Red Sea Marine Park, Egypt · Little Brother Island
Little Brother Island Walls, current and sharks, sixty kilometres offshore
Little Brother Island is the smaller of the two Brothers, and in no way the lesser dive. Because it sits far out in open water with walls dropping away on every side, it offers some of the most exposed and most rewarding diving in the Egyptian Red Sea.
Diving Little Brother Island
The Brothers rise from water more than eight hundred metres deep, roughly sixty kilometres off the Egyptian coast. Consequently there is no sheltered bay and no easy day out here: the islands are reached by liveaboard, and the sea has the final say on whether anyone dives at all.
Little Brother measures around a hundred and seventy metres end to end and is uninhabited. Because it is small and fully exposed, wind builds waves that make entry and exit awkward, while the current running along the walls can change strength during a single dive. Therefore this is not a site for a diver’s first week in the Red Sea.
In return, the walls carry some of the healthiest coral in Egypt, with gorgonian sea fans and dense soft coral. Above all, the island has a reputation for sharks, and that reputation is the reason most divers make the crossing.
The site in short
How Little Brother Island is dived
Dives here are run from a tender rather than from the mother boat, and the guides choose the entry point on the day according to the current. However, the shape of the island means most dives follow one of three broad patterns.
The northern plateau
Namely the shark dive. The reef runs out from the northern point before dropping away, and divers hold near the edge and watch the blue rather than the reef.
The walls
Both sides of the island are near-vertical and normally dived as a drift. Indeed many divers rate the coral here above the sharks, which says something about the coral.
The southern tip
The moorings lie south of the island. Meanwhile the current can circulate around this end, so briefings here deal with the exit as carefully as the entry.
What Little Brother Island asks of a diver
The Red Sea Marine Park sets the entry rules for the Brothers, and they are not negotiable by any operator. Fifty logged dives is the minimum, and night diving is prohibited across the whole area.
Beyond the paperwork, the practical requirement is comfort in current and in open water. Therefore divers should be confident deploying an SMB, entering and exiting from a tender, and staying close to the reef when the current turns.
Weather can cancel the Brothers entirely
The islands are sometimes unreachable, and sometimes reachable but undiveable. Any itinerary that includes them is therefore conditional, and no honest operator promises otherwise.
Equally, a shark sighting is never a promise. Season, current and the animals themselves decide.
Marine life at Little Brother Island
The walls hold grouper, napoleon wrasse, anthias and schooling snapper and barracuda. Offshore, meanwhile, the pelagic list is what draws divers: grey reef sharks are the most regular, while oceanic whitetips, thresher sharks and hammerheads all appear depending on the season.
Nothing on this list is guaranteed. In short, the island rewards divers who look into the blue and accept that some days it stays empty.
Getting there
Reaching Little Brother Island
There is no shore diving and no day boat. Access is by liveaboard, and the crossing from the coast takes most of a night. Consequently the island appears only on itineraries built around it.
More Red Sea diving
- North & Brothers Liveaboard — the route that combines the northern wrecks with both islands.
- Big Brother Island — the larger island, with the Numidia and the Aida.
- The Brothers Islands — the pair together, and how the marine park works.
- Liveaboard dive techniques — SMB deployment, tender entries and exits in swell, all of which this site asks for.
- redsealiveaboard.net — Red Sea safari schedules and availability.
Little Brother Island: frequently asked questions
How do you dive Little Brother Island?
By liveaboard only. There is no shore access and no day boat, since the island sits about sixty kilometres offshore.
How many logged dives do I need?
Fifty. That is a Red Sea Marine Park requirement for the Brothers, so no operator can waive it.
Are night dives allowed?
No. Night diving is prohibited throughout the Brothers.
Will I see sharks?
Possibly, but never certainly. Grey reef sharks are the most regular, while oceanic whitetips, threshers and hammerheads depend on the season and on conditions.
Is it harder than Big Brother?
Often yes. Because Little Brother is smaller and more exposed, both the surface conditions and the current tend to be more demanding.
Can bad weather stop the trip reaching the island?
Yes. The Brothers are sometimes unreachable and sometimes undiveable, so any itinerary including them is conditional on the sea.
Red Sea Marine Park
Book your adventure
Tell us your dates and then we will find you a liveaboard that reaches the Brothers. If you are unsure whether your logbook meets the fifty-dive requirement, ask us before you book rather than after.
Inquiry
