New book Ultimate Dive Sites names the Rowley Shoals in its top 50 dive sites
Anyone who’s dived the Rowley Shoals can testify to its incredible marine biodiversity and pristine waters. Located 260km from Broome (an overnight steam), the Shoals are part of a marine sanctuary, made up of 3 huge coral atolls on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves in the world. Imagine crystal clear waters and tropical sea temps of up to 30 degrees, plus a thriving ecosystem and myriad of marine life.
While they’re still relatively unknown to most of the world, the diving world is slowly catching on. So it’s no wonder they’ve been featured in the upcoming book Ultimate Dive Sites by Todd Thimios, with some text contributed by Melissa Thimios here at the Kimberley Cruise Centre. A keen diver herself, the Rowley Shoals were amongst one of the first places that she ever dived after gaining her SCUBA certification 20 years ago.
Extract from Ultimate Dive Sites
The following is an extract from Ultimate Dives Sites by Todd Thimios, published by Hardie Grant books, available for sale from 29 January 2025:
Why It’s Special
In a part of Australia that (on the map) looks too remote and arid to be populated, is the resort town of Broome, the Traditional Land of the Yawuru People, who call the area Rubibi. Also known as ‘the port of pearls’, Broome is where my wife grew up. A keen diver herself, Melissa insists that this is Australia’s greatest liveaboard dive spot. Broome serves as the departure point for a handful of local cruise operators, who each set aside two months per year to take divers to this well-kept secret, 260km (161mi) out to sea. After an overnight steam, you’ll wake up to some of the planet’s best wall diving on the edge of three huge, pear-shaped coral atolls known as the Rowley Shoals. Within each of the Shoals – Mermaid, Clerke and Imperieuse – are glassy lagoons resembling giant aquariums. The water’s warm, the diving is out of this world and it’s likely your boat will be the only one there.
Best time to dive
The small handful of dive operators that visit the Shoals each year do so between the months of September and November
a period known as the ‘doldrums’, when the trade winds are light, and the sea is calm. Boats depart from Broome in northwestern Australia and it’s an overnight affair to get there.
Qualification
• Open Water
• Advanced Open Water certification is recommended so that you can do some night dives, and you’ll need to be comfortable diving in strong currents
If you intend just to snorkel and freedive at the Shoals, you won’t miss out, the visibility is out of this world. Just ensure you are freediving with safe practices in mind and never dive alone.
Photography tip
If you’re savvy with a drone, bring one. Aerial photography at the Shoals is incredible and it’s the only way you’ll get to see a bird’s eye view, offering an overall perspective of the places you’re diving.
Dive in
What a sight it must’ve been for Captain Rowley when he first spotted Imperieuse Reef while sailing these waters on the HMS Imperieuse in 1800. Long before snorkels and SCUBA were invented (and even the glass aquarium), crystal-clear, shallow water teeming with fish would’ve been a welcome sight to hungry sailors. Back then, the Rowley Shoals were known as Pulau Pulo Dhaoh to the Indonesians who fished here for sea cucumbers, turtle shell, trochus shell and shark fin. These days, the three giant coral atolls that make up the Rowley Shoals Marine Park and Mermaid Reef Marine Park are known for their world-class snorkelling and diving. Very few people have heard of them and even fewer visit them.
Rising 400m (1310ft) from the ocean floor, the Shoals are Australia’s best examples of shelf atolls. Within each atoll are enormous shallow lagoons resembling giant swimming pools in the middle of the sea, crowded with colourful fish, giant clams and sea stars. The tropical tidal range of up to 5m (16ft) has shaped some interesting coral landscapes and there are great opportunities for high-speed drifts, such as ‘Jimmy goes to China’, so named for its ability to whisk you away if you’re not careful. On an outgoing tide, you’ll find yourself gliding past pecking parrotfish, gorgeous gorgonian fans and green turtles hitching a ride with the current. Thanks to the huge tides, plenty of nutrients are washed in and out of the reefs every six hours, so you’ll find that the corals and fish here are healthy and oversized.
You may be asking, ‘if it’s so great, why haven’t I heard of it?’ Well, getting here is tricky, due to its remote location. About 260km (162mi) west of Broome in the Indian Ocean, on the edge of the continental shelf, only a small handful of commercial operators are licensed to visit the Shoals each year, and only for a few weeks when the doldrums create glassy conditions. Amongst these few operators, even fewer offer scuba (most just offer snorkelling). The expense and effort of flying to here deters many divers, and then there’s the problem of availability, with the few scuba trips on offer usually booked out a year or so in advance.
But for the die-hard divers that do make it here, underwater utopia awaits. Just imagine the most incredible walls of hard and soft corals, and visibility of 50+m (165+ft). Imagine over 200 species of coral, plus more than 600 fish species including potato cod, groupers, Maori wrasse and pelagics like mackerel, tuna and trevally. And then there’s hammerheads, humpbacks, mantas, bottlenose and spinner dolphins and even the odd orca spotted here. But perhaps the greatest thing about the Shoals are the pristine conditions.
If you like your water balmy, the water temperature ranges from 28oC to 30oC (82.4–86°F); there’s no need to pack a thick wetsuit for this trip (unless you go night diving). On this holiday you’ll be on a strict routine of sleep, eat, dive, repeat. And when you’re starting to feel waterlogged, there’s a white sand cay called Bedwell Island at the northern end of Clerke Reef, which is great for sunset snacks and beachcombing, and is also a resting stop for seabirds migrating from as far away as Siberia.
The Rowley Shoals are one to add to your tropical dive wish list, but don’t wait too long as it’s now starting to hit the radar of Youtube-ing sailors and larger cruise operators.
Ultimate Dive Sites
Grab a copy of Ultimate Dive Sites to find out what the other 49 places are that Todd recommends. Also, give us a call here at the Kimberley Cruise Centre to find out which boats have availability for the year that you’re hoping to travel here.
