Rowley Shoals - 2008

After our Exmouth trip the thirst for more adventure was apparant, not long after we arrived home plans were being drawn up for the next dive trip for 2008. We decided on a trip every two years which gave us plenty of time to save and an opportunity to convince our respective halves that time away with the lads was a character building exercise. Whether this was believed or not is unsure but the end result remains the same and the stamp of approval was received from the Dept of War and Finance.

The planning stage was now in it's infancy but a couple of us already had it in our minds where our next desination was going to be. Ever since I completed my diving certification back in 1988 I have always wanted to go to the Rowley Shoals and after some meticulous research by Tony 'Rex' Budge, inventor of the Rexluminator 50 watt cannister torch our next BIG dive trip was born.

Rowley Shoals

Not many people know where or even what the Rowley Shoals are unless of course you talk to a diver and most will just fantasize about going to a place like this. Given it's remoteness it is only visited for a few months of the year so the reefs are in pristine condition and it really is something to be seen, it's like a paradise lost.

At this point I should just give a rundown on some facts about this amazing place.

The Rowley Shoals are a chain of coral atolls on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves in the world about 300km from the coast of Broome. The three pear-shaped atolls have shallow lagoons inhabited by corals and abundant marine life. Each atoll covers an area of around 80 to 90 square kilometres. The three shoals are strikingly similar in dimension, shape, orientation and distance apart. Each atoll is north-south orientated, pear-shaped, with the narrow end towards the north.

The Shoals rise with nearly vertical sides from very deep water. Mermaid Reef, the most northerly, rises from about 440 metres, Clerke from 390 metres and Imperieuse from about 230 metres.

The Rowley Shoals is an opportunity to experience a diverse array of snorkelling and diving environments including lagoons, canyons, sheer vertical walls, high speed drifts, night dives and snorkeling.

The coral atolls of the Rowley Shoals are famed for their almost untouched coral gardens, giant clams and other shellfish. Giant potato cod and maori wrasse wait to be hand fed and follow divers around, while colourful reef fish show little fear, and trevally, mackerel and tuna hover in schools. An exceptional 233 species of coral and 688 species of fish inhabit the shoals-including many species not found on near shore coral reefs. There are at least 28 species of staghorn coral alone. As well as being inhabited by a number of species found nowhere else, the coral and fish communities of the Rowley Shoals are unique in their composition, and in the relative abundance of species.