M/Y Golden Dolphin offers a mixture of wall and wreck diving around the northern Red Sea for 7 night charters on the Brothers Islands itinerary. She departs from Hurghada or Port Ghalib and visits sites like the Aida II and the Salem Express all located in The Brothers area. The Red Sea has a high temperature and salt content due to its isolated location between Asia and Africa with a narrow passage to the Indian Ocean.

Top Dive Sites

The Brother Islands are one of the best diving spots in the world and are identified by two undersea mountain pinnacles rising from the depths of the abyss located 60 miles offshore from El Quseir. The Big Brother and the Little Brother Islands offer wall diving that is covered in soft corals and gorgonians attracting a diverse array of marine species. Tuna, barracudas, jacks and snappers cruise in the blue waters accompanied by the occasional white tip sharks, mantas and hammerheads.

The Aida II and the Numidia lie on the walls of the Big Brother and are perfect for divers who want to explore more wrecks than reefs. Both wrecks are covered in a rich growth of hard and soft corals attracting families of Napoleon wrasse and grey reef sharks.

The Salem Express is a 100 metre ferryboat sunk in December 1991 when it hit the reef during a stormy night and sunk rapidly without giving passengers and crew the opportunity to board the lifeboats. She is one of the largest wrecks in the Red Sea and roughly the same size as the Thistlegorm. The ferry boat is now covered in hard and soft coral that attracts thriving underwater life including frogfish, blue spotted rays, angel and butterfly fish.

Please Note:

You must be a PADI Open Water diver to be able to take part in this trip.

M/Y Golden Dolphin offers a mixture of reef and wall diving around the southern Red Sea for 7 night charters on the Deep South - St John’s itinerary. She departs from Hurghada or Port Ghalib and visits the main attraction of this itinerary St John’s Reef. The reef is near Rocky Island which is deep south in the Red Sea allowing for long overnight sailings. The Red Sea has a high temperature and salt content due to its isolated location between Asia and Africa with a narrow passage to the Indian Ocean.

Top Dive Sites

St John’s Reef system is located in the southern Red Sea and offers exciting drop offs and pelagic action. The wall of ones of the reefs is covered in giant gorgonias and another overgrown with a number of colorful soft corals. You will see a lot of fish cruising in the blue waters with the occasional sightings of hammerheads, grey sharks, white tip reef sharks and silvertips.

The tour descriptions (dive sites) are samples. Depending on the weather conditions and the quality of the divers other dive sites can be choosen.

The SS Thistlegorm is probably the most famous wreck in the Red Sea. The British cargo ship was on its way to bring military equipment of all kinds for the British troops in North Africa. But then on the 6th of October 1941 a German bomber attacked the Thistlegorm. The wreck is lying upright on the sea-bottom at 32m depth. Especially interesting is the cargo: Tanks, trucks, motorcycles, weapons, railway carriage and two railway engines.

The Reef at Abu Nuhas is famous for wrecks. There are 4 wrecks, which are today an attraction point for divers all around the world. For example the Greek cargo ship GIANNIS D, which ran aground the reef on 19 th April 1984 and sank a short time afterwards. It is now lying in a maximum depth of 27m and is overgrown with hard- and softcorals. The ship cracked down in the middle. The better part of the two halves is the stern section. Here it is easy to dive inside the wreck, because there are a lot of entry and exit points. Because the wreck is leaning on a 45° angle you will find yourself swimming up a stairwell which your mind tells you are heading down. This effect is very special. The steamship CARNATIC struck the reef in September 1869. She sank the following day as the weather worsened. She lies in about 26m depths. She has broken up amidships, leaving her bow and stern intact. The decking has fallen away to be replaced by a thick growth of tube sponges, alcyonarians and occasional table corals, making her very photogenic. She is also laid open to light from above and is easily penetrated.

The Dunraven, a steam and sail-powered vessel used to transport spices and timber, ran aground the reef Shaab Mahmoud in April 1876 during a voyage from Bombay to Newcastle and sank quickly. The ship broke in two, and her two halves came to rest on the sea floor. The wreck lies upside down with the stern at a depth of 28m and the bow at 18m. At the stern you find the propeller and the rudder, which are overgrown with corals. Inside the wreck you see thousands of glassfish.

The marine park Ras Mohammed offers dreamlike diving spots. For example SHARK REEF and JOLANDA REEF. Both reefs are standing on a plateau, which is between 10m to 20m deep. The edges of the plateau fall down to more than 200m. At the reef you will find nice hard and soft corals, plenty of fish in all kind of sizes. With luck you can see sharks during your early morning dive. At Jolanda Reef you can see the cargo of a Cypriot freighter JOLANDA which ran aground in 1980: a large quantity of household pottery such as toilets, bath and shower tubes, bidets…

The Brother Islands one of the best diving spots in the world. The Islands – the Big Brother and the Little Brother – are two small exposed promontories that just come out of the water in the middle of the sea at around 60km from the Egyptian coast line. The Little Brother has a very high concentration of life in a much reduced area. The walls are covered literally with sponges, anemones and all sorts of hard and soft corals in an astonishing variety of colors and shapes. Of course you will find here plenty of fish. It is not unusual to see sharks: hammerheads, thresher sharks, grey reef sharks, silvertip and whitetip reef sharks. About one km north of the Little Brother lays the Big Brother. Situated, in the middle of the island, is a lighthouse. When it is not too windy, you can proceed to dive the wreck NUMIDIA which lies upon the reef on the northern side of the island between 5m and 80m. This 150m long ship sunk in 1901 and is now completely covered with both hard and soft corals and gorgonias. At the NW side of the island you will find the other wreck: the AIDA. This 82m long steam ship sunk 1957. The remaining pieces of the wreck are scattered all over the reef and just the back side of the hull can be found between 34m and 60m. It is nicely overgrown and worth to visit. Because of strong current and may be high waves it is not easy to dive at the Brother’s. This safari is only for experienced divers.