Brothers Islands Hurghada
The famous aquatic siblings near Hurghada. She is characterised by a huge fish population, dominated by tiny anthias, glassfish, sweepers and gorgonians
Dive Site Details
The famous aquatic siblings near Hurghada. The site is characterized by a huge fish population, dominated by tiny anthias, glassfish, sweepers and gorgonians.
Here in the Red Sea two mountain tops have emerged from the sea. They have become famous as aquatic siblings, going by the name of Brothers Islands. They are als called ‘ El Akhawein’ in Egyptian parlance.
Brothers Islands one of top remarks of Red Sea
Brothers Islands are quite isolated and thus a delicacy to be savoured by the privileged few. Basically, below sea level, the two sharp-edged mountains are steep-sided cones, allegedly formed by volcanic eruptions. They are interlinked at a depth of 90 meters by a rocky barrier.
One island, Big Brother, is equipped with a 32 meter towering lighthouse, a legacy of British rule. Small Brother lies within a one kilometer reach, south from Big Brother. Both islands boast marine park status.
Big Brother Island lies about 1 km to the north of its smaller sibling. It is characterised by a huge fish population, dominated by tiny anthias, glassfish and sweepers. All are resident on or around a fringing reef that plunges steeply away on all sides. The walls are densely covered by huge gorgonians and colourful soft corals.
Big Brother is also home to two Red Sea wrecks, lying quite close by one another off the north east point of the island, near the lighthouse. The Numidia is also known as the Railway Wreck due to the two locomotive wheels that she was carrying as cargo and now lie in the shallows.
The Aida was a 75m transport supply ship that came off last during a head-to-head with Big Brother and sank in 1957.
The Brother Islands are generally considered to be very important from an environmental and ecological point of view. They attract not only barracuda schools and Napoleon wrasses, but also shark populations in the category of seasonal thresher sharks, oceanic grey and white tip reef sharks and hammerhead sharks.
The Brother Islands boast an abundance or coral reefs, coming in every shape and color of the rainbow. The diversity and density is simply breathtaking. We see underwater walls covered in what is called Broccoli soft coral or ‘Lithophyton arboretum’
