late in the afternoon we return to Sharm el-Sheikh harbor
here you find many small shops and watering holes
in the afternoon we visit the Old City
Sinai Divers provide a warm lunch
under water I meet a pair of Red Sea Bannerfish
a speckled Peacock Hind and a Yellow-edged lyretail
a Blue-spotted Stingray at Ras Mohammed, they are dangerous
and soon are on our way out
Known as Sarm-us Seyh it became an
important harbor for the
Ottoman empire.
During the
Suez Crisis in 1956 Sharm was a small fishing village when the
Israeli army captured and hold it for half a year. Israel returned in
the1967 Six Day War and this time stayed here for 15 years.
The Israeli built the
Ofira settlement, a military airport and started basic tourist facilities for the increasing
number of scuba fans that had discovered the pristine corals and abundant fishlife.
The Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982
and promptly designated The City of Peace by president
Hosni Mubarak.
Since then the Egyptian government has actively pushed
further development of Sharm el-Sheikh as an international tourist destination and conference center.
Presently the city draws
millions of visitors per year but Sharm el-Sheikh was hit hard by Muslim terrorist attacks in
2005 and again in
2015.
We visited
Sharm at the turn of the century.
with instructions like this our hotel does not need a pool master
it is crowded at the beach
we are going to book a couple of dives
a Giant Moray Eel takes stock of the environment
checking-in for our flight home: President Mubarak is watching the chaos at Sharm's airport
the Loullia wreck at Gordon Reef in the strait of Tiran
