El Ikhwa Islands ( ar, جزر الإخوة ''lit. islands of brotherhood''), commonly known as Brothers Islands, are two small Red Sea islands in the

Red Sea Governorate Red Sea Governorate ( ar, محافظة البحر الأحمر ) is one of the 27 governorates (States) of Egypt. Located between the Nile and the Red Sea in the southeast of the country, its southern border forms part of Egypt's border with S ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Geography

They are situated from

El Qoseir El QoseirAlso spelled ''Kosseir'', ''Al Qusair'', ''El Quseir'', ''Quseir'', ''Qusseir'' or ''Qosseir''. ( ar, القصير, el-Qoṣēr, ) is a city in eastern Egypt, located on the Red Sea coast. Populated for approximately 5,000 years, its an ...

on the mainland. The most prominent feature of the islands is the Brothers Islands Lighthouse built by the British in 1883. Small Brother lies south from the Big Brother.

Underwater diving

The islands are a dive site featuring corals and two wrecks: Numidia and Aida. The islands are also famed for encounters with

oceanic whitetip The oceanic whitetip shark (''Carcharhinus longimanus''), also known as shipwreck shark, Brown Milbert's sand bar shark, brown shark, lesser white shark, nigano shark, oceanic white-tipped whaler, and silvertip shark, is a large pelagic requiem ...

and

hammerhead sharks The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil. Most hammerhe ...

. However, they are only suitable for very experienced divers due to the islands' isolated position, the challenging dive conditions, and very strong currents. During high season there are many dive safari boats around both islands. In 2012, Jade Bremner ranked Big Brother ninth in a list of the world's 50 best dive sites, and second in the Red Sea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brothers Islands of Egypt Islands of the Red Sea Red Sea Governorate Underwater diving sites in Egypt