Dolphin House overnight: the reef after the day boats leave

What else is on the reef

If the pod does not come, the reef itself still has to carry the trip — and it does. Sha'ab El Erg is a large horseshoe with a sheltered lagoon inside it, which means calm shallow coral gardens rather than a wall.

Expect turtles, which are common here and far less shy than the dolphins; big shoals of anthias over the hard coral; and the usual Red Sea reef cast of parrotfish, butterflyfish and the occasional moray. In the sandy patches inside the horseshoe there are blue-spotted rays and, if you look for a while rather than swim over them, garden eels.

The best hours, and why they are not the middle of the day

The pod rests in the lagoon by day and goes out to hunt at night, so the animals are calmest and most settled in the middle of the day — which is exactly when the fleet is there.

Early morning and late afternoon are quieter on the water and are when a boat already at anchor has the lagoon largely to itself. That is the practical argument for the overnight, separate from the ethical one: you are in the water at the hours the day boats cannot reach.

Who it suits

• Couples and families — it is a slow, private trip, not a party boat, and the tender means nobody has to swim further than they want to.
• Anyone who has done the day trip and came back thinking the reef deserved longer.
• People who want the marine life without a diving qualification. Everything here works on a snorkel.
• Anyone who wants one night of their holiday to be somewhere genuinely remote.

Who should book the day trip instead

If you are prone to seasickness, understand what you are committing to: you are aboard overnight, and although the anchorage inside the reef is calm, you cannot get off. A day trip gets you home.

If you need a private bathroom, reliable phone signal, or a firm schedule, the same applies. And if your week is short, this is two days of it — a lot to spend on one reef, however good.

Coral at Sha'ab El Erg

What the crew does that a day boat cannot

An anchored boat can wait. If the pod moves to the far side of the lagoon the tender goes to them slowly instead of the whole boat repositioning, and if they are clearly asleep the crew simply does not put anybody in.

That last decision is the one that separates operators, and it is much easier to make when there is a second morning to fall back on.

What the day trip gives you instead

For fairness, because most people should probably book that one. The day version leaves Hurghada in the morning, reaches the reef around the time the pod is settled in the lagoon, gives you two or three snorkelling stops and lunch, and has you back at your hotel for dinner. It sees dolphins often. It costs a fraction. It takes one day rather than two.

What it cannot give you is the lagoon without twenty other boats in it, or the evening, or the night. If those are not worth two days of a short holiday to you, that is a perfectly sound answer and the day boat is the better purchase.

Practical notes

• Bring layers. Evenings at sea are cooler than the beach, and the morning before the sun is up is genuinely cold in winter.
• Reef-safe sun cream, and expect to be in and out of the water repeatedly rather than once.
• Seasickness tablets before you sail, not when you notice — the anchorage is calm but the crossing need not be.
• Do not count on signal. Tell anyone who would worry that you are out of contact for a night.
• Book ahead in season. There are few boats doing this and a lot doing the day version.

Is it worth it over the day boat

If the dolphins are the only reason you are going, be honest that the day trip also sees them often and costs a fraction. The overnight does not buy a guarantee, because nothing does.

What it buys is the reef without the fleet: an evening snorkel with nobody else in the water, a night at anchor, and a dawn where the only boat in the lagoon is the one you slept on. Guests who book it for the dolphins tend to talk afterwards about the evening.