TRAVELSPECIAL
The current sweeps back soft coral on the railings of the Numidia wreck , Big Brother may have ventured to ; any resulting recompression would not have been covered by their insurers .
Next , we dived the Numidia on Big Brother ’ s north point . This is the exact spot where the prevailing currents hit the reef ; you couldn ’ t have landed a ship in a sweeter spot if you ’ d tried , though that ’ s scant consolation for the events of July 1901 , when the cargo ship ran aground and began its journey down the reef slope . Today it lies mostly intact , with the remnants of the bow ground into the reef at nine metres and the propeller at 80m .
There was a brisk current , which meant the soft corals were engorged and feeding , though there was only a fleeting opportunity to admire them as we flew onto the wreck . For a while , we sheltered among the deck machinery at 25-30m , before kicking up and allowing the current to carry us on a spectacular journey along the sheer coral walls .
I could spend a week at the Brothers , but overnight stays are not permitted , so an afternoon dive at Little Brother signalled the end of our brief time here . The current carried us gently along another reef wall bejewelled with soft corals and fizzing with fish , until we reached a fairy-tale forest of gorgonian fan corals . The Brothers are still world class , with or without sharks .
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El-Tor
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El-Gouna
SS Kingston Bluff Point ( The Barge )
Thistlegorm
Hurghada
Safaga
Sha ’ ab el-Erg
Sharm El-Sheikh
Dunraven
Abu Nuhas
Abu Ramada
Ras Mohammed
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The Brothers
Numidia