Big Brother Island

In the early hours of 20 July 1901, the British cargo ship Numidia, of the Anchor Line, about 138 m long and built in Glasgow that same year, ran aground on the northern tip of Big Brother carrying rails and wheels for the Indian railways, bound for Calcutta. The cause of the grounding was never established. The crew was taken to the island and the cargo transferred to other ships; weeks later, the hull broke in two and the stern slid down the wall. In 1941, the Aida was attacked with torpedoes by a Heinkel He 111, but the captain changed course at the last moment and the pilot ended up flying the aircraft into the ship's mast. A third wreck, the Karim 2, sank on 5 June 2004 near the southern tip.

The island, 480 m long, lies 61 km northeast of El Quseir and rises from a seabed at 800 m to 10 m above the surface. On it stands a 31 m stone lighthouse, built by the British in 1883 and still operated by the Egyptian military.

Sea fans grow among hard and soft corals, surrounded by countless anthias and surgeonfish, while barracuda and shoals of jacks and snappers hang out in the blue. The Brothers region is home to about 370 species of fish, sharks among them. Summer and early autumn tend to bring the calmest crossings, while in winter the wind often cancels the trip.