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DIVING THE ROWLEY SHOALS
In a world that grows increasingly smaller, imagine what it would be like to dive somewhere no-one else has been or be the very first person to discover a location of unknown splendour?
The quest for new reefs to explore expands in relation to popular dive regions becoming overloaded. Imagine then, an adventure out to sea, to a place that few have ever visited. The Rowley Shoals is that place.
Marine flora and fauna is prolific - current research has logged over 240 species of reef building corals and nearly 700 species of fish - and due to their remote location, there is little damage to the reefs from either fishermen or divers. The window for diving Rowley is restricted by cyclones and winds to just three months of the year.
Affected by a dramatic five metre tidal range, at certain times massive volumes of water pour in and out of the coral atolls creating a fascinating landscape. Our favourite site at Mermaid Reef was a deep cut in the reef wall created by this tidal phenomena. Dropping in where the channel was just about six metres wide and 25 metres deep, we met a young white tip and a lot of small schooling fish. We had a visit from a very friendly giant cod who caught his reflection in the dome port on the camera then, as the tide turned, the current picked up and we were pulled swiftly towards the outer reef.
It's obviously a great benefit to the marine ecosystem that access to the Shoals is restricted by the forces of nature and the marine residents are left to live and grow in peace. We spent the whole week diving in perfect peace. Not a single boat apart from our own graced the horizon and the only divers we saw were our buddies. The sense of discovering something completely new was as real as it could ever be on our ever-shrinking planet.
Complete reports on this area are in Diving the World
TRAVELOGUE:
Flights: Singapore Airlines or Qantas to Perth
Transfers: Internal flight to Broome
Accommodation: Seashells Resort, Cable Beach
Liveaboard: Kimberley Escape
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