Depending on particular circumstances, it can get busy out
there! particularly around Sharm el Sheikh with an awful lot of
tourist boats going to the same places.
The
best bet is to arrange such trips through a reputable diving
school. Your hotel will probably provide such trips and the reps
will be very keen on signing you up quickly to get their
commission on selling the deals to top up their meagre basic
wage, you will however pay over the odds for this. They may try
to worry you by saying if you don't book soon that you'll miss
out. I've never had this problem as it's more likely that boat
capacity will outstrip demand.
Trips
arranged through a dive school will probably go to more
interesting places, though are not necessarily for the absolute
beginner, let them know exactly what you want and what your
competence is.
It is
possible to accompany such trips as a non-swimming passenger
with the rest of the family/party, sitting on deck and reading
or whatever, but anyone who I've seen do this has almost
inevitably ended up looking bored to tears come the afternoon.
I'd recommend that if you're not going into the sea, that you'd
be better off having some personal space at the hotel while the
rest go off on the boat and then meet up later on. On the other
hand, there's little reason why almost anyone couldn't go in the
sea, most boats have life vests for weak swimmers so you can
float around at the surface and see plenty. After all this is
one of the top 3 diving regions in the world with wonderful
coral reefs and marine life, so it seems a shame to come all
this way and not stick your head under the water with a mask on
at least once.
