The Brothers islands

[Bonnet Ray]

We are thinking of going out to the brothers in mid October. What is the weather like at that time of year, I've heard stories that they turn the boats back if the weather's not absolutley ideal.

Also is it a good time to see sharks, we've just been to the deep south and saw very few big things! Apparently the water is warmer than normal so the pelagics are deeper than expected.

Thanks

 

[Desert Roos]

Hi hels, its hot in oktober around 34c. the current is strong around the islands, yet i never heard of boats going back, or cancelled for weather conditions in Oktober, it is considerd the hot season, when it comes to see sharks, it will not be more than Marsa Alam where the most possibilities to encounter sharks in egypt, if you are looking for sharks, i suggest sudan.

best of luck
george

 

[Bonnet Ray]

Thanks George, I hear it's all pretty amasing diving but are there particular parts of the islands you would recommend?

Can't wait to go

 

[Desert Roos]

The 2 Islands are only 1 km apart. Together they offer more than 12 different dive sites, The dive sites are mostly wall dives and strong drop offs. Big Brother have on the North west side some ship wrecks. The Aida II an Italian ship which was carrying troops one night in 1957 when it hit Big Brother There are other older wrecks scattered at depths between 9 and 40 meters including the Numidia.

Don't miss the wall of the South-East Tip, Abrupt wall of soft corals drops to 40m, where you hit a short plateau. Over the edge of the plateau another wall descends even further.

the Brothers is for experienced divers only! Even the Egyptian port authorities ask for 50 logged dives to embark.

The Brothers Islands are in the middle of the Red Sea and have no protected area to the wind for this reason avoid planning a trip to the Brothers Islands from mid November to end march.

My best regards
george

 

[Seadeuce]

Have a look at the following link:

http://www.redsea-diving.info/brothers/index_brothers.html

Might be of assistance


Cheers,

Seadeuce

 

[Christian]

if

Also is it a good time to see sharks, we've just been to the deep south and saw very few big things! Apparently the water is warmer than normal so the pelagics are deeper than expected.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

Normally spring and summer is better for sharks. You will probably see some if you know where to look. One of the best places are the north point of little brother.

October is normally calm. In november and onwards the wind is usually stronger and trips to Brothers are a bit more hazardous.

cood luck

Christian

 

[AbuK]

Not too sure about the Brothers per se, but in Yenbu, Saudi there are still plenty of sharks about, from hammerheads to silver tips, grey reef and even black tips, though you have to go down quite deep (50 ish) to bring them up. Having said that we saw 7 sharks 4 days ago, 6 above 40m and 1 of the silver tips even came up to the surface to check out one of my friends who was relieving herself just prior to the dive. Most amusing!

 

[adrianwd75]

Hello,

I have dived the Red Sea seven times now.....and the brothers and the deep south trips are the best.

My recomendation would be to do what is called
Simply the Best trips...

Departing from Marsa Alam and visiting the three top sites in the Southern Red Sea. The Brothers Islands, Daedelus and Elphinstone

The best boat at the mo is probably the Hurrincane
http://www.scuba.co.uk/Travel/Red_Sea/Liveaboard/Hurricane/Hurricane.htm

http://www.scuba.co.uk/Travel/Red_Sea/Liveaboard/Southern_redsea_itineraries.htm

http://www.redseadivers.com/

Any more info please email me

Adrian

 

[Andy Hipkiss]

Hi Adrian,

We've (Hels (Bonnet Ray) and myself) just come back off the Excel doing the "simply the best" route. It certainly was exceptional however I felt we perhaps rushed from site to site a little too much. Now since it was our first trip from Marsa I think it was the right thing to do but for this trip coming I wanted to concentrate on one place. Admittedly I would have gone for a week at St Johns out of preference with a dive or two at Elphinstone on the way back but I could only get the Sea Serpent for a week on the Brothers route.

Hopefully it will turn out ok Thanks for the links, pretty much all our previous trips have been booked with RedSeaDivers although this time I booked directly with Tony Backhurst. I DO wish I'd known that Backhurst offers 10% off if you've dived with them twice before .... much as I like David and Debbie and the super service they offer, I'd have saved myself several 10% by now since we were on Backhurst charters anyway! Agreed the Hurricane looks fantastic but apart from the reputations of Sonia and Greg I didn't think the Excel was much worse. (although I'm looking towards booking a trip with him .... we saw quite a bit of Sonia in the harbour and she is quite obviously a complete star, often there seems a bit of antipathy between crew and dive guides ... seemingly not in her case)

 

[vjongene]

Also is it a good time to see sharks, we've just been to the deep south and saw very few big things! Apparently the water is warmer than normal so the pelagics are deeper than expected.

I recently posted some video shot on the Brothers. Have a look.

How many sharks you see is largely a matter of luck. We saw two whale sharks on our first trip to the South. On the Brothers, we saw some hammerheads, grey reef shaks, and an oceanic whitetip cruising just below the surface, who is supposedly a fixture there.

Enjoy!