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Hotel Photos
The first set of photos are from in and around the Sharm hotels we stayed at. We spent the first 6 nights at the Melia Sinai, close to the Straits of Tiran, and the last few nights at the slightly more exclusive Hyatt Regency, at the north end of Naama Bay.

Our first hotel, the Melia Sinai, was some distance north of Sharm-el-Sheikh, but very handy for boat trips to nearby Tiran Island. We went on a snorkelling trip from the hotel and were lucky enough to see a group of dolphins on the way back. Risso's dolphin leaping
The Melia Sinai has a private beach, as most of the seafront hotels do, and it was the perfect spot to laze with a good book. Or, in Jen's case, a chick-lit novel! Jen in holiday mode
The hotel also had its own (imitation) lighthouse, not very useful to navigators but a great place to watch a Sinai sunset or sunrise. Chris & Jen at the lighthouse
View north along the coast at sunset from the Melia Sinai lighthouse. The nearby hotel was still under construction but nearing completion, further down the coast are two more hotels. Looking north from Melia Sinai
The sun setting behind the Sinai mountains. This was as close as we got to the mountains all holiday - very unusual for us! But the prospect of trekking in such blisteringly hot weather never really appealed - far better to stick to the beach and the pool! Sinai mountains sunset
Talking of which, here's the view from our balcony at Melia Sinai down on to one of the hotel's pools and beyond, the Red Sea. That's as far as we walked! View from our balcony
The underwater camera we had borrowed for the snorkelling photos also came into its own for a few silly shots in the pool! Chris in the pool
No sign of wedding stress here... Jen, still smiling
Chris doing his best to blend in with the sea. Chris blends in
The hotel had its own dive centre which organised all manner of watersports activities, so we decided to try out a couple. We got towed behind a speedboat on a rubber ring (no photos of that - too bouncy!) and also tried parasailing, which was a little more sedate. Parasailing
Here we are coming in for a very controlled landing after our parasailing trip. Touch down!
This was our room at Melia Sinai. Note the very impressive towel origami on the bed! Melia Sinai room
The hotel grounds are very lush and green compared with the surrounding desert. I spent a happy afternoon taking photographs of some of the flowers. Flowers in hotel grounds
This is the main entrance to the Melia Sinai, with its lighthouse in the background. The hotel has 200 rooms, but that's small by Sharm-el-Sheikh standards! We were there during low season so there was plenty of space to spread out, and no rush for a sun lounger on the beach. Melia Sinai hotel
We ate all our meals in the hotel. Our half board included a buffet dinner on the terrace each night. The food was generally good for a buffet, and some of it was cooked fresh Dinner on the terrace
Setting up for breakfast on the terrace, taken from the hotel lighthouse at some ungodly hour of the morning. Laying tables for breakfast
Just as I was beginning to think the sun would never rise, it suddenly appeared above the horizon out towards Tiran Island. Red Sea sunrise
Unsurprisingly, the sun loungers were all free at six o'clock in the morning. Palm tree and parasols
On the left is a tanker heading up the Gulf of Aqaba towards Israel and Jordan. On the right are the remains of a Russian ship wrecked on one of the offshore reefs which ring Tiran. The lighthouses indicate the narrow navigable channel, as the Red Sea gets funnelled between the Sinai peninsula and the island. Tanker and shipwreck
Chris in the water at Ras Nasrani, the name of the house reef at Melia Sinai. Because the Red Sea gets squeezed through a bottleneck at this point, it has a reputation for being a good place to spot pelagic fish (i.e. fish of the open ocean). Chris goes snorkelling
My new wife tops up the suntan with the last rays of the evening. Jen catches some rays
On to pastures new: we've now moved to the Hyatt Regency hotel, closer to the main tourist town of Sharm-el-Sheikh but still far enough away to avoid the crowds. Jen catches me in a silly moment on the jetty. Chris models his fins
The view from the Hyatt Regency on the evening we arrived. Tiran Island is more distant here and beautifully lit by the dying sun. Tiran Island at sunset
One of our favourite things about the Hyatt was the standard of food. Again, we ate in the hotel, and this time there were a number of restaurants to choose from. This is the Souk, an open-air restaurant in a courtyard with many different kitchens and live entertainment. The Hyatt's Souk restaurant
We joined a snorkelling trip by boat to Ras Mohammed National Park on the very southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Boat trip to Ras Mohammed
A view of the mountains of Sinai, the desert coastline and the coastal reef from our boat, Sinai coastline
Access to the reefs was straight off the back of the boat. We visited three different reefs and each time followed a guide in the water. Here, I've caught Jen in a penguin pose as she gets back on to the boat. Jen's penguin impression
The landscaped grounds of the Hyatt Regency hotel. Built on a steep slope down to the sea, the pools and gardens tumble down the hillside, connected by winding paths. The only disadvantage - it's a much longer walk to the beach! Hyatt Regency hotel
Lazy river
However, we spent most of our time on the beach. Larger and rockier than the Melia Sinai, it was also less sheltered so the parasols were a bit more robust. Beach at the Hyatt
Although the living reef is some distance from shore, the reef fish come very close to the beach across the shallow reef platform. We managed to photograph this Arabian picassofish from the jetty. Fish from the jetty
Chris on the jetty at the Hyatt Regency. The reefs of the Middle Garden are behind and beneath me, dotted with inlets and sheltered lagoons. It was a very different character to the steeper reef at Ras Nasrani. Chris on the jetty
A closer view of the reef margin where the living corals are found. Here, the sandy bottom is about 10 metres down, and it slopes down gently for some distance from the shore before a deeper reef plunges down the dropoff. The Red Sea has no continental shelf to speak of, so waters are very deep. Reef margin
Jen and Chris on a floating platform at the Hyatt Regency. The line of orange buoys behind us prevent the dive boats from coming any closer to shore. On the platform
This is the Hyatt's Beach House restaurant

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