If you have never snorkelled before, it is something I recommend most highly. It takes you back to a childhood experience of flow, where you can forget everything and just focus on your surroundings, which is a very beautiful meditative thing. For me, the experience of snorkelling in the Red Sea for the first time was of overwhelming beauty. It is breathtaking to see the colours underneath the water and when I went for my first swim I saw the most amazing sights – hermit crabs, some sort of sea-snail, a long turquoise blue eel of some type.
I even saw the fabled Lion Fish with its deadly spikes. One thing I was amazed by was how many people were walking on the sand and in the sea without wearing any shoes; it’s very important to wear shoes when you go snorkeling because of the Stone Fish, which are one of the most deadly fish known to man. They have extremely poisonous spines which mean if you stand on one you may risk death or amputation of the limb. So you do have to be careful and the danger of standing on a sea urchin or encountering a dangerous animal such as a Ray or Lion Fish makes you much more respectful and you don’t tend to touch things, you just float as an observer. It is amazing how free you feel and I recommend anyone who needs to recharge their batteries, a week in Taba Heights where you can read, sleep and swim with the fishes. The moment you put your head beneath the water you are amongst coral reef and it is like being on the set of ‘Finding Nemo’!