Numidia

Overview

The SS Numidia is one of the most spectacular wreck dives anywhere in the world, and for many divers it is the single reason to make the long crossing out to Big Brother Island. A 137m British cargo steamer that struck the island's northern tip in 1901, she lies pinned to the reef wall at a dramatic angle, stern hanging into the blue and bow near the surface, her iron hull so thickly encrusted with coral and soft corals that the wreck and the reef have become one. It is a wall dive and a wreck dive at the same time, deep in the open Red Sea where the currents pull in pelagics.

The Dive

The Numidia drapes down the sheer northern point of Big Brother, and the profile is governed entirely by how deep you choose to go. The shallowest wreckage — the bow section and forward holds, still holding railway wheels from her cargo — begins around 8–10m, comfortable enough that the top of the wreck can be enjoyed on a normal recreational profile. From there the hull falls away steeply down the wall: the midship structure passes 30m, and the stern, propeller and rudder sit far below at 80m and beyond, well into technical territory. Most recreational dives work the upper third, hanging on the wall and letting the current carry them past coral-smothered railings and davits, then drifting off the point.

This is an exposed, current-swept site with no shelter. Big Brother routinely demands at least 50 logged dives, and the combination of depth temptation, strong drift and remote location makes good gas planning and a guide essential. A negative entry straight onto the wreck is standard when the current is running.

Marine Life

A century underwater has turned the Numidia into one of the most heavily coral-covered wrecks in the Red Sea — sheets of orange, red and purple soft coral, big gorgonian fans and hard coral colonies completely cloak the hull. The wall itself draws the action: grey reef and whitetip sharks patrol the point, hammerheads cruise the deeper blue in summer, and dawn dives carry a real chance of thresher and oceanic whitetip sharks. Anthias and glassfish shimmer over the structure, with napoleon wrasse, tuna and trevally passing through.

History

The Numidia was a brand-new Liverpool-registered steamship of the Anchor Line, launched in 1901 and only on her sixth voyage when disaster struck. Bound for Calcutta with a general cargo that included railway wheels and rolling stock, she ran straight onto the northern point of Big Brother Island on 20 July 1901 — by some accounts the lookout was distracted, by others the lighthouse itself was confused for open water. She held on the reef for weeks while salvors stripped what they could, then slid down the wall to settle in the position she holds today. Over 120 years on she remains remarkably intact, masts and hull still recognisable beneath the coral.

Good to Know

Big Brother is liveaboard-only, reached on dedicated Brothers, "Deep South" or northern-and-Brothers itineraries out of Hurghada, El Quseir or Marsa Alam, and the marine park is typically open from roughly March/April to November when seas allow the crossing. Visibility is usually excellent at 20–30m. Treat the depth with discipline — the wreck's beauty deepens exactly where the danger does, and the easiest way to over-run a dive here is to keep following the hull down the wall.