Aïda & Numidia // BROTHERS ISLANDS

THE LEGENDARY BROTHERS ISLANDS —or

Al Akhawein in Arabic—are the northernmost of Egypt’s off-shore reefs. The two brothers are found about 200 km/125 mi south of Ras Mohammad or 150 km/90 mi southeast of Hurghada, which translates to an eight to ninehour cruise in good weather. The two brothers are situated just fifteen minutes apart and were formed by steep volcanic cones that rise up from the depths. Their position in otherwise-deep waters poses a danger to the shipping traffic through the Red Sea, as it has throughout the ages. Consequently, Big Brother features a 32 m/105 ft tall lighthouse. The British built the lighthouse in 1883 and renovated it in 1993. Today it is operated by the Egyptian Navy and, in the surface interval between dives, you can visit the lighthouse to enjoy the view or buy a Brothers Islands T-shirt. The islands’ isolated location makes them an absolute delicacy, and many divers consider Brothers to be among the best dive sites in the Egyptian Red Sea. The remote position of the two islands, however, is also a disadvantage.

Conservative diving is advised, as help is far away; night diving is not permitted, and diving conditions can be challenging. Experience with diving in currents and competence in shooting an SMB is an absolute necessity.

Brothers today

Fast-forward to 2022: We make the cruise during the night in relatively rough weather (again, it is a bit of a rocky trip). I’m on the deck before the sun rises, curious about where we are and how the wind affects the conditions. If the wind is too strong, it may be too risky to visit the wrecks at the northern tip of Big Brother. In bad weather, it will become too dicey to get back in the zodiacs if something goes wrong. The weather looks alright, however.

Most divers—limited by nitrox’s operating depth of around 30 m/100 ft and the gas volume in a single cylinder—rarely explore anything other than the very topmost parts of the two wrecks located on the northern tip of Big Brother. But we are equipped with rebreathers, scooters, and trimix, so we can go deeper and stay longer.

The British-built lighthouse, now operated by the Egyptian Navy, offers a scenic view and Brothers Islands T-shirts during the surface interval between dives.

The liveaboard operator, Red Sea Explorers, is a specialist in supporting technical diving, and one of the biggest highlights on their northern routes is the legendary four-wreck dive at Abu Nuhas, where the scooters make it is possible to visit Kimon M, Marcus, Carnatic, and Giannis D on the same dive. At Big Brother, you can make another super-dive with two wrecks on the menu. This is what we had planned.

Two-in-one

After exploring and photographing Aïda with an average depth of about 60 m/200 ft, we steer our scooters towards the Numidia . After approximately five minutes on the throttle, we pass the train wheel set that was lost from the deck of Numidia when she hit the reef. We drop down towards the impressive stern at 80 m/260 ft. Numidia presents itself from its best side today, where the visibility is almost infinite. Michel and I let ourselves fall over the edge of the stern to get a good angle for the pictures of Faisal, who is posing like the experienced underwater model he is. I have done this and other similar dives with Faisal so many times that we work almost telepathically together. He instinctively finds the good spots to pose—an important measure, as we must use our 80 minutes efficiently. Soon we be - gin to move up along the impres - sive wreck that lies on a 45-degree slope on the reef. We explore the huge engine room and swim out of the skylight to begin the almost two-hour long decompression, a penalty for 30 minutes on the two wrecks with a maximum depth of 80 m/260 ft.

With very few exceptions, the wrecks in the Red Sea always rest close to a reef. It makes sense, as the reefs typically sealed the fates of the ships in the first place. Technical divers who do not like long decompressions in open water, and who are equally bored at the sight of an ascent line, will be happy when decompressing after a wreck dive in the Red Sea. The two-hour decompression on Big Brother’s steep walls is almost a reward. We glide slowly back toward the south plateau where our mothership, M/V Tala, is waiting. The scooters get a break as the current gently carries us back.

Family trip

The boat is fully booked on this trip. My wife and I are from Denmark, and a very pleasant group of Norwegians makes up most of the guests. There are also a couple of Lebanese divers, a Belgian, and an Egyptian. In addition to the two competent guides, Red Sea Explorers’ founder, Faisal Khalaf, is joining the trip, and he has invited his mother.

If you have ever been on one of the vessels in the Red Sea Explorers fleet, you will have learned to appreciate the family atmosphere on board. You feel as if you are traveling with a group of friends and relatives and not at all like a charter tourist.

It was only when I zoomed in to check the sharpness after the dive that I spotted the longnose hawkfish on the railing at a depth of 80 m/260 ft.

DAEDALUS REEF (Abu Kizan, in Arabic) is 400 m/1,312 ft long, 100 m/330 ft wide, and located approximately 90 km/55 mi from Marsa Alam on the mainland. There is a small artificial island at the center of the reef supporting a lighthouse built by the French in 1863 during the construction of the Suez Canal. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1931. The picturesque tower is 30 m/100 ft high and still active. It is run by the Egyptian Navy, and they welcome visitors.

Daedalus Reef is well-known for frequent hammerhead shark sightings and its stunningly beautiful walls with an abundance of corals. But, Daedalus also has a secret in the deep.

Even though it rests on 100 m/330 ft, the Zealot wreck is perhaps not such a big surprise after all, as the large field of debris and wreckage that spreads over the reef reveals its location. But, I’m sure many divers have swum past the debris field without knowing that there is a wreck deep down below. The debris is scattered over a larger area, so it can be difficult to find the Zealot. Our descent is a little bit off the mark, and we end up cruising 300 m/1,000 ft at 60 m/200 ft depth with the scooters before we finally see the contours of the ship. We wasted valuable bottom time in our search of the wreck, but our rebreathers provide unmatched flexibility, and we are only limited by how much decompression we are willing to pay at the other end. We have enough breathing gas to last us six or seven hours.

If you have dived the Carnatic at Abu Nuhas, you have a very good impression of what type of vessel Zealot is. However, probably only a fraction of divers have been here compared to Carnatic, which rests at 20 m/66 ft. Zealot appears somewhat more damaged; the wreck is scattered over a larger area, and it is difficult to form an overall overview. But the helm, the propeller, and the two anchors offer some waypoints. After spending about 15 minutes on the wreck, aver- aging 95 m/310 ft depth, we are approaching the maximum decompression we have agreed to before the dive and it is time to leave the site.

Deco-cave

As we approach the last and longest decompression stop at 6 m/20 ft, where we are supposed to spend over an hour, we can feel that the surface has become rather turbulent, and it is awkwardly difficult to stay stable at our target depth. If we swim out from the reef, the surge from the surface is less noticeable, but it is unsafe to stay where the zodiacs rush up and down the reef taxiing divers to and from the dive sites. Close to the reef, the surge is taking us for a ride up and down—not a good way to do deco. On a rebreather you cannot fine-tune your buoyancy with your breath, so it’s hard work to compensate for surge.

Since the 60-minute deco at 6 m/20 ft will be uncomfortable at best and will feel like an eternity of hard work, I look for a solution. A rebreather is operating on a constant partial pressure of oxygen (pO2). The advantage is that, during decompression, you don’t necessarily have to be at a certain depth, as long as you maintain your pO2. I find a cave in the reef at 7 m/22 ft—it’s big enough to accommodate the three of us—but there is still a strong surge when the water flows in and out of the cavity; it is probably that very water movement that has carved out the cave through the centuries. I have to press my arms and legs against the rock to maintain position, but we can rest pretty comfortably while the minutes tick away. Necessity is the mother of invention. Finally, it’s time to swim out of our temporary habitat and shoot a bag to the surface. We send up our bailout cylinders to the zodiac that has stayed with us during the entire dive. It is almost dark when we finally surface after almost three hours on our rebreather loops.

Hammerheads and oceanic whitetips are commonly spotted around Daedalus, especially during the summer months.

Nowadays, we dive the Zealot using rebreathers. However, when I first started diving the wreck 15 years ago, we still used open-circuit equipment.

The llghthouse on Daedalus was build in 1863 during the construction of the Suez Canal. It was reconstructed in 1931 and remains operational.

“Daedalus Reef is wellknown for frequent hammerhead shark sightings and its stunningly beautiful walls with an abundance of corals. But, Daedalus also has a secret in the deep.

Technical diving on Red Sea reefs provides a beautiful adventure, allowing you to appreciate the mesmerizing marine life during the deco stops.

On air, divers, affected by nitrogen narcosis may imagine the square rock as a pharaoh’s sarcophagus. However, with a more sober mindset during a trimix dive, it becomes clear that it is just a large square rock.