Red Sea: Brothers Islands or Thistlegorm?

I am planning to go on a liveaboard in the Red Sea. I am undecided between two itineraries:

- Get Wrecked: all the famous wrecks like Thistlegorm and Rosalie Muller

- Simply the best: Brothers Islands, Elphinstone, Daedalus

I am an uw photog beginner, mainly interested in wide angle. Which would be a good start for me?

The brother islands itinerary at big brother has a wreck on each side of the island which comes to about 30 feet(Numidia and Aida). Very nice wrecks. The rest of the dives at the brothers is walls which are great. Elphinstone and Daedalus also has walls. Visibility is very good. All the best i think is the better all round itinerary for wildlife and reefs.

Depends on the time of year and also what subjects you want to shoot.

I prefer the northern route that takes in Ras Mohammed and famous wrecks. I usually do that twice a year (summer) and then do Brothers/Daedalus/St Johns once a year (autumn/spring).

Alex

While the diving in the Red Sea is superb, I find that many of the conventional liveaboard tours do not offer great facilities for photographers. They all tend to rush about, trying to squeeze as many dive sites in as possible.

I would suggest going a specific photographic trip, like the ones Alex runs, although there are others too.

I would google Red Sea Liveaboard photography, or search through the trips forum here on Wetpixel, you should get a few options.

All the best

Adam

Picking up on your statement about being a beginner, I'd recommend the Get Wrecked itinerary as this would give you a greater variety of subject matter over Simply the Best, and allow you to get to grips with the basics of your rig.

Time of year does come in to it as in the summer months there is a good possibility of seeing large pelagics on Simply the Best, although this can not be guaranteed. On the whole, most of the dives would be wall dives, or hanging out in the blue hoping for something special. Those areas can also have quite strong currents, so it's hard to stay at particular point to get that "perfect" shot. Yes, there are a couple of wrecks, and the feeding stations, but their depth doesn't allow that much time on them.

Depending on the company you use, the Get Wrecked itinerary should include, apart from the wrecks, some of the Ras Mohammed reefs like Shark & Yolanda, Jack Fish Alley and Anemone City, all of which are quite stunning. You'd almost certainly do the Barge at Gubal Island which, for a photographer, is absolutely fantastic. Only 10 metres deep, but abundant with all forms of wild life and corals.

Other things to consider:

Photographing big stuff out in the blue, I think, is a much harder technique to master than wrecks and reefs. You'd get better results once you've got a handle on the basics.

"Get Wrecked" would include night dives most nights, whereas "Simply the Best" would probably have none.

There's much more distance to cover with "Simply the Best" which can be a pain, especially in rough conditions.

There are very few day boats in the North at the moment, so the dive sites can be relatively empty. Thistlegorm and Shark & Yolanda, for example, have been like diver soup in the past. I was out there last April, and we had all the sites to ourselves, all the time.

Depends on the time of year and also what subjects you want to shoot.

 

I prefer the northern route that takes in Ras Mohammed and famous wrecks. I usually do that twice a year (summer) and then do Brothers/Daedalus/St Johns once a year (autumn/spring).

 

Alex

Hi Alex! I just bought your book! Had it shipped all the way from UK (still not on the market in USA). Absolutely loved it! But if i do quit underwater photography, I am blaming your tremendous art work leading to my discouragement and dismay! Lol

Thanks for the advice though. I am going in mid July, you wouldn't happen to be going around then, would you? [emoji16]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The brother islands itinerary at big brother has a wreck on each side of the island which comes to about 30 feet(Numidia and Aida). Very nice wrecks. The rest of the dives at the brothers is walls which are great. Elphinstone and Daedalus also has walls. Visibility is very good. All the best i think is the better all round itinerary for wildlife and reefs.

Thanks Saga7! Choices choices!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Picking up on your statement about being a beginner, I'd recommend the Get Wrecked itinerary as this would give you a greater variety of subject matter over Simply the Best, and allow you to get to grips with the basics of your rig.

 

Time of year does come in to it as in the summer months there is a good possibility of seeing large pelagics on Simply the Best, although this can not be guaranteed. On the whole, most of the dives would be wall dives, or hanging out in the blue hoping for something special. Those areas can also have quite strong currents, so it's hard to stay at particular point to get that "perfect" shot. Yes, there are a couple of wrecks, and the feeding stations, but their depth doesn't allow that much time on them.

 

Depending on the company you use, the Get Wrecked itinerary should include, apart from the wrecks, some of the Ras Mohammed reefs like Shark & Yolanda, Jack Fish Alley and Anemone City, all of which are quite stunning. You'd almost certainly do the Barge at Gubal Island which, for a photographer, is absolutely fantastic. Only 10 metres deep, but abundant with all forms of wild life and corals.

 

Other things to consider:

 

Photographing big stuff out in the blue, I think, is a much harder technique to master than wrecks and reefs. You'd get better results once you've got a handle on the basics.

"Get Wrecked" would include night dives most nights, whereas "Simply the Best" would probably have none.

There's much more distance to cover with "Simply the Best" which can be a pain, especially in rough conditions.

There are very few day boats in the North at the moment, so the dive sites can be relatively empty. Thistlegorm and Shark & Yolanda, for example, have been like diver soup in the past. I was out there last April, and we had all the sites to ourselves, all the time.

 

Hi Bob,

That was exactly my thought. Even though I enjoy reefs more than wrecks, I feel that composition with reefs may be a bit advanced for me, and last thing I want is to be turned off by an extremely low yield, while trying to master the camera; and trying to enjoy the dive.

Thanks for the advice!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

True, many of the liveaboards aren't the best for UW photographers. We started to organize our UW photo liveaboards to the Red Sea about 7-8 years ago, and it can be very different experience. For example sometimes we spend the whole day at a specific dive site- if somebody wants to do 70-80 minutes long dives with his buddy, they can do it, we never hurry. We went to north and south as well and in my opinion the northern wreck routes offer more subject for the wide angle photographers. There are many exciting wrecks (everybody talks about the Thistlegorm but for example Ulysses worth at a least a dive too), and you have the chance to shoot many fish in the Ras Mohammed, etc. So in the end of August we go back to the north again, to visit some of our favourite sites.