North – Brother Islands

02

The “Thistlegorm”is probably the most famous wreck in the Red Sea. The British ship was on the way to Egypt to bring military equipment of all kinds for the British troops in North Africa. But then on the 6th of October 1941 a German bomber attacked the Thistlegorm. Now the wreck is lying upright on the sea-bottom at 30-m depth. Especially interesting is the cargo: Tanks, trucks, motorcycles, weapons, railway carriage and one railway engine.

 

The Reef at Abu Nuhas is famous for wrecks. There are 4 wrecks here, which are today an attraction point for divers all around the world. For example the Greek cargo ship “Giannis D.”, which run aground the reef on 19th March 1983 and sank a short time afterwards. It is now lying in a maximum depth of 27 m and is overgrown with hard- and soft corals. The ship cracked down in the middle. The better part of the two halves is the stern section. Here it is easy to dive inside the wreck, because there are a lot of entry and exit points. Because the wreck is leaning on a 45 degree angle you will find yourself swimming up a stairwell which your mind tells you are heading down. This effect is very disorientating.

 

The marine park Ras Mohammed offers dreamlike diving spots. For example Shark Reef and Jolanda Reef. Both reefs are standing on a plateau, which is 20 m deep. The edges of the plateau fall down to more than 200 m. At the reef you will find nice soft corals, fish are plentiful. With luck you can see sharks during your early morning dive. At Jolanda Reef you can see the cargo of a Cypriot freighter “Jolanda” which ran aground in 1980: a large quantity of household toilets!

 

The Brother Islands one of the best diving spots in the world. The Islands – the Big Brother and the Little Brother – are two small isolated promontories that just come out of the water in the middle of the sea at some 60 km from the coast.

 

The Little Brother has a very high concentration of life in a much reduced area. The walls are covered literally with sponges, anemones and all sorts of soft coral alcyonarian in an astonishing variety of colors and shapes. Of course you will find here plenty of fish. It is not unusual to see sharks: hammerheads, thresher sharks, grey sharks, and silvertip and white tip reef sharks. About one km north of the Little Brother lays the Big Brother. Situated, in the middle of the island, is a lighthouse. When it is not too windy, you can proceed to dive the wreck “NUMIDIA” which lies upon the reef on the northern side of the island between 10 and 80 m. This 150 m long ship sunk 100 years ago and is now completely covered with both hard and soft corals and gorgonians. A fantastic view!

 

At the NW side of the island you will find the other wreck: the “AIDA”. This 82 m long steam ship sunk 1957. The remaining pieces of the wreck are scattered all over the reef and just the back side of the hull can be found between 30 and 60 m. It is nicely overgrown and worth to visit. Because of strong current and may be high waves it is not easy to dive at the Brother’s. This safari is only for experience divers.