Unfortunately I must endorse Snorkelpippen's review of April 11th. This is not the resort to go to if you are seeking beautiful living reefs. Sadly, unlike the Mexicans, the Egyptians in this area do not seem to care that their reefs are being smashed by ferries and are dying from pollution.

It is true that a variety of fish are still surviving on what remains of living reef areas. Those who have not seen a healthy reef will enjoy the area between the hotel and peace camp (opposite an abandoned building site) and a tiny "home reef" on a line out from the red house within the grounds. There are some better reefs to be seen on the boat trip from the beach but these reefs are dying too.

The beach was invaded by purple jellyfish at the time of our visit. As others were in the water I plucked up courage to swim through them and came to no harm. Appreciate Snorkelpippen's warning that some may be allergic.

Agree with many reviewers that this is a friendly hotel - the most friendly we have stayed at. A beautiful location surrounded by sea and mountains and a green garden oasis, full of flowers and given continuing care and attention. There were plenty of well-spaced, large, thatched sunshades on the beach and the sunbeds were the most comfortable we have rested on.

Must also mention our travel agent Longwood with support from check in at Gatwick to the end of our holiday. Russell who took us from the airport to the hotel brings to travelogues the star quality of Terry Wogan introducing the Eurovision song contest!

When something needs attention at this hotel it is dealt with promptly. For example we could not get Sky News from the programme list. Within fifteen minutes a friendly engineer arrived at our bungalow (absolutely superb - quiet location and high domed ceiling meant we were cool and did not need air conditioning on). Engineer said he would need to adjust satellite settings which he did and within half an hour we were with Sky News. Unfortunately we lost this service after only one day being informed that its continuation needed a management decision and the manager concerned was away for two weeks!!!

With air conditioning off the duvet on our bed was too hot - sheets requested on the phone arrived in ten minutes.

The animation team were superb offering belly dance lessons for my wife, aquagym and table tennis competitions for us both. The table tennis international challenges were sometimes won by the wind or the players who acquired the skills to exploit the into wind advantage!!!

The level of service and cleanliness at this hotel is outstanding. Waiters offered drinks promptly and used plates were removed quickly from tables and when you left the table was renewed for a new guest.

On one occasion we had to mention the toilets at the Abou Lou Lou were smelling badly, but we think this was due to constant use in the day for one half of the beach. A cleaning team arrived promptly to deal with this problem. There are better facilities at the other end of the beach next to the Diving Centre, but more central beach toilet facility would be helpful for those with children.

The hotel has a watersports centre offering pedalloes, canoes, snorkelling and windsurfing and trial or daily session are provided with certain packages. Will focus on the windsurfing as a few years ago I was sailing regularly in force 4 winds. The sails hanging on the beach were the worse for wear some being brittle and others repaired with tape but I noted one good sail for use in the right conditions. Local advice was that onshore winds (favoured for windsurfing safely) brought in bad weather. After waiting for several days a stronger offshore wind developed but it was not easy launching almost directly downwind between the jetty and buoyed launch area!!! In stronger winds it is imperative to get on a reach quickly !!! Did one exciting and fast beat up to the peace camp area and came past the jetty to tack back to find my mast collapsed. My universal joint had fractured!!! In several decades of windsurfing I have never experienced a universal joint failure as these are designed to be substantial and hard wearing. They are recognised as vital equipment. My conclusion was that either the joint was badly manufactured or had been damaged by storage conditions. Fortunately being a strong swimmer I was able to bring the windsurfer and sail back to shore but it would have been better if my difficulty had been observed from Venus Watersports and help offered.

Several days later I saw a Russian lass trying to windsurf in very light offshore winds. She did not get under way and after about an hour she was well out to sea but no longer attempting to uphaul. Popped on flippers to check she was OK - she was not, the attachment cord between the uphaul and mast had broken!!! After swimming for some distance thought the wind had increased a little and thought I might be able to sail the board back. No hope!! The board was a small high wind board. With no daggerboard it was impossible to windsurf into wind to get back to shore!. Eventually a rescue boat arrived to collect the windsurfer.

Certainly for the hire fee being charged for windsurfing equipment one would have expectations of safe, well maintained gear and vigilant supervision and maybe an enthusiastic staff member getting out on the water. I believe myself and the Russian lass were the only two windsurfing clients during our two week stay.

With the excellent buffets and service in the main restaurant we were tempted to try the Abou Lou Lou for my birthday as we thought lobster would be a dish to remember.

The Head Waiter (who we learned later was Samy the Manager) irritated the three ladies in our party by calling them all "darling" but showed us a rather handsome lobster on a seafood platter. We ordered and the lights were dimmed.

The consomme was of excellent flavour and it did appear reasonably clear under one candlepower of light.

The lobster dish arrived and there seemed to be a heap of mushrooms or vegetables in which our sea creature was hiding! We needed t clear the plate of other seafood to expose the lobster. Unfortunately the lobster was contained within this mixture of mushrooms and strong mushroom sauce that destroyed rather than complimented the lobster.

The restaurant was so dark that Samy had to illuminate the expensive bill by torch!

When we mentioned this our Longwood representative established that the dark conditions are intended to be "romantic". The most romantic five star restaurant we have eaten in was one of the brightest. However the colour scheme was delicate and the table was surrounded by flimsy curtains. Waiters produced superb food as by magic. Darkness does not equal romance!!

Other than ourselves there were very few other guests in the Abou Lou Lou and I guess this compliments the standard of the main restaurant and the value being offered here.

We gave a very generous communal tip at the end of our stay as we feel that this pooled system helps and encourages the visible staff such as waiters, gardeners and reception and also the hidden supporters such as chef's and catering to do their best for the guests. We certainly feel there was a wonderful team spirit here.

Our room service was superb and we relented and gave an individual tip here and also to Kamel on the beach who was always so attentive to our needs.

What can I say about Taba airport. The welcome in was to a filthy stinking toilet and our farewell was the same.

Taba airport just cannot cope with handling the surge of filling an Airbus with all passengers arriving at the same time three hours in advance of the flight. We were left queueing in the hot sun outside the airport.

Surely the terrorists have won if hotels, tourist boards and airport authorities feel this justifies treating people like cattle.

Until Taba airport is improved it would seem easy to ensure on a rota basis that coachloads of passengers from various hotels are processed at the airport at various time slots within the three hour period - particularly when, as in our case, the flight was delayed forty minutes!!!

This is an outstanding hotel and despite the failures to achieve excellence in certain areas we might rejoin the other regular clients - that's if the hotel would like us to return :)