6 Night Rowley Shoals Adventure Diving

Mermaid Reef

Departure
Welcome aboard King Tide, boarding at approx. 1700 hrs, meet our crew and join some like minded adventurers for a nice cold drink straight off the ice. We depart Broome at around 1800 hrs for our overnight steam to the edge of the Continental Shelf 140 nautical miles to the West. Dinner is served soon after departure, followed by a cruise and dive briefing.

Mermaid Reef
Arriving in the morning of Day 1, at the most Northern atoll, after a yummy breakfast, we will soon be exploring the outer reef depths. King Tide is actually a purpose built live aboard dive boat and she knows her own way around the Rowleys. We have many dive sites to choose from.

Silver City
We will spend the next three days diving around Mermaid Reef. Anchoring inside the beautiful sheltered lagoon at night. All the usual tropical species will be around and often quite large ones including Coral Trout, Chinamon Fish, Baldchin Groper, friendly Emperors, Flutemouth, Pipefish, Moray Eels,Turtles, Barracooda, Dogtooth Tuna, Spanish Mackarel, Striped Mackarel, Tuna, Maori Wrasse, Napoleon Wrasse, and almost anything you can imagine will swim by, seeming to know they are in a sanctuary zone in a pristine wilderness.

In the early morning and late afternoon we will be lucky enough to encounter plenty of curious sharks. The beautiful sleek whalers, Silvertip, Grey Reef and maybe Bronzies will check us out. Whitetip and Blacktip Reef will be resting on the sandy bottom ledges. Maybe a Great Hammerhead will cruise by out in the blue.

You can spend a whole day diving at one spot here and still not see all the life that abounds. Visibility usually varies from good to spectacular, depending on the tide and angle of the sun. Night dives inside the lagoon will reveal corals feeding, fans, featherstars, clams, maybe painted crayfish crawling around, but we always remember it is a sanctuary.

Cod Hole

Definitely one of the best dives anywhere. Entering the water one or two large tame Potato cod will come up for a pat. They seem to want us to cruise around this fantastic group of bommies with them as we gently drift past the beautiful walls of coral among schools of Humphead Parrotfish, Surgeonfish, huge Coral Trout and pretty Moorish Idols in pairs. Even the Grey Reef sharks here will sometimes follow us lazily rather than their usual fast approach and exit. Down on the sandy bottom we can sneak up on Cowtail Rays and more Whitetip Reef sharks resting, as they do in the day.

Northern Wall

Be amazed at the sheer drop off to more than 80 metres, especially if we can visit when favourable tides give us 40 metres plus visibility. We must watch our guages, it's so easy to swim down way too deep mesmerised by the spectacular vista sweeping beneath us.

Channel Drift

We can drift snorkel through narrow channels following the dinghy as the tide rushes us to the edge of the reef for a change of pace and a chance to degas.

Clerke Reef

If we have seen enough of Mermaid Reef we will cruise a short way South to explore Clerke Reef. Outside the reefs we will troll for Mackerel, Tuna to eat, or maybe a Sailfish to release. Here we will drift dive the outer walls again finding some new friends large and small.

This evening we anchor inside another lovely sheltered lagoon. Clerke Reef has a narrow channel which we must navigate before the sun gets low. We can drift dive into the lagoon on the incoming tide. Later we can take a dinghy ride over to the large sand cay at the Northern end called Bedwell Island where we can have a relaxing walk on the white sand at dusk. After sunset at this time in the dry season the sky will be filled with more bright stars than you could ever imagine...

Day 6
More diving and snorkeling in the lagoon, then time for a last couple of dives outside before we pack up our gear and head for Broome with our last Rowley's sunset behind us. Time to fill in logbooks, share our pictures and videos as we cruise home. This time of year we are usually blessed with lovely calm seas and a gentle breeze. We arrive back in Broome about 0830 on the morning of day 7 and bid farewell to our new friends.

Diving with King Tide

We supply tanks, weight belts and air fills, as yet we don't have nitrox. We will have at least two divemasters on board, two dive compressors, oxygen and an RFD first aid kit. Of course we have a couple of PCs so you can download and view pictures and videos.

Guests must supply their own wetsuit, mask, snorkel, fins, BCD, regulator, safety sausage, cyalums stick, dive torch, dive computer, camera etc. Please have all equipment serviced and checked before your trip, we have limited spares. This is adventure diving at its best and as such we recommend divers be at least PADI Advanced standard or equivalent, however if you are less qualified but experienced and confident come along we'll look after you.

Some equipment can be hired in Broome, be sure to book in advance. .

Dive computers are mandatory, please make sure yours is in good service with plenty of battery life, if it fails we may decide it is unsafe for you to continue diving. Travel and DAN insurance is strongly recommended, we are diving in a very remote area.

This is a suggested itinerary only and is subject to change due to passenger’s discretion and the vast tidal range of the region.

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