The Brother Islands Divers

Over the last thirty years the Brother Islands have become synonymous with perfect diving. Nowhere on earth can match the potential of these unassuming looking volcanic extremities, located 45 nautical miles from the nearest landmass. The Brothers combine every aspect of diving together in one small area: Walls, Plateau, Caves, Wrecks, Corals and HUGE Fish.

Due to the Gretas ability to navigate at night we arrived at Big Brother at 03.45 hrs and were moored under a star-filled sky 20 minutes later, with everyone except the crew and myself still fast asleep. Our 5-hour voyage was as smooth as a ferry crossing the channel. Above us the intense light beam from the tower pointed out the island's position around a 360-degree horizon, the sea was choppy but we hardly swayed on our mooring. As daylight arrived the barren island glowed red; the aging lighthouse looking even more battered than I remembered it. A slight swell broke over the fringing reef, lapping against the eroding rock face revealing its volcanic basalt origin, shining black in the bright sunlight. In the distance south of us, sat Little Brother.

At 07.00 hrs the famous 'Ali Baba' called one of his lengthy 3D briefings, heralding the first of our dives which was to be along the morning wall on the islands east side. As the Zodiac dropped us into the clear blue water the slight current took us southward along a reef wall dropping vertically below us to around 70m. A deep chute cut into the wall provides the perfect environment for numerous types of fan corals, including an impressive gorgonia, taking advantage of both the current and the cooler upwelling bringing food from the depths.

This wall is literally alive with the colour and motion of a million Anthias. Jacks darted in and out of the blue trying to pick them off but not quickly enough to surprise the throbbing mass. A large cave provided a moment's respite from a quickening current, giving a chance to admire some colourful sponge and coral growths. As you would expect the cave was shelter for numerous soldier fish and a very large Sabre Squirrel fish. Out in the blue sizable Tuna fish shimmered past on the lookout for an easy meal. Towards the southeast corner of the reef the wall begins to spread out into a slope before leading onto a 25 - 60m plateau. It is on this corner that things began to get interesting as large individual Barracuda arrived from the fringing blueness for a service by cleaner Wrasse inside a shallow recess in the reef wall. Several small Napoleon Wrasse showed an interest in the groups activities but kept their distance. Then below I spotted something really special: A medium sized 'Thresher' Shark just above the Plateau. As illusive as ever this cutest of sharks on detecting our presence, slipped quickly away off the side of the plateau.

Our second dive of the day was via a bumpy ride to the northern end of the reef to marvel at the both natural and artificial reef. Descending quickly from the choppy surface the sheer beauty of the soft corals and the contrasting colours and shapes of the hard coral hit us right between the eyes as another million Anthias danced amidst the surge. Leveling off at 25m we swam around the corner of the reef wall below an impressive overhang to notice a huge intimidating black shadow slipping from the shallows into the depths below: The Hull of the 120m British ship wreck "Namibia". A large indentation in the reef wall marks the spot where she hit, but now she makes amends as a reef in her own right. Almost every part of the wreck's superstructure is covered with cascades of pretty soft corals over an entire covering of hard coral species. The ship's cargo of Locomotive wheels have now become natural works of art.

The most visually striking feature are the empty lifeboat davits now festooned with soft corals like a hanging garden. This shipwreck has to be the single most beautiful of all warm water wrecks; bar none. The deeply penetrating surge and strong currents (which promote the abundant soft coral), on this occasion, prevented much duration for us, holding any kind of stable position proved difficult in the least: "Humming" would be an understatement. The wreck can be safely penetrated and offers a 'still' contrast from the current. Slipping back southwards along the Western Wall through a dense covering of reef fish it wasn't long before the broken forward section of the Aiada came into view below us, its hull looking vertically up the steep slope. This ship, an Egyptian troop carrier lost during the 1950's in dense fog has now become a living structure too, and home to a living cloud of marine life. Both of the wrecks are best dived in minimal currents for maximum enjoyment, but investigating the entirety of either one is a no-no as their bows lie at 70 & 82m respectively. The reef wall above the wrecks has large cracks and recesses cut into it filled with schooling fish, the edges softened with fan corals and impressive Black red sea grand slam.

September 26 2009 | Travel | No Comments »