The Heart of the Red Sea

Big Brother and Small Brother are two tiny islands situated in the middle of the Red Sea approximately 70 miles south-east of Hurghada.

The departure ports are determined by the position of the boats and by the Government guidelines valid at the time.

The two islands are part of the marine park and are therefore protected, and dives here are considered to be among the best, not only in the Red Sea but in the world.

Together with Deadalus, Big Brother is the furthest East of the Egyptian territories; lying to the north and south are two small flat underwater plains, with perpendicular walls dropping to around 50-60 metres, below which they descend thousands of metres down into the sea.

Above sea level the line of sand running for around 500 metres from North to South is virtually uninhabited, save for small groups of soldiers and some lighthouse operators.

The seas here also boast several wrecks, although the majority of these are too far down to visit. The two within reach however offer some of the most beautiful sights in the Red Sea: the Numidia (sunk in 1901) and the Aida (sunk in 1957). The first is to the north of the island, but the sea conditions here mean that diving isn’t always feasible. The second rests to the North-East and is easier to visit.

The islands’ location in open sea and the continually changing currents have made the area around the island a true explosion of life and colours, and the two shipwrecks are the most beautiful of the Red Sea, offering fabulous coral formations and amazing marine life; glass-fish and big tropical groupers are ever present, as well as big shoals of tunas, barracudas and grey sharks. Sightings of other species of shark are often possible, such as the silk-shark, the “Longimanus”, the “Albimarginatus” and shoals of hammerhead sharks. Even the fox shark, very rare elsewhere, is easily found in this area. Sometimes the tropical moon-fish, huge mantas, whale sharks visit these areas.

Small Brother is situated at about 1 Km south of Big Brother; it isn’t a real island but a small rock. For this reason the sighting of fish shoals and large fish is even more common.

The two islands have the same submarine characteristics, they are both rich in coral, in particular the beautiful soft corals which give an incredible charm to the area.

In the south-eastern part of Small Brother, at depths of around 20 to 40 metres, are some amazing forests of sea fans; in the afternoon on the south plateau it is often possible to see pelagic fish hunting.

Diving is best from spring to the beginning of autumn.

N.B. Please click on the for underwater maps