍 Off Hurghada, northern Red Sea coast

The standard day-boat circuit out of Hurghada: a pair of low desert islands fringed with shallow coral gardens, sandy shallows and a few deeper coral heads, all in warm, usually very clear water. It is the easiest Red Sea snorkel to organise from a resort town — a boat, a morning, and coral in a few metres.

This is the busiest day-boat water on the Egyptian Red Sea: dozens of boats working the same handful of moorings means real propeller traffic, so stay close to your boat, use a marker float and choose an operator who moors rather than anchoring on coral.

📍 Off Marsa Alam, southern Red Sea coast

A horseshoe-shaped reef enclosing a shallow lagoon where a resident population of spinner dolphins rests during the day. The reef itself is a proper coral site in snorkel depth, and the draw is the chance of dolphins moving through the lagoon while you are in the water.

Sightings are never guaranteed — this is a wild resting area, not a show. Access has been managed with time slots and zoning at various points to protect the population, so check what currently applies locally, and never chase, touch or crowd the animals.

📍 Offshore from Marsa Alam, in open water

One of the Red Sea's legendary dive sites: a narrow offshore reef with sheer walls dropping away on both sides, soft coral and plate coral on the ledges, and the deep water that brings the big animals past it.

Be precise about this one. Elphinstone is an offshore wall dive with current, in open water, and it is not a snorkel site — it is listed here so the distinction is explicit rather than implied. If you want the Red Sea's shallow water, stay on the coastal reefs and the seagrass bays.

The Egyptian Red Sea's everyday eating is whatever came off the boats: whole fish grilled over charcoal with rice, salad, tahini and flatbread, sold by weight and eaten a few metres from the water. Look for the places the fishing crews use rather than the ones with a view and a menu in five languages.

Tip: Ask to see the day's fish and pick one to be grilled rather than ordering from a printed list — and ask what species it is, so you know what you are eating.

Koshari is Egypt's national street dish: rice, lentils and macaroni under a tomato-vinegar sauce, topped with chickpeas and crisp fried onions. It has nothing to do with the sea and everything to do with the country, and it is the cheapest honest meal you will eat on the trip.

Tip: Order it small the first time and add the chilli sauce and garlic vinegar at the table to your own taste — the vinegar is what makes it.

Two coastal staples worth seeking out: sweet black tea brewed with mint (habak), which is what desert guides and boat crews drink all day, and sayadeya — rice cooked with fish stock, onion and spice, the Egyptian coast's own way with the catch.

Tip: Sayadeya turns up in small local kitchens rather than hotel restaurants; ask where the crews eat and you will usually find it.