Three ways to see coral if you cannot swim, will not dive, or are travelling with someone who won't.
Not everyone in a group wants to get in the sea, and a resort week can turn into an argument about it. There are three genuinely different answers in Hurghada.
The semi-submarine — sold as a bathyscaphe — is a boat with a lower deck below the waterline and panoramic windows. It does not submerge. You sit dry at about three metres and watch the reef pass for an hour. It is cheap, short, and the easiest option with small children.
The Sindbad submarine is a real one. It descends to about twenty-five metres and stays down roughly forty-five minutes, which puts you level with reef life that snorkellers never see. It costs several times as much and is worth it if the underwater world is the point of the holiday.
It descends to about twenty-five metres and stays down roughly forty-five minutes, which puts you level with reef life that snorkellers never see.
Snorkelling remains the best value by a distance, and a life jacket removes the swimming requirement almost entirely — plenty of people who describe themselves as non-swimmers float happily in one with a guide alongside. Ask; most boats carry them as standard.
