SS Numidia

Good to know

Best season

March-November liveaboard season; visibility averages about 20 m and colours are better on afternoon dives.

Protected status

Within the Egyptian Red Sea Protectorates offshore-islands regime, administered by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency with the Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS). Closed to dive boats for roughly 3.5 months over the winter of 2018-19 after four non-fatal oceanic whitetip bites; reopened 29 March 2019 under CDWS rules that remain the governing regime: no overnight mooring at the islands, diving permitted only 06:00-16:00 after which all boats must leave, a daily cap of 18 vessels (12 at Big Brother, 6 at Small Brother), a CDWS coordination record required before the coast guard will issue a sailing permit, and a ban on discharging organic waste within 5 nautical miles. Night diving prohibited; SMB mandatory. Operators and guides required to complete shark-awareness training.

Fees

Government reef / marine-park tax payable in cash on board, in USD or EUR. Master Liveaboards quotes USD 90 per person for a 7-night Brothers/Daedalus/Elphinstone itinerary; Red Sea Aggressor IV lists USD 105 marine park + USD 45 port = USD 150 per person for the same itinerary. Amount is set by government decree and changes.

Wreck

British cargo steamship of the Anchor Line, built by D. & W. Henderson of Glasgow and completed 4 February 1901; about 137 m long, 16.7 m beam, 6,399 gross tons, on the Liverpool-Calcutta run. Ran aground on the reef at the northern tip of Big Brother in the early hours of 20 July 1901; cargo was salvaged over roughly seven weeks before she slipped off the reef and sank. She lies on her port side at a steep angle down the north-west face: bow and railway-wheel cargo at 8-12 m, main mast around 45 m, stern and propeller past 80-90 m.