Sharm El Sheikh: Ras Mohammed Cruise & White Island Lunch

4.82

(232 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Ever wondered what the Red Sea actually smells like? It hit me right as we left the marina in Sharm El Sheikh — this mix of salt and something almost sweet, maybe sunscreen or just the sun itself. The boat was bigger than I’d pictured (and honestly, fancier), with a couple of Egyptian crew joking around as we found seats up top. Our guide, Ahmed, handed out masks and kept calling everyone “my friend,” which made it feel less like a group tour and more like a weird family outing. I didn’t expect to laugh so much before even seeing Ras Mohammed.

The first snorkeling stop was all color — parrotfish darting past my legs, coral that looked like someone had painted it while half-asleep. Ahmed pointed out a lionfish but I was too busy trying not to swallow seawater. There’s this moment when you come up for air and everything is quiet except for people catching their breath and the slap of water against the hull. Lunch was ready by then — rice, chicken, some kind of salad with lemon that I kept going back for. Eating outside with wet hair and salty skin just hits different.

White Island isn’t really an island — more like a sandbank pretending to be famous. Still, standing there barefoot in powdery sand surrounded by turquoise water felt unreal. Some Russian kids were building a sandcastle; their dad tried to explain something about the “Egyptian Maldives” but gave up and just shrugged at me. On the way back, sunburned and tired in that good way, I watched Sinai’s coastline blur past and thought about how easy it is to forget time out here. You know?