The Brothers Islands
Also known as El Akhawein — Big Brother and Little Brother
Two isolated islands far offshore in the Marine Park, with sheer walls, two wrecks and the most consistent big-animal diving in Egypt.
- Depth
- 10–40m on the walls; both wrecks on Big Brother run deep
- Access
- Liveaboard only — roughly 60km offshore, with no day-boat access
- Best season
- May to July and September to November; the crossing is rough outside those windows
- Level
- Advanced
The Brothers are two small islands in open water off the Egyptian coast, reachable only by liveaboard, and they are where Red Sea diving becomes serious. The walls fall away vertically, the current runs hard along them, and the reward is the most consistent shark diving in the country.
Big Brother carries the wrecks — the Numidia, a British cargo ship lost in 1901, lying steeply down the northern wall, and the Aida, a supply vessel sunk in 1957. Both are deep. Little Brother has no wreck and, for many divers, the better diving: a plateau where thresher sharks come to be cleaned, and soft coral on the walls that is hard to overstate.
None of this is casual diving. Boats brief hard, entries are timed to the current, and a dive that goes wrong here goes wrong in open ocean. Operators who insist on experience requirements are the ones to book with.
Conditions
- Genuinely open ocean: strong current is normal and swell decides the schedule
- Wall dives with no shallow refuge — you drift and get collected
- Marine Park permits required; access has been restricted at times to protect the sharks
What you are likely to see
- Thresher sharks, most reliably around Little Brother’s plateau early in the day
- Oceanic whitetips and grey reef sharks
- Hammerheads in season
- Some of the densest soft coral in the Red Sea, particularly on Little Brother
What to watch out for
- The Numidia and Aida wrecks on Big Brother both start deep and drop steeply. They are frequently dived beyond recreational limits — know your own.
- Currents here can be unforgiving and there is nothing downstream. Carry a surface marker buoy and know how to deploy it before the dive, not during it.
- Access rules change. Check the current Marine Park position with your operator when you book, not when you arrive.
This is planning information, not a dive briefing or a substitute for one. Conditions change; your guide on the day is the authority. Diving emergency numbers and the coast’s recompression chambers are on our emergency contacts page.
Dive centres in Marsa Alam
Listed by the desk, in alphabetical order. Nobody pays to be here.
Awlad Baraka
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗On the map
Blue Ocean Dive Center Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Colona Dive Center Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗
Deep South Diving Center
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗On the map
Emperor Divers Marsa Alam
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
Official site ↗
Marsa Shagra - Diving Center
Dive CentreMarsa Alam
On the map
Also in this bay — Marsa Alam
Dive sites
- Elphinstone ReefAdvanced
The Red Sea’s most famous offshore reef: a narrow wall running north to south off Marsa Alam, known for oceanic whitetips and hammerheads — and for currents that make it an advanced dive.
- Abu DabbabBeginner
A shallow seagrass bay north of Marsa Alam, the coast’s most reliable place to see dugongs and green turtles — and one of its easiest shore dives.
- Daedalus ReefAdvanced
An isolated reef in open ocean with a lighthouse on it, sheer walls on every side, and the most reliable hammerhead diving in Egypt.
- St John’s ReefIntermediate
A scattered complex of reefs near Egypt’s southern border — caves, coral gardens and the best-preserved hard coral in the country.
- Rocky Island and ZabargadAdvanced
Two remote islands near the Sudanese border — Zabargad an ancient peridot mine with a wreck, Rocky Island a small, current-swept reef with big animals.
Snorkelling
- Abu Dabbab BayShore entry
Long the most famous place in Egypt to try to snorkel with a dugong — sightings have grown less reliable in recent years — and near-certain green turtles, in a shallow sandy bay you walk into from the beach.
- Marsa MubarakShore or boat
A quieter alternative to Abu Dabbab a little north of Marsa Alam — same seagrass, same turtles, usually far fewer people.
The town guide for Marsa Alam