BROTHER ISLANDS EGYPT ARE POPULAR RED SEA LIVEABOARD DIVE DESTINATION, THE BROTHERS ARE A PAIR OF TINY ISLANDS SITUATED ALMOST DIRECTLY EAST OF EL QUESIR AND MARK THE FIRST OF THE SOUTHERN RED SEA DESTINATIONS.
Brother Islands Egypt are located far out in the open sea and due to their exposed location they are sometimes quite wild. Already from a distance one sees the lighthouse which is inhabited by the Egyptian military. Depending on the time, you have the possibility to visit the lighthouse.
Little Brother Island Egypt is shaped like a rain drop, falling from the north west to south east. Deep walls surround the island on all sides except the northern point, where the reef slopes very slowly away from the island before dropping to a deep plateau at 40m. This plateau is one of the best places in the Red Sea for diving with sharks. Silvertips and grey reef sharks frequent the area and great hammerheads sometimes rise from the deep for a quick inspection before descending into the deep blue once again.
Eastern and western walls are about quality. Surrounded by sheer walls covered with black corals, mammoth gorgonian fans with exceptionally dense hard and soft corals. It covers the spectrum of colours and it’s easy to miss all its beauty. Your view will be obscured by schools of fish so plentiful that it often blocks out the light.
The current on both these walls tends to run from north to south, so you are likely to end a dive on either wall at the southern plateau. This is a wide ledge some 20m or more deep. Schools of barracuda often circle here, and dogtooth tuna and reef sharks are often prowling close by.
Big Brother Island lies about 1 km to the north of its smaller sibling. Characterised by an impressive healthy fish population, it is dominated by tiny anthias, glassfish and sweepers. All are resident on or around a fringing reef that plunges steeply away on all sides. The walls are covered by huge gorgonians and colourful soft corals.
Sharks in Big Brother
Numerous sharks are attracted to the south east point of Big Brother. Grey and white tip reef sharks, hammerheads and the more ominous oceanic white tips are commonly spotted. Big Brother is also home to 2 Red Sea wrecks, lying quite close by one another off the north east point of the island, near the lighthouse.
The Numidia is also known as the Railway Wreck due to the 2 locomotive wheels that she was carrying as cargo and now lie in the shallows. She met her end in 1901 when bound for India on only her second voyage. This was a 130m long British wooden cargo ship that ran aground. The bow is broken up and lies in only 8m of water.
Corals in Numidia
Soft and hard corals have claimed the Numidia as their own now and decorate the entire remaining metal framework, bringing the ship back to life for Red Sea scuba divers, this time in the form of a vibrant and colourful living reef. You can follow the hull and a series of masts down to greater depth. As a result, you will find the ship’s lift raft section and several entrances to the cabins that make penetration easy and safe in the shallow section. Below the bridge are the holds and the main mast that remains and protrudes up to 45m. The ship’s stern and propeller lie in 90m and well beyond recreational diving limits, so even though you might be able to see it from above, it would be wise to not follow your enthusiasm.
The Aida was a 75m transport supply ship that came off last during a head-to-head with Big Brother and sank in 1957. Her bow rests at 30m and the stern lies at 60m and deeper, where large groupers lurk. The engine remains at 7m to mark the site of the accident, where the hull broke in 2 and the stern sank, and where the bow was slowly destroyed by wind and waves.
The picturesque wreck has been claimed by the reef and is completely covered in soft and hard corals and a haven for all manner of marine creatures that you’ll see when diving in the Red Sea. With its wooden flooring now eroded, the wreck’s steel superstructure is open to exploration and penetration by advanced divers. You can swim through engine room, viewing the heavy winches by the cargo hatches.
