The 2nd tour I booked though my hotel Desert Rose during my stay in Hurghada was swimming with wild dolphins and snorkeling in two different coral reefs. After my disappointment of the previous tour in the destroyed coral reef of Giftun islands, I was skeptical on whether I should book a second tour in the area of Hurghada. However, swimming with dolphins was the most popular and successful activity, so I thought that even if both coral reefs were dead, I would have swam at least with wild dolphins.
Our first snorkeling stop was in the middle of the sea, away from reefs or any other piece of land, north of the Giftun islands, at the Dolphin House. It was windy, and the currents were strong. Fortunately, we encountered a group of dolphins, so we immediately fell into the water to swim together (even though we could not really follow them because of the strong currents). Despite the low visibility within the water, I managed to take a few descent photos while the dolphins were swimming close. I had never met dolphins in the open sea and I was thrilled to have this opportunity that day. The dolphins were friendly, playing right next to me. Thankfully, only a few people were swimming in that spot, so we really enjoyed the moment.
The next snorkeling spot was a big coral reef of this area, which, to my surprise, was different of the one of the previous tour. Most of the corals were alive, colorful and huge. In this coral garden, no more than 10m deep, we saw only small, common reef fish, but the corals were really special: massive table corals, branch corals and many other species at different sizes and colors, as well as lots of big blue clams. The water temperature was ideal for swimming and the visibility was excellent. It was an enjoyable 50′ dive.
The coral reef as seen from the boat
Can you spot the pufferfish?
Huge table corals everywhere
A small school of fish
On full day tours like this one, lunch on the boat is included in the price. It is usually buffet-style with local food and seafood. So, after the lunch break we had some free time to relax on board or have fun with water sports, while later we headed to the next reef for our second snorkeling dive. This reef was larger than the previous one, with alive and huge colorful corals as well, but not so many fish around.
Delicious sea food on the boat
Back to Hurghada by sunset