Red Sea Pier - Egypt

The hotel pier from an hotel bar. Such places are convenient for the swimmer and snorkeller if exposed and very hot. The edge of the coralline platform is a fantastic introduction to the underwater world and a great convenient place for those who are already hooked on the idea. If you don't have your own snorkelling gear it is usually possible to hire it from the hotel. Try to resist the pressure from the kids to buy their own, next year the mask and fins just won't fit and the hotel gear is probably better quality than you would have bought anyway.

I'm an avid gardener in another part of my life and those two poorly-looking date palms by the sea upset me. They pander to our expectation of coconut palms by the sea in South-Sea Island pictures but are entirely different and don't belong there. They can only be maintained by a lot of artificial fresh water too, that they are looking so ill is probably the result of permeation of sea-water to the roots.

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