Borthers Islands, Daedalus, Elfinstone : marvelous Red Sea

[Air One]

Few pics from the middle of the Red Sea.
We went there for a week, the Dive op is Dune, the boat was "the Nemo".
The dive were gorgeous, the Belgium dive guide is fantastic , I won't say the same about the Ship. She's getting old, the cabins downstair are just stinking , it's absolutely discusting. Fortunately we slept in an uper deck cabin.
The crew is very kind and helpfull, the food is good and safe ( noone sick aboard).
The trips starts from Safaga egypt, then we went to the Brother Islands, Big Bother an Little Brother, then 11 hours south to Daedalus Reef, then 7 Hrs West to Elfinstone and back to Safaga.
The sea is usually rough, we've been lucky this time : no wind and nearly no current.

Camera Sea&Sea DX1G+Inon D200+WAL
Here are the photos. C&C are welcome.

 

[Air One]

Despite the lack of current we have seen many sharks.
Tresher sharks on Big and Small Brother, Hammerheads on small Brother, Grey reef sharks on Big and Small Brother, reef white tip at Daedalus, Oceanic white tip on Big Brother and Elfinstone.
The tresher an hammerhead were quite shy and didn'd approach enough for a decent photo, except this hammerhead above.

The Numibia on Big Brother

 

[AndyT]

Great images - glad to hear that there is still some of the"big stuff" around. Thinking of doing this trip next year August.

 

[Mariozi]

Cool, thanks for sharing.
Any contacts??? I really want to go there...

 

[Air One]

Great images - glad to hear that there is still some of the"big stuff" around. Thinking of doing this trip next year August.

Thank you.
It may be very hot in august.

Cool, thanks for sharing.
Any contacts??? I really want to go there...

Thanks again.
Don't go with this dive op called "Dune".
The boats they rent are often too old.
The fact is that this one, the Nemo is a real crap.
I wanted to go with another dive op called "diving attitude" but they didn't go to the Brothers this week. They are both French dive operators.
5 years ago I went with "Sea Serpent fleet", an English dive op. The boat was perfect.
I think it's better to choose a steel boat if you can.

 

[Air One]

We have seen the longimanus from the surface 4 or 5 times. Only 2 times while diving. The second one came close enough for a photo, unfortunately he always kept the sun behind him.

On these pics, you can clearly see some swimmers behind, they were'nt swimming to snorkle around the longi but just because they came back from a dive and the boatman told them to jump into the water and then get on the big boat by using the scale.
We have clearly seen the shark turning and going straightly to a swimmer. He had a violent head shaking near the last diver's foot. I really thought he bit him ! But he probably just bumped his nose against the foot to "taste" it.
This dude has been lucky...

Daedalus Reef where we've seen a manta passing by and few longi from the surface. Some divers have seen hammerheds there and a tresher shark. Th only shark we have seen there was a reef white tip. Lots of tuna, jackfish, big barracudas and few turtles also.

OMHO, the very best place are the Brothers Islands.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Nice pics. Glad that you enjoyed yourself here.

 

[Raisthlin]

very nice pictures. thanks for sharing. are those spots recommended for beginners ?

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for sharing!

 

[Air One]

are those spots recommended for beginners ?

No. During this week we had cool wind flat sea and mild current but the usual condition are different, defenately not a place for beginners.
The divers are supposed to have a minimum of 50 dives an AOW or CMAS**.