The Brothers Islands

It seems that wherever there is diving taking place there are a couple of rocks or islands that someone has imaginatively named the Brothers or the Sisters!!  But there are only 2 Brothers that need to be considered as far as current fuelled, pelagic sighting, wreck exploring diving goes.  They are the Big and Little Brothers sited 60 miles East of El Quesir in the Egyptian Red Sea.  These two specks are accessible only by liveaboards and are the only solid ground that can be seen from horizon to horizon.   In Arabic they are known as “El Akhawein Kebir”, The Big Brother and “El Akhawein Soraya”, The Small Brother.  They both have the reputation for challenging diving, with strong northerly currents ands rough seas.  Both of the islands have northern plateaus and it is here that the current splits, creating a nutrient rich environment attractive to Sharks, Barracudas, Trevallies, Tuna and even the occasional Manta.  Apart from the plateaus, the rest of the diving on the Brothers takes place on steep walls.

Big Brother
When diving big brother you can combine magnificent wall diving along with some superb wreck dives. At 400 m in length the island needs a few dives to cover the area. It is easy to get lost in the shark action where frequent sightings of Grey Reefs, Hammerheads, Threshers, silver tips and white tips all feed off the smaller reef fish. The walls are covered in stunning soft coral, anemone and hard corals. There are often barracuda's, jacks and tuna's as well as the large Napoleon Wrasse.
Namibia.

The British cargo ship Numidia was built in Glasgow in early 1901. A relatively large vessel, she displaced 6,399 gross registered tons and was powered by a 3 cylinder triple expansion steam engine capable of providing a top speed of 10 Knots. She was 137.4m long, 16.7m wide and had a draught of 9.2m.  Early 1901 saw her complete a maiden voyage to Calcutta and back; unfortunately this was to be her only full trip.  Mid 1901 she was again on her way down to British colonies in the Far East.  She was carrying 7000 tonnes of cargo and a crew of 97. 

At 1am on the 20th of July the light on Big Brothers island was sighted off the port bow. Observing the bearing, the Captain altered course again and informed the "officer of the watch" this would take the ship over one mile to the west of the Island. He then left the Bridge leaving instructions to be called when the Light was abeam. At about 2.10am the Master was awoken by the shock of his ship crashing onto rocks. Hurrying to the bridge, he found his ship hard aground on Big Brothers Island - almost directly below the Lighthouse!
After two hours of trying to get off the rocks the engines were stopped. By this time the ship was taking on considerable water although the pumps were coping. At 7.30am dispatches were sent to Suez for urgent assistance and most of the crew were landed on the Island. Other vessels then arrived and every effort was made to refloat the Numidia without success. Eventually realising his vessel was lost, the Master allowed his crew to be rescued - although he remained on the island for a further 7 weeks - during which he supervised the salvage of most of the cargo before the Numidia finally sank.
The Numidia slid back off the tip of the North Plateau. It is sitting almost vertically with its stern resting on a narrow step, being the only thing keeping it from sliding into the abyss. It is a zodiac drop, usually directly on top of the wreck.  Often the first thing a diver notices as he descends is a large pair of rolling stock wheels, part of a large proportion of the cargo going out to service the railway building projects in India.  These are in amongst the broken up bow section at a depth of 10m.  From there it is a short swim along, or in this case, down to the main superstructure.  This is the most interesting part of the wreck with engine rooms, lifeboat davit arms, corridors, open engine room hatches.  It is an easy wreck to penetrate with many entry and exit points.  Keeping in mind that the ship was well salvaged before it sank there are not many items left in the many rooms and cabins down either side.  It is worth getting down into the engine room to see the piles of coal still stacked up against the boilers as if a stoker is going to come along any minute and fire up that huge engine which has sat silent for over 100 years.
At a depth of 40m is the midships hold.  This looms as a huge black hole disappearing into the bowels of the ship.  Beyond this the main mast rises from the deck at a depth of 52m and this is the limit for recreational divers.  It is possible with correct equipment to explore down to the back handrail at a depth of 80m.
Many divers rate the Thistlegorm as the best wreck in the world, usually due to the incredible historical artifacts still in her holds.  But if wrecks were to be scored on coral and fish life alone, the Numidia must be up near the top of the list.  100 years of sitting in current has encouraged an incredible profusion of life to grow all over her.  An amazing dive, even if sometimes a fight against the current to actually stay on the wreck is necessary!

The Aida
Literally 50m or so around the corner from the wreck of the Numidia another ship met its demise in the rough seas that are common around the Brothers.
The Aida was built in France and launched in 1911. She displaced 1,428 gross registered tonnes and was powered by a single 3 Cylinder triple expansion engine capable of providing a top speed of 9 Knots. Her dimensions were; 75.1m x 9.7m with a draught of 7m.
On the sheltered south-east facing coast of Big Brothers Island, is an old jetty used by the Egyptian soldiers stationed on the island for up to two months at a time. Naturally, they require a constant re-supply of fresh water and provisions in addition to a changeover of personnel every so often.
On 15 September 1957, the Captain of the Aïda was tasked to exchange military personnel on Big Brothers Island. There were heavy storms that day and it would seem that, despite the sea state, he still decided to go ahead - and in so doing he struck the rocks. Almost immediately, the Aïda began to sink and the Captain had little option but to abandon ship.
A Tugboat responded immediately and took off 77 personnel with the remainder, including the Captain, all getting safely to shore. In the meantime, the Aïda drifted a short distance to the northwest before her bows finally embedded themselves into the reef.
Although a much smaller wreck than the Numidia, the Aida has its own charm.  When it sank, it slid down the steep coral wall coming to rest on a sandy ledge with the stern in 60m.  It is a deeper dive starting at 30m.  Because it came to rest here on the more sheltered side of the reef, the soft corals have multiplied.  With a torch it is possible to see the wonderful colours of red, orange, and purple that characterize these corals.  The wooden decking has disappeared leaving easy access to the holds.  The lifeboat davit arms are home to some friendly lionfish that don’t seem to mind posing for the cameras.

Little Brother

Just 900m away from the Big Brother is the Little Brother.  Imagine the tip of a very large underwater mountain rising from a depth of over 800m and this is what makes the Little Brother an amazing place to dive.  Again the Northern plateau makes for the most exciting diving with a pinnacle down at 40m being a common place for different types of sharks to come and be cleaned.  The most common sharks are the Grey Reefs which circle at around 25m seeming to be waiting for their turn on the cleaning station.  In winter it is common to see Thresher Sharks with their beautiful long tales also taking advantage of the ever-busy cleaner wrasse.