Brother Islands (diving area)

The Brother Islands diving area includes the fringing reefs of the Brother Islands ( Little Brother and Big Brother ) in the Red Sea , which belong to Egypt .

The Brother Islands are known for their corals, shoals of fish and big fish including many sharks ( gray reef sharks , thresher sharks , oceanic whitetip sharks ), which is why they target many recreational divers are. The water around the two islands is considered to be one of the most difficult diving spots in the Red Sea because of the strong currents . On the seabed and on the steep walls there are two wrecks of steamers : the Numidia , a cargo ship over 130 meters long, and the Aida , a 75 meter long passenger cargo ship.

Little Brother Island with a recognizable fringing reef and Big Brother Island with a lighthouse in the background, each with diving boats

The dives often take place with the zodiac , which drops the divers at the northern tip, from where a drift dive is made back to the boat; a classic reef dive from the diving platform is only possible with little or no current. Drift dives can be carried out effortlessly - only driven by the current - along the steeply sloping reef slopes in order to be picked up by the dinghy on the surface 30 to 45 minutes later and a few hundred meters further.

It is possible to get to the diving area from Safaga , but the brothers are also part of some diving safaris in the Red Sea.

The wrecks

Numidia

Superstructures on the Numidia wreck at a depth of around 40 meters.

The British SS Numidia , built in 1900, hit the reef on July 20, 1901 at the northern tip of Big Brother and sank a few weeks later. The steam freight ship was 137.4 meters long, 16.7 meters wide and had a draft of 9.2 meters, 6399 gross tons . It was on the way from Liverpool to Calcutta . The entire load, u. a. Railway construction materials, was salvaged from destruction.

The wreck ( location ) lies upright on the sloping reef at a depth between 8 and 85 meters. The wooden structures have long since rotted away, while the metal parts have stood the test of time and are overgrown with soft and hard corals. Holds and galleries are open and can be dived. The tail section begins at around 40 meters; The propeller is between 70 and 80 meters deep (and therefore in the area for technical divers ).

In addition to the coral growth, the wreck is known for numerous large fish. High waves and strong currents often make diving here difficult or even impossible.

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Aida

The French supply ship SS Aida , built in 1911, struck Big Brother on September 15, 1957 while attempting to berth at the jetty on the reef and sank quickly. The Aida was supposed to take the Egyptian soldiers stationed on the Brothers on board and drop their replacement when it was pressed against the reef in heavy seas and leaked. The personnel on board had to leave the ship; a summoned tug took 77 people on board and brought them to shore. The Aida drifted northeast for a short time on the surface of the water before it sank at a steep angle to the reef. The steamship was 75.1 meters long, 9.7 meters wide and had a draft of 7 meters and 1428 gross tons.

The wreck of the Aida ( location ), located about 100 meters south of the wreck of the Numidia , lies upright on the sloping reef edge at a depth of 25 to 60 meters. The propeller is at a depth of 56 to 58 meters, the bow is missing due to the collision with the reef. The deck planking and wooden interior fittings are rotten, the cabins can be dived. Due to the usually strong currents outside the wreck, this diving destination is only recommended for experienced divers.

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reception

Focus Online counts the Brother Islands diving area among the 10 best diving areas in the world, but also among the 10 most dangerous diving spots in the world. The online magazine u. a. about a group of four divers aborted by the brothers, who only reached the mainland coast some 100 kilometers away a few days later, and pointed out that divers "not infrequently" only come to the surface several hundred meters away from the planned site.

In 2012, the Big Brother dive site was ranked 9th in CNN's 50 best dive sites in the world .

Spiegel Online names the Brother Islands diving area one of the five best spots to dive with sharks and the best placeto encounter white tip deep-sea and thresher sharks .

According to the website 100-beste-tauchreviere.de , operated by underwater photographer Paul Munzinger , the Brother Islands are "among the most beautiful spots in the entire Red Sea" and are given top marks in the areas of large fish, fish, corals, wrecks and steep walls. Visibility of 20 to 45 meters under water, water temperatures between 20 and 30 ° C and May to September are named as the best travel time.

After some incidents with whitetip deep-sea sharks , the diving area was closed to scuba diving from December 2018 to March 2019 in order to research the behavior of the species and the environmental impact on the popular reefs.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Egypt - the Brother Islands . 100-beste-tauchreviere.de, UW-Media Production, Paul W. Munzinger ; accessed on August 28, 2016.
2. ^ W. Sedelmaier: World diving travel guide. Steiger, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89652-217-5 , p. 20.
3. ↑ Laura Schmid: Marco Polo travel guide Red Sea, Sinai. Mair Dumont Marco Polo, 2014, ISBN 978-3-8297-8786-4 , pp. 101-102.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jack Jackson: Top Wreck Dives of the World . New Holland Publishers, London a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-1-84537-466-2 , p. 96 f. (English).
5. ^ SS Numidia . Seawolf Safari, accessed on August 25, 2016 (PDF; 955 kB).
6. ^ Ned Middleton: Egypt Red Sea Shipwrecks - The Aida . Tour Egypt, May 29, 2011, accessed August 26, 2016.
7. ^ Brother Island: Aida . Seawolf Safari, accessed on August 25, 2016 (PDF; 826 kB).
8. ↑ Michael Böhm: Diving Guide: The best diving spots in the world. Red Sea: Brother Islands - all-inclusive for the discerning . In: Focus Online , accessed August 25, 2016.
9. ↑ Michael Böhm: The most dangerous diving spots in the world - Red Sea: Lost at the Brother Islands . In: Focus Online , updated March 24, 2014, accessed August 28, 2016.
10. ^ Jade Bremner: Into the deep: World's 50 best dive sites . travel.cnn.com, April 6, 2012, accessed August 25, 2016.
11. ↑ Linus Geschke: Predatory fish as a diving favorite: Hai Five . Spiegel Online , March 11, 2016; Retrieved August 25, 2016.
12. ↑ Michael Krüger: Brother Islands remain closed to divers due to shark accidents. In: diving . February 13, 2019, accessed December 7, 2019 (German).