Travel: Red sea

With the mercury nudging 42 degrees, a hefty tank of compressed air on my back and a stone and a half of lead weights on a belt around my waist, every step was a leg-trembling ordeal. Ah, but the rewards were worth it.

The Red Sea is a magical place for snorkellers and divers, its warm waters home to countless coral reefs and more than a thousand species of fish. And Sharm el-Sheikh, near the southern tip of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, is an ideal place to dive from, either by boat or from the shore.

I'd dived before but not for several years, so when I turned up at Sinai Divers' headquarters I was given a thorough refresher course by my Scottish instructor, Tom. Teaching such rusty divers - and absolute beginners - is something he's well used to. As the resort has grown and expanded, an increasing number of people are coming simply for a sunshine holiday and choosing to dive for the first time when they arrive.

One of the advantages of Sharm, though, is that many of the marvels of the Red Sea are near the surface and shore. Our hotel, the five-star Grand Hotel Sharm el-Sheikh, even has its own reef. Built on a hillside, the beautifully landscaped and immaculately maintained grounds run down to the sea, where two jetties allow guests to swim in deep water next to a reef of spectacular coral that houses a host of iridescent, exotic fish.

Tourists don't go to Sharm for a taste of Egyptian culture or history. There was virtually nothing but desert there 30 years ago, though development has moved at a startling pace and there is now a host of holiday complexes and hotels, plus western food outlets such as McDonald's and the Hard Rock Cafe, as well as a couple of casinos.

The Grand is perhaps the current pinnacle of Sharm sophistication. Situated a good distance from the central area of Naama Bay, it is by necessity all-inclusive and offers guests a choice of eight restaurants, four snack bars and five bars, manned - and it is mostly men - by eager-to-please staff. Service is good, but even better if you tip one of these poorly paid waiters.

Though alcoholic drinks are free, the modest measures would no doubt delight Kenny MacAskill, and it's well worth a pound or two to ensure speedy top-ups of the child-sized beer glasses.

The Grand is huge. But the complex is so cleverly constructed over several levels of hillside, and with eight separate swimming pools, that it never feels crowded.

Sun-worshippers could probably spend a week at the hotel just eating, drinking and lying on the loungers. In seven days we didn't see a single cloud. In fact, fair-skinned Scots might prefer to visit between November and March, when temperatures range between 15 and 35 degrees. From April to October it's unlikely to drop below 20 degrees and can hit 45. Sea temperatures never drop below a comfortable 21 degrees.

Tour operator Red Sea Holidays also offers a variety of excursions, ranging from flights (or six-hour each-way bus trips) to Cairo to see the pyramids, to a city tour of Sharm el-Sheikh. We chose three. The first was a snorkelling trip on one of the many identical white motor cruisers that ply their trade from Sharm's port. There was some alarm when the crew explained that once we were in the water the boat would be leaving us for 45 minutes. "But don't worry, you can't sink in the Red Sea, it is very salty."

In the event the boat simply tailed us as we swam to a reef, keeping close enough to reach. We had swims at three separate locations, and once again the Red Sea didn't disappoint with an amazing display of fish and coral.

Our second trip was to the Orthodox Christian St Catherine's Monastery, deep in the desert and probably the only genuinely ancient building in southern Sinai. A 5:30am start and three-hour journey took us to what was claimed to be the world's oldest working monastery. It's where Moses witnessed the burning bush, which is still there, though now roped off to stop people having their pictures taken while holding a lighter to the leaves. Tourists, eh.

While the monastery, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is a big draw for committed Christians, there's not much for the more religiously ambivalent to see. Visitors are herded quickly through with little time to view the gilt-painted icons or finger bone relic of St Catherine, the fourth-century Christian martyr who was broken on the wheel then beheaded. It's she who gave her name to the firework. For many, the journey to the monastery, through miles of endlessly changing desert, will be more interesting than the destination.

The Grand hotel's policy of allowing guests to keep their rooms until they leave for the airport meant we could use our final day for our third - and best - excursion. With long trousers and trainers on for the first time in a week, and a keffiyeh - the Middle Eastern scarf made famous by Yasser Arafat - wrapped around our faces, we raced through the desert on quad bikes, passing camels and a flock of beautiful cranes and, crucially, creating our own breeze.

After a week of excellent customer service, the only let-down came back in Glasgow where, after landing at 3:30am, it took more than an hour for our baggage to finally appear. I doubt that would happen in Egypt.

A week for two in a standard room with balcony at the Grand Hotel, Sharm el-Sheikh, flying from Glasgow, costs from 709 per adult, leaving 10 October (www.redseaholidays.co.uk).

A one-day Discover Scuba Diving course with Sinai Divers costs €95 (81). The company offers a large variety of courses and diving packages (www.sinaidivers.com).

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 3 October, 2010