Route Description - 2 weeks: Brother Islands-Daedalus-Rocky Island-St. Johns-Elba Reef
Discover the incomparable treasures of the Red Sea in 2 weeks: The trip to the Brother Islands, Daedalus, Rocky Island, St. Johns and the Elba Reef is a diving paradise that leaves nothing to be desired.
Brother Islands
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.
Daedalus Reef
The Daedalus Reef is a huge reef formation that lies at about 180km south of Brother Islands. The reef is surrounded by a sheer wall all around, featuring a plateau on its southern side that goes from 28m beside the reef to 40m on the edge of the drop-off. If the weather is good, try to get as far north as possible and drift along one of the sides of the reef. Reef and hammerhead sharks are often spotted here. Underwater marine life is here more abundant than anywhere else, with schools of surgeons, fusiliers, carangids.
St Johns
This vast reef system lies furthest to the south on the Egyptian side, 10 miles from the Sudanese border. There are dozens of excellent dives. Its reefs rise up from a gigantic underwater plateau hidden in the inky blue water.
Shaab Maksur
Shaab Maksur is a small but long reef with a plateau in the north and south and drop offs in the west and east side. At the north terraced plateau you can see often dolphins, barracudas or reef sharks passing by. The south plateau with its bigger coral blocks is home for many species.
Elba Reef
Elba Reef is located at the Halaib Triangle on the Egyptian and Sudanese border with very nice plateaus on its North and South side. It is a triangle- shaped reef. The Plateau in the North is long and starts at around 20 m and ends at around 45 m depth. At the edge of the plateau plenty of huge coral fans can be found. One of the main attractions, at the edge of a deep drop-off at the South plateau, is the large wreck of “SS Isola di Levanzo” that sank in the early 1900's. She is a rarely visited beautiful Wreck which is surrounded by scattered sherry bottles all over the sea bottom. The propeller of the ship lies at 18 m and the entire upper or stern section can be penetrated. Further inshore, the reef is relatively shallow but well grown with a variety of corals all around the reef. Fish life is interesting as from reef species to sharks everything can be spotted.