El Quseir, Red Sea, Egypt

Big Brother Island

Big Brother is the larger of the two Brothers Islands (El Akhawein), a remote pair of islets 67 km offshore from El Quseir in the central Red Sea, accessible only by liveaboard. A single Victorian lighthouse marks the island. Two famous wrecks rest on the reef walls: the Numidia, a 137-metre British steamer that struck the northern reef in 1901 and now lies along the wall from 8 to 80 metres, and the Aida, an Egyptian supply vessel sunk in 1957 lying on the western wall from 30 to 65 metres. The walls drop past 100 metres and are coated in some of the densest soft coral and gorgonian growth in the Red Sea. The site is celebrated for big-pelagic encounters: hammerhead schools (May–July), oceanic whitetips (October–December), grey reef sharks, silvertip sharks and silky sharks year-round, and seasonal thresher sharks. Currents are strong and unpredictable; the dive is run as a drift along the walls. Advanced divers only. Visibility 30–40 metres. Inside the Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone marine protected area.