The Brothers Liveaboard Diving

The Brothers (known locally as El Akhawein) are two uninhabited rocky islets in Egypt’s Red Sea and regarded as the best diving location in the country. They’re also considered to be among the top dive destinations in the world. Big Brother is the larger island and has a Victorian lighthouse, Little Brother is just five minutes’ boat ride away. They are steep-sided cones, probably made from volcanic action thousands of years ago.

Both islands are home to a wonderful & healthy selection of hard & soft corals, and resident & pelagic marine life. The surrounding sea bed is very deep, and divers are able to descend to their maximum depth, depending on certification and experience. Even if ten or more liveaboard boats are here at the same time, there's still plenty of space for everyone to dive. Whether you want deep or shallow, drift diving, walls, wrecks, critters or sharks, you can find it all here. The currents normally flow from the north to the south, and can be strong at times. Several species of pelagic and reef sharks can be seen here, and most divers come in the hope of Hammerheads or Oceanic Whitetips (Carcharhinus longimanus).

Due to the remote location, it's only possible to visit on a Red Sea liveaboard diving safari, and the sea's surface can be rough at times. Occasionally, the local authorities may close the area if the weather forecast is extreme. Being part of a protected national park, night diving is forbidden here, and would be dangerous anyway because of the potential currents and location. Instead, you can hope for up to four day-time dives. But with less time to get all the dives completed and with the potential depths, it's important to dive strictly to a safe plan and keep an eye on your computer, especially late in the day.

Little Brother is in the shape of a teardrop if viewed from above, with its narrower part facing north west. On this northwestern point there's a deep plateau, which is an excellent place to look out for visiting sharks. Both sides of Little Brother are near-vertical walls covered in healthy hard & soft corals, sea fans and anemones. There's plenty of life all over the place, including macro species hiding, large shoals of fish swimming near the reef, and the visiting pelagics. Although the smaller of the islands, Little Brother makes up for its lack of size with its amazing colours and densly-populated walls and plateaus.

Big Brother covers a lot more area, and because of its size more ships have hit it by accident, even though there's an active lighthouse. It's located just one mile (1.6km) to the north west of Littel Brother. This island is approximately twice the size of Little Brother and is home to even more fish. Due to its size, and the wide range of diving on offer, it's easily possible to spend all day at Big Brother alone and still not see everything. This is especially so given the potential currents that make most dives here drift dives along the walls or plateaus.

Big Brother has two intact wrecks, which are at depths of 10-80m on the western & northern sides. Aida was a 75-metre--long Italian troop–transporting ship that sank in 1957 and sits at a depth of 15-45 metres on Big Brother's western side. Numidia was a 130-metre-long British cargo ship that sank in 1901 on its way from England to India. All of the crew were rescued safely, after the captain ordered them to abandon ship. Numidia sank very slowly, over a period of several weeks while its cargo was offloaded. It lies on a very steep slope at the northern edge of Big Brother, with its keel wedged in the reef at a depth of approximately 85 metres. The shallowest part of the wreck is the bow, at a depth of 10 metres. Due to its size and the way it lies, it's possible to do two or more dives at Numidia in one day and still want more.

The remote location, depths, potential currents and surface conditions mean that these dive sites are only suitable for advanced and experienced divers, and only visited by Egypt liveaboard diving boats. It's much too far for day-trip diving boats to reach. Although technically possible to visit all year round, June to September is the best time. And the pelagic sharks that these islands are famous for tend to start showing up from May for the summer months. The islands are far from the mainland and any other dive sites, meaning that when your boat visits it will stay for at least the whole day. However, this is no problem because there are more than enough separate dive sites never to get bored, and to accommodate several boats at the same time. But dropping anchor is forbidden here, so boats have to use the permanent mooring buoys. Most liveaboard boats tend to gather at the southern edge on the western side. Here they can get some shelter from surface currents and pick up their divers.

What marine life can you see at The Brothers?

You can expect to see almost anything at The Brothers, including plenty of different requiem shark species. Our list is just a selection of what might show up at these awesome dive sites.

Whale Shark

(Rhincodon typus)

Reef Manta Ray

(Mobula alfredi)

Giant Moray Eel

(Gymnothorax javanicus)

Common Octopus

(Octopus vulgaris)

Hammerhead Shark

(Sphyrnidae)

Barracuda

(Sphyraena)

Giant Trevally

(Caranx ignobilis)

Orbicular Batfish

(Platax orbicularis)

Clown Anemonefish

(Amphiprion ocellaris)

Whitetip Reef Shark

(Triaenodon obesus)

Moorish Idol

(Zanclus cornutus)

Ribbon Eel

(Rhinomuraena quaesita)

You can also see

Leopard Shark

Oceanic Whitetip Shark

Grey Reef Shark

Tuna

Banded Sea Krait

Skunk Anemonefish

Clark's Anemonefish

Titan Triggerfish

Oriental Sweetlips

Clown Triggerfish

Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Bluespotted Stingray

Honeycomb Moray Eel

Green Turtle

Blacktip Reef Shark

Tigertail Seahorse

Whitemouth Moray Eel

Yellow Boxfish

Black-Blotched Porcupinefish

Ornate Ghost Pipefish

Horned Boxfish

Harlequin Shrimp

Porcelain Anemone Crab

Spotted Boxfish

White Eyed Moray Eel

Yellow-Margin Moray Eel

Black-Spotted Pufferfish

Blue-Spotted Pufferfish

Green Humphead Parrotfish

Yellow-Banded Sweetlips

Valentini Puffer

Maroon Anemonefish

Ribboned Sweetlips

Squat (Sexy) Shrimp

Harlequin Sweetlips

Tawny Nurse Shark

Even more marine life

Humphead / Napoleon Wrasse

Starry Pufferfish

Hawksbill Turtle

Redtooth Triggerfish

Pharaoh Cuttlefish

Tassled Scorpionfish

Emperor Angelfish

Redtail Butterflyfish

Crocodilefish

Yellow-Margin Triggerfish

Thorny / Spiny Seahorse

Mandarinfish

Broadclub Cuttlefish

Striated / Hairy Frogfish

Durban Dancing / Hingebeak Shrimp

Painted Sweetlips

Narrow-Lined Pufferfish

Map Pufferfish

Spot-Fin Porcupinefish

Pickhandle Barracuda

Big-Eye Trevally

Fusilier

Angelfish

Butterflyfish

Damselfish

Grouper

Wrasse

Parrotfish

Surgeonfish

Goby

Scorpionfish

Black Combtooth Blenny

Dragonet

Commensal Shrimp

Unicornfish

Geometric Moray Eel

Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin

Broadback Cuttlefish

Cheeked / Red Sea Pipefish

Cheesecake Nudibranch

Dusky Nembrotha

Oceanic Manta Ray

Willan's Chromodoris

Velvet Sea Slug

Swallowtail Aglaja

Anna's Chromodoris

Diana's Chromodoris

Ocellate Phyllidia

Coleman's Chromodoris / Sea Slug

Red-Margined Glossodoris

Cabbage Nudibranch

Lynx Nudibranch

Tryon's Hypselodoris

Magnificent Chromodoris

Co's Goniobranchus

Loch's Chromodoris

Miller's Nembrotha

Reticulated Goniobranchus

Whitenose Nudibranch

Glorious Flatworm

Cryptic Phyllodesmium

Morose Nudibranch

Linda's Flatworm

Headshield Slug

Psychedelic Batwing Slug

Indian Caloria

Lined Nembrotha

Lightning Flatworm

Snakey Bornella

Marine Flatworm

Samla Bicolor

Slender Ceratosoma

Purple-Edged Ceratosoma

Purple-Tipped Janolus

Ridged Pearl Ovulid

Ringed Chromodoris

Bullock's Hypselodoris

Multi Pustuled Mexichromis

Pyjama Chromodoris

Royal Hypselodoris

Iba Hypselodoris

Desirable Flabellina

Nembrotha purpureolineata

Swollen Phyllidia

Black Phyllidiella

Verrier's Chromodoris

Yellow-Spotted Flatworm

Yellow Masked Angelfish

Blue Ring Angelfish

Day Octopus

Bigeye Snapper

Black Combtooth Blenny

Teira Batfish

Pinnate Batfish

Bluestripe Snapper

Anemone Shrimp

Streaked Spinefoot

Clearfin Lionfish

Common Lionfish / Devil Firefish

Red Lionfish

Zebra Lionfish

Spotfin Lionfish

Red Sea Clownfish

Domino Damselfish