Liveaboard Diving in The Brothers

What to Expect on a Liveaboard to The Brothers

Liveaboards to The Brothers are the only way to visit these reefs due to their remote location. The two islands, Big Brother and Little Brother or El Akhawein as they are known locally, lie less than a mile apart, around 67 km/ 40 miles from the coast at Al-Qusayr. For those more familiar with the Sharm el Sheikh area, that is around 200 km/ 125 miles South of the Ras Mohammed National Park.

Both islands are tiny when viewed above water; the tear-shaped little brother has only a few rocks on its flat surface. Big Brother is made much more obvious only by the 30-meter-high lighthouse that was put there by the British in the late 19th Century as a warning as to what lay beneath. However, the lighthouse was not enough to save the two ships, the Numidia and Aida, which were wrecked, one directly beneath the lighthouse!

Underwater, the Brothers are much larger; Little Brother has a few meters of shallows and a huge drop-off into the blue. Big Brother drops straight down from the side of the island; the walls on both islands are covered in soft and hard coral. These reefs are home to huge Napoleon wrasse, barracuda, and hordes of reef fish. There is also a chance to see sharks with oceanic whitetips, grey reef sharks, and hammerheads hanging around. Numerous Red Sea dive liveaboards will offer a visit to The Brothers in their itineraries.

Daily Schedule (example)

Morning - A dawn dive is normally offered before breakfast with a light snack and a briefing around 6 am before heading to the dive deck to prepare. These dives are best on Nitrox, especially since there will be four or more dives daily.

The divers will be dropped and picked up on the dive site by small tender boats with a small surface or underwater swim each way. The conditions can be quite rough on the surface, so a negative entry is best if possible. After returning to the boat for a proper breakfast and a rest, there will be a second dive before lunch.

Afternoon - After lunch, in the afternoon, there will be two more dives, likely to the shallower areas of the reef. Unfortunately, there will not be night dives at The Brothers as they are not allowed inside the marine park area for conservation and safety reasons. The Brothers' currents and surface conditions can be rough, so it isn’t the best for night diving.

The Brothers Underwater

The Brothers have long been known to be among the best dive sites in the Red Sea. The tear-shaped Little Brother is a wall dive with sheer drops on all sides. It is a feast for the eyes with gorgonias and fantastic, colorful, hard, and soft corals.

To the North, there is one exception to the underwater wall topography. A plateau sits at the edge of recreational dive limits, 40 meters/130 ft. down. This is the place to see sharks. Grey reef sharks, silvertips, and even the occasional hammerhead can be seen coming out from the blue.

Big Brother is only 1km away from Little Brother and is one of the best places to see oceanic whitetips, great hammerheads, and the more common reef sharks.

In addition to the big fish, Big Brother has two shipwrecks sitting to the North, ironically just beneath the lighthouse. Lying stem to stern on the sloping walls of the island, Numidia is the larger of the two. The wreck starts at 8 meters/26 ft. with the stem of the boat, but the ship's main body starts around 20 meters/65 ft. The Stern is around 80 meters/260 ft., allowing technical divers to explore an area inaccessible to most other visitors.

The smaller Aida also provides a dive for recreational and technical divers starting shallow and reaching 60 meters/196 ft. Both wrecks are covered in corals and fish and make fantastic dives, although divers should be aware that the currents on both wrecks can be severe.

Top Tips for the Brothers

  • The currents here are very strong, and with very deep waters on every side, a safety stop on the slightly sheltered shallow reef is a wise move.
  • A depth alarm on your computer is a good idea, given the tremendous drop-offs and 30-meter-plus (100-feet) visibility.
  • Plentiful thermal protection is a good idea since the currents here make for some serious thermoclines.

Getting to The Brothers

Only accessible by diving from a liveaboard the Brothers are an overnight sail from land. Egyptian liveaboards depart from either Hurghada or Marsa Alam; some depart from one and disembark at the other, the advantage being less time spent sailing back, so more time diving. Those departing Marsa Alam are typically part of an itinerary that also takes in Daedalus and Elphinstone reefs. Hurghada to Marsa Alam itineraries on the other hand often visit the Northern wrecks before heading down to The Brothers.

Both Hurghada and Marsa Alam have their own airports close to the departure ports offering international flights from mainland Europe and connections further afield. It is worth noting that transfer between the two resorts is around 4 hours and can involve an extra charge.


The Brothers Diving Reviews

  • 9.0 Superb
  • 409 Verified Reviews
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Thomas C
  • United States United States

Poor visibility not much to see.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Blue Melody

  • 8.4 Very good
  • James B
  • United States United States

Heavy currents and rough sea made this sight a little challenging.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Blue Melody

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Richard C
  • United States United States

Great, we dove with dolphins, hammerheads and a manta!

Diving The Brothers in May on the Emperor Elite

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Colin G
  • United States United States

Amazing reef/blue water diving one of the groups saw a school of hammerheads

Diving The Brothers in May on the Blue Horizon

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Karen N
  • United States United States

Nice vis, good reef. Nice coral cover and fish life. Saw hammerheads, reef sharks, dolphins, tuna, pipefish, big sea fans, and more. Good wall diving.

Diving The Brothers in July on the Discovery I

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Elizabeth P
  • United States United States

Coral formations and potential to see large marine life.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Blue

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Steven S
  • United States United States

Nice coral, lots of small fish, not many big fish

Diving The Brothers in September on the Blue Melody

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Erica H
  • United States United States

The wreck off little brother was so incredible.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Tillis

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Paul H
  • United States United States

Great experience even though we didn’t see large stuff. The reef is a hot spot for dive boats, but is large enough that you aren’t Al over other divers.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Sonny C
  • United States United States

It was very good Hammerheads

Diving The Brothers in September on the Blue

  • 9.2 Superb
  • william G
  • United States United States

bad weather but we made it work

Diving The Brothers in October on the Blue Melody

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Kris H
  • United States United States

Clear Warm waters. Beautiful corals Great dives

Diving The Brothers in November on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Mary F
  • United States United States

At Brothers we saw the Hammerheads! It was amazing!

Diving The Brothers in November on the Tillis

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Andrew D
  • United States United States

Driving to Brothers was great, although we didn’t find any hammerheads

Diving The Brothers in March on the SS Glorious Miss Nouran

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Kerry M
  • United States United States

Amazing. Colors are incredible. Saw a Manta

Diving The Brothers in April on the SS Serena Dreams

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Dale J
  • United States United States

Great dove site. Hammerheads!

Diving The Brothers in May on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Richard E
  • United States United States

Good. Heard dolphins in the water and saw them when we were on the surface.

Diving The Brothers in June on the Blue Storm

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Sharon E
  • United States United States

Not great. Choppy waves, huge current.

Diving The Brothers in August on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Julie L
  • United States United States

Awesome! Saw a few grey reef sharks and had a great encounter with an oceanic white tip

Diving The Brothers in October on the Nouran

  • 7.6 Good
  • Brandon E
  • United States United States

Ok, nothing fantastic but the Numidia wreck was a nice change from shark dives

Diving The Brothers in October on the JP Marine

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Juha V
  • Finland Finland

We saw some wreck and sharks, otherwise it is quite basic diving there. There are better and more wrecks along the Red Sea north route.

Diving The Brothers in December on the Blue Seas

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Nasr A
  • Jordan Jordan

Diving in the brothers is great as usual, we would've hoped for more diving there but local regulations prevented it.

Diving The Brothers in March on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Pascal J
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Visibility was unfortunately poor, so we concentrated more on the reef. Beautiful coral garden at the end in Big Brother, and nice soft corals and small caves in Little Brother.

Diving The Brothers in April on the JP Marine

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • luis fernando R
  • Spain Spain

Not lucky days, bad visibility

Diving The Brothers in April on the JP Marine

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Richard A
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Yes, Very Impressive, large drop offs and walls. Not too many other boats.

Diving The Brothers in April on the JP Marine

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Susana M
  • Spain Spain

No big fishes, bad visibility, bad luck this time

Diving The Brothers in April on the JP Marine

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Bjorn E
  • Sweden Sweden

Big Brother had a beautiful reef. Little Brother huge beautiful grogonian corals.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Blue Horizon

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Conchita H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Very exciting ! Beautiful sharks ❤️

Diving The Brothers in April on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Michel B
  • Belgium Belgium

A great experience, but the water visibility was not the best when I was there. The sharks were also not present because of the season. Will have to go back there in a better season

Diving The Brothers in April on the JP Marine

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Konrad M
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Cool with pelagic Manta ray

Diving The Brothers in April on the Blue

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Sven K
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Good, no big animals but stunning

Diving The Brothers in April on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Nachshon M
  • Israel Israel

Big Brother was disapointing, but, Small Brother was interesting, both sharks and reef.

Diving The Brothers in May on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 5.2 Review score
  • Luiz Roberto C
  • Brazil Brazil

I was expecting more wildlife, but the corals and small fishes were really beautiful

Diving The Brothers in May on the JP Marine

  • 7.2 Good
  • Ji W
  • Canada Canada

Below expectations. Only highlight was two mantas far away.

Diving The Brothers in May on the JP Marine

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Michael R
  • Switzerland Switzerland

The current was quite strong. The wreck was stunning, so were the corals which are very well intact. Really nice spot.

Diving The Brothers in May on the Emperor Elite

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Phiangporn K
  • New Zealand New Zealand

Excellent dive site, a little current but manageable Lots of coral and fish to see

Diving The Brothers in May on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Christian
  • Netherlands Netherlands

nice, but bit below expectations in regards of sealife to be seen, other than that: Dive-site chosen very attractive

Diving The Brothers in June on the Tillis

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Layla S
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

The conditions were challenging but excellent

Diving The Brothers in June on the JP Marine

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Joe T
  • Ireland Ireland

It was class, some big seas added to the excitement.

Diving The Brothers in July on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Florian M
  • Germany Germany

Excellent, fantastic places! Just one more boat around, lucky!

Diving The Brothers in July on the Blue Melody

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Andrey Z
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

It was so good, we had great visibility and saw few sharks

Diving The Brothers in July on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Nichola D
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Very deep, the less experienced divers of the group held the group back which lead to short bottom times The strong currents made it dangerous for such large groups

Diving The Brothers in August on the Discovery I

  • 7.2 Good
  • Nathan A
  • France France

Ok, we were unlucky with hammerheads though.

Diving The Brothers in August on the Discovery I

  • 7.2 Good
  • Dirk S
  • Germany Germany

Unfortunately we were more lucky above water with seeing a whale shark and various longimanus than underwater, where the coral garden and the wrecks remained the highlights but we didn't see much big fish around

Diving The Brothers in September on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Gijs C
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Big Brothers was a busy site but little brothers we had no others boats.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Diego S
  • Spain Spain

Little Brother was amazing. Huuuge reef with amazing amounts of coral. Shame we only shaw one shark

Diving The Brothers in September on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • sebastien L
  • Canada Canada

Good, but unfortunately we only saw 5 hammer shark but, but an oceanic whitetip, which was a impressive experience.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Tillis

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Ross P
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Very good diving, waiting in the blue for hammerheads.

Diving The Brothers in October on the Discovery I

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Pierre M
  • France France

Not great - too many divers and basically waited on the blue at 30m with a hundred other divers to see a shark.

Diving The Brothers in October on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Marc B
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Diving was ok. At the time no sharks around.

Diving The Brothers in October on the Discovery II

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Tim P
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

The weather resulted in large swells that made entry and exit challenging

Diving The Brothers in October on the Blue Melody

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Nenad B
  • Serbia Serbia

Amazing. Had to skip Little brother island dive because of the strong current but the big brother dive was great. Expect to see Longimanus (oceanic white tip shark)

Diving The Brothers in October on the Blue Seas

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Katie S
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Scary! Strong currents at times

Diving The Brothers in October on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Phoebe O
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Great! Strong currents so didn’t get to see wrecks but corals were amazing

Diving The Brothers in October on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • John G
  • Ireland Ireland

Beautiful reefs, full of life.

Diving The Brothers in November on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Paul G
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Great! Aida II wreck was challenging and a bit chaotic due to other divers behaviour (not following the route) but enjoyable nonetheless!

Diving The Brothers in November on the JP Marine

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Tommy B
  • Norway Norway

A bit of current on this dive site and crowded dive site.

Diving The Brothers in November on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Zhiwei Z
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Breathtaking! Shark, shark, shark

Diving The Brothers in November on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Stephan R
  • France France

der Taucher sollte etwas Erfahrung haben.

Diving The Brothers in November on the Discovery II

  • 7.2 Good
  • Jerome R
  • France France

Deep dives, no sharks that day.

Diving The Brothers in November on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Roman K
  • Russia Russia

Guter Reef. Hatten 3 TG dort. Erst am kleinen Brother 2 TG, danach am großen Brother 1 TG. Als Highlight gab es nur einen Seidenhai, der's aber von seiner Größe mit uns aufnahmen konnte. Im übrigen schöne Korallen und viel Kleinkram.

Diving The Brothers in March on the Sea Story

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Mikkel C
  • Denmark Denmark

Great reef, but not shark season and the visibility wasn’t the best.

Diving The Brothers in March on the Discovery II

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Hesham M
  • Egypt Egypt

It was great overall, we got tailed by a whit-tip shark in the zodiac but couldn't spot any underneath. Another group had an encounter with a tiger shark.

Diving The Brothers in March on the Sea Story

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • DANIEL G
  • Spain Spain

It was an amazing spot. In my opinion one of the best of this trip. Plenty of opportunities to spots big pelagicus. I had the opportunity to have a close encounter with a thresher shark.

Diving The Brothers in March on the Ghazala Explorer

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Milda P
  • Lithuania Lithuania

Great dive site, an opportunity to see a couple of wrecks and really beautiful reef!

Diving The Brothers in March on the JP Marine

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Christian J
  • Germany Germany

Lotsa current, but then "current is life". Still got to meet the Thresher Shark, other team had the Hammerhead. Great!

Diving The Brothers in March on the Discovery II

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Jordan N
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Really nice dive site but the wrong time of year to see the big stuff; we saw one shark in three dives.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Discovery II

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Alex F
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Big nemo stayed away but great unspoiled corals with more life than a zoo!

Diving The Brothers in April on the Sea Story

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Katie D
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Good. No sharks, water pretty cold. No currents

Diving The Brothers in April on the Discovery II

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Rob V
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Very nice, not to much current.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Tillis

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Christian S
  • Switzerland Switzerland

godd visibility, nice and calm waters

Diving The Brothers in April on the MY Odyssey Liveaboard

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Volodymyr S
  • Ukraine Ukraine

It was two dives at Little Brother and one dive at Big Brother. During the dives at Little Brother we saw sharks.

Diving The Brothers in April on the Thunderbird

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Anja S
  • Germany Germany

Hammerhai und Mantas gesehen :)

Diving The Brothers in April on the Discovery II

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Margaux P
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Perfect to see big things but the reef was also nice, in case you can't find sharls.

Diving The Brothers in May on the Tillis

  • 8.4 Very good
  • wybe K
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Crowded lots of boats at the dive site, nice corals but no pelagics around.

Diving The Brothers in May on the Discovery II

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Pat H
  • Germany Germany

Was just ok, we were lucky to have good weather but now sign of Longimanus / Oceanic white tip.. disappointed.

Diving The Brothers in May on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • William P
  • Canada Canada

Fantastic, walls of corals and fish

Diving The Brothers in June on the Discovery II

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Eleanor S
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Good wall and saw hammerheads

Diving The Brothers in June on the Sunshine

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Mahbod T
  • Canada Canada

Dives were great. I wish we spent more time there to do a 3rd dive at the rec site. Did not see any sharks but the coral reef and other marine life were incredible.

Diving The Brothers in June on the Discovery II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • William P
  • Canada Canada

Love these reefs. HUGE walls of corals

Diving The Brothers in June on the Discovery II

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Sébastien S
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Fantastic reef, lot of vibrant soft and hard coral

Diving The Brothers in June on the SS Glorious Miss Nouran

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Geoff R
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Superb wrecks. Beautiful reefs.

Diving The Brothers in June on the Sea Serpent Excellence

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Ali R
  • United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

Great hammerheads and longimanus

Diving The Brothers in June on the Blue

  • 9.2 Superb
  • VANESSA S
  • Switzerland Switzerland

easy dive with tresher sharks and barracudas

Diving The Brothers in July on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Stefani E
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Strong current, and required deep diving (below 30m). Corals at shallower depths.

Diving The Brothers in July on the Sea Serpent Contessa

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Marc F
  • France France

Highlights of this cruise ; into underwater wild

Diving The Brothers in July on the Hammerhead II

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Tim G
  • Germany Germany

We had rough conditions so we could not use the zodiac, but it was still very good. Little Brother had extremey beautiful corals and we saw one grey reefshark.

Diving The Brothers in August on the Discovery II

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Mark H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

good marine life to see especially on the walls but challenging, fast & really unpredictable currents. Would have liked a specific dive on the wreck if I did it again as lots to see.

Diving The Brothers in September on the JP Marine

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Vladimir P
  • Slovakia Slovakia

We have really enjoyed the Brothers and had a couple of sightings of hammerhead sharks.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Ocean Lovers

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Lucie Iris Pauline K
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Nice ! Reef sharks, beautiful dive sites

Diving The Brothers in September on the Tillis

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Anna B
  • Canada Canada

Beautiful coral, some decent current, grey reef sharks.

Diving The Brothers in September on the Blue Seas

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Sarah W
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Great diving, though conditions a little rough

Diving The Brothers in September on the Sea Serpent Grand

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Ying L
  • Germany Germany

Fantastic visibility and amazing colours

Diving The Brothers in September on the Discovery I

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Lasse J
  • Germany Germany

It was an amazing experience, although it was really crowded and a bumpy zodiac ride to the dive spots.

Diving The Brothers in October on the Serenity

  • 4.4 Review score
  • Sven B
  • Germany Germany

Only sporadic presence of hammerheads, but treasure sharks and longimanus

Diving The Brothers in October on the Sunshine

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Hassan A
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

Many sharks in brothers island

Diving The Brothers in November on the Sea Serpent Excellence

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Sune Levy T
  • Denmark Denmark

Beautiful reefs - unfortunately not so lucky in regards to encountering sharks

Diving The Brothers in November on the Discovery I

  • 7.6 Good
  • John H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

This I found to be one of the dives of the trip. Love the wreck Nomidea Entered the wreck 30 m. Lots of fish live around the rack, sharks, tunes, jacks, big Napoleon

Diving The Brothers in November on the CU

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Christian N
  • Germany Germany

Challenging but we were gratified by seeing some of the bigger sea creatures

Diving The Brothers in December on the Ocean Lovers

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Moritz-Gabriel H
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Currents, open Blue, Sharks

Diving The Brothers in January on the Tillis