Bill Passmore

Brothers - Simply Amazing

6/30/2023

The Brother Islands are a world famous scuba diving destination. It offers some of the best diving in Egypt and the Red Sea. These 2 small Islands (Little Brother and Big Brother) are famous for their wonderful pristine coral as well as being one of the best places in Egypt to dive with Sharks!
Here you can encounter the Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Schooling Hammerhead Sharks as well as Grey Reef Sharks and Silvertip Sharks! The very rare Thresher Shark can also sometimes be spotted!
In addition, the Brothers Islands are home to a fantastic reef life with myriads of colourful reef fishes, pelagic fishes such as Barracudas, Giant trevallies, Tunas and even the magnificent Manta Ray!
Diving with sharks is just one of the mindblowing fish encounters you can experience while diving at Brother Islands in the Red Sea. With amazing vertical walls covered with corals and spectacular fish population, diving at the Islands is definitely unforgettable!

The Brothers Islands are located in the Middle of the Red Sea, about 150 km Southeast of Hurghada and 125km North of Marsa Alam and are only accessible by liveaboards.

We were able to do a number of dives here during our 2 weeks and it was AMAZING. Coral formations and life like no other place I have ever experienced. Negative entries, current, and life unrivaled anywhere! Totally wrong camera set-up for the sharks and Manta but hey, still awed by this dive. Can't wait to be back next year with a slightly different camera set-up.

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El Mina Wreck - Red Sea

6/27/2023

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Egypt is a country where diving is one of the most popular tourist activities, and Hurghada is currently the most visited city for fans of the underwater world. The main attractions in this area are coral reefs, but there are also a few wrecks. One of them is El Mina, which attracts many different kinds of divers.

The ship, a minesweeper for the Egyptian Navy, was built in Russia during the Soviet era, in the late 1950s. It is a T-43 class ship and the Egyptians had seven of them. It was 58 meters long and 8.5 meters wide, powered by a 2200hp diesel engine that could reach a top speed of 14 knots. The range of the ship, at a speed of 10 knots, was 3800 nautical miles. It was served by 65 crew members and its weapons consisted of four cannons, two machine guns and 32 mines.

Its sinking

The Egyptian-Israeli conflict, the so-called "War of Attrition", lasted from 1968 to 1970. It was characterized by Egyptian artillery attacks in the Suez Canal zone and Israeli air strikes. Just before the end of the war, on February 6, 1970, six Israeli planes flew from the east to the Hurghada region. The target of the attack was a military airport. Flying low above the sea, El Mina, anchored in front of the port of Hurghada, was spotted. The ship was recognized as a potential threat, so two Israeli planes were ordered to act. The first rocket to hit El Mino was the fatal one. In the explosion, the ship lost its mast and one turret with cannons. Almost immediately it rolled onto one side, floating on the surface of the sea. The planes then machine-gunned the already seriously damaged ship, sealing its fate, and El Mina disappeared quickly beneath the surface.

We encountered some current and some interesting visibility on this wreck dive but it added to the "feel" of the dive. Another piece of history visitied

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The Wreck of the Salem Express

6/26/2023

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The Salem Express was a passenger ship that sank in the Red Sea. It is notable due to the heavy loss of life which occurred when she sank shortly after striking a reef at around 11:13pm on Saturday December 14, 1991

On its final voyage, the Salem Express sailed her usual 450 mile journey from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Safaga, Egypt, which took around 36 hours; they intended to unload 350 passengers, before continuing then sailing north to Suez. This route had been the ship's standard schedule since 1988. The ship's departure had been delayed by two days in Saudi Arabia due to a mechanical fault.[ The night of the sinking was stormy.

The ship ran aground on a coral reef between 6–10 miles off shore, after deviating from its planned route. The reef ripped a hole in the forward starboard bow, and knocked open the ship's bow door - allowing seawater into the car deck.] RoRo ferries are extremely vulnerable once the car-deck is breached

At around 11:13pm, a crash rocked the ship as it ran aground, and began shaking. Very soon after, it began listing to one side, and the lights went out. The captain sounded the distress signal. The ship was under water in close to 11 minutes, trapping hundreds below deck, and sank entirely within 20 minutes.

The official Lloyds Maritime Casualties Report claim there were 644 passengers in total - 180 survivors, 117 bodies recovered, out of 464 total victims. Another source gives the passengers as 650 persons - 578 passengers and 72 crew. A contemporary news report gives a slightly different total of 664 passengers, with 179 survivors and 485 missing at time of publication, with 71 crewmembers. The New York Times reported that only 10 out of 71 crewmembers had survived

Another very memorable and solemn dive in the Red Sea.

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Thistlegorm - the Red Sea

6/23/2023

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The SS Thistlegorm is one of the most legendary wrecks in Egypt's Red Sea and undoubtedly ranks among the most impressive wreck dives anywhere on the planet. This fascinating WWII era ship lies in the Strait of Gubal – a narrow passageway of water connecting the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea – where it was brought to rest in 1941 following a German air attack.

The Thistlegorm made three voyages to America, Argentina, and Dutch Antilles before its fateful and final voyage in the Egyptian Red Sea. On October 6, 1941, the ship and several other military vessels were discovered by German forces while at anchor in a safe harbour. During the bombing raid that followed, the hull was struck twice, resulting in catastrophic damage, and the Thistlegorm sank rapidly, claiming nine lives.

All but 9 of the crew escaped and the HMS Thistlegorm reached its final resting place 30m deep on the sandy sea bed, where she lies upright with her stern section separated from the main body by 20m. The ship is largely intact except for the impact area but the split hull reveals the invaluable cargo, where trucks, motorbikes, a train and even Wellington boots can be seen.

On the stern the guns remain in excellent condition and the blast area is littered with artillery. The site offers so much to see that it takes 2 days of diving just to orientate yourself. Diving inside this section of the SS Thistlegorm you'll find BSA motorbikes, Morris automobiles, Bedford trucks, trailers and armoured cars, stowed tightly away as if still ready for use, many still with rubber tyres and glass windows intact.

We did two dives on the historic wreck, two incredible dives in a strong current. Experiencing history first hand is a special privilege. Ironically the red fish in one of the motorcycle shots are "soldier fish"

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Brothers - Simply Amazing

El Mina Wreck - Red Sea

The Wreck of the Salem Express

Thistlegorm - the Red Sea

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