We arrived bright and early to Sharm - clear skies and wall to wall sunshine, albeit a bit chilly. A Costa cruise ship had beaten us to the only berth alongside; clearly their captain had taken the shortcut, as Italian captains seem wont to do! We noticed it was strongly tied to the dock, presumably to prevent it rolling on its side. Coincidentally our captain, known to us as Dave, had broadcast earlier in the day, to calm the twittering masses by assuring us that they had put all Italian crew ashore at Port Said and our ship would only be driven by Anglo-Saxons!!! Thus we were anchored offshore and were tendered ashore by ship's lifeboats. Picture, dear reader, Skegness on a bad day in the 1950s, perhaps after the east coast floods. Sharm aspires to this level of development. Sharm consists of 2 bays, Naama Bay being a bit more upmarket with hotel resort developments of a modern standard in gated compounds. Old Sharm was just that, incredibly dilapidated and rundown, half finished buildings and questionable sanitation. It seemed a bit of a contradiction that you had to pay to sit on the sunbeds, which did not look very fragrant! As always, though, the locals were incredibly friendly and polite. We decided to save the coral reefs, snorkelling and glass bottomed boat until Oz.