Rowley Shoals Diving Adventure - 2010 prices start from $3,815pp

Five nights

Please note that this is a typical itinerary. The Rowley Shoals have one of the largest tidal ranges of any coral atoll diving in the world. This provides the opportunity for exhilarating drift dives, but it will also govern how we plan our days. Our itinerary will change according to tides and weather conditions.

Day One

Board your luxury vessel around 5pm for welcome drinks, canapes and a cruise and safety briefing. We will disembark from the Jetty and have dinner while we steam towards the Rowley Shoals. The Rowley Shoals are 300km west of Broome so you will have all night to settle into your cabin and familiarise yourself with the boat and fellow passengers.

Day Two

Arrive at Clerk Reef at approximately 8am. We will make our way through the narrow channel to anchor up inside the lagoon. For an hour we will organise our dive gear and have a dive briefing outlining procedures and standards. The divemaster will then brief you on the first dive "The Blue Lagoon". This is a very easy dive to familiarise everyone with the new environment and their equipment. Average depth is 12m, gradually sloping down to a white sandy bottom dotted with coral bommies to 30m. This dive is always crystal blue and has colourful coral, small caves with sandy bottoms, swim throughs and a multitude of tropical fish species.

The second dive will be a drift dive in through The Channel to Clerke Reef. This is a favourite dive site. The mother boat will drop you off the on the outside of the lagoon to drift in through the narrow channel to meet the boat anchored just inside the entrance. Start the dive to a maximum depth of 40metres to go through the channel at 12m. The Channel is cut through beautiful colourful coral and you will see plenty of reef fish and small reef sharks.

We will have lunch inside the lagoon where the dive ended. There is opportunity for great snorkelling along shallow bommie edges. Head outside the lagoon for an afternoon drift along the edge of the atoll. We will have a go at picking up a sailfish on the way back to the entrance to the lagoon. As the entrance is treacherously scattered with bommies it has to be navigated before sunset.

The crew will get the boat positioned for a comfortable night and then light permitting we will snorkel the exhilarating dinghy channels. These narrow cracks in the reef are wide enough for the dinghies to drive down and create a feeling for the snorkellers of flying underwater as you cruise along at 6 knots to other outside of the lagoon. Average depth is 7m. Back to the boat for a glorious dinner and some relaxation.

Day Three

Set off to dive the Western Wall before 7.30am. This coral encrusted wall drops off to 55m and has a rubbly bottom that slopes off steeply to the 'never never'! The first half of the dive is deep then the last half is spent in the 10m ranges near the top of the reef exploring cracks and caves dotted with tropical fish and shells.

Back on the boat for a cooked breakfast while we head the boat down to "Jimmy goes to China" (a story you will hear on board). This is a 40M wall encrusted with large gorgonians and black corals. We often see pelagic fish life and larger sharks. Top of the reef is 10-20m and an ocean scape of corals and tropical fish. A delicious lunch follows.

Cruise around to dive "Tiger Alley". This dive will be a drift along the outer edge where it is common to see tuna, mackerel, sharks and large cod. The last dive will be chosen heading back around to the channel entrance. The late afternoon and sunset can be spent on the sandy beach to see the rare red-tailed tropic birds that nest on Bedwell Island. Wind permitting we may have a BBQ on the beach and a game of beach Cricket or we may do a night dive at the anchorage area.

Day Four

The first dive will be before breakfast at "The Crevasse". This is the same area and formation as the Western Wall. Once back on board we will have a cooked breakfast and we will cruise over to Mermaid Reef. This cruise will take about two hours. On arrival we will dive "V in the wall". This is a big V shaped bommie jutting out of the reef edge. Drop down to 30M then make your way up and around the V, which has an average depth of 18m. There are an abundance of shells in this area.

Last dive before heading into the lagoon will be "The Cod Hole". This is about 18m deep with lots of bommies and a few cracks. As the name suggests there are three large resident Potato Cod that live here and they get up close and personal! The boat will head in on sunset to anchor up for the evening. There is no sandy beach on this atoll so we stay on the boat and use the dinghies to go skurfing or snorkelling. Mermaid Reef is a National Marine Reserve so there is no fishing allowed at all.

A night dive will be organised on the outer wall if anyone would like to participate.

Day Five

An early start today on the most spectacular wall of the Rowley Shoals - simply known as "The Wall". This will be a drift dive. This wall is a sheer vertical from the reef that breaks the waters surface down to 110m. It then slopes off sharply with a rubbly bottom - not that you will see it!

Great area to spot large sharks - and the rare Greater Hammerhead! Quite a few turtles are seen here and beautiful corals and soft corals. Head down to The Caves for a dive before lunch. This seascape is very different with the wall sloping down quite steeply to 50m. The caves are quite large and twist up to the top of the reef (breaking the surface). Great area to spot sleeping turtles and unusual shells.

After lunch we will head down the reef edge to a spot we call "The Net". The name came from the fact that it is a complex dive to navigate and because of a small old piece of trawling net found on one corner of the reef. It is an intricate web of reef, bommies, overhanging caves and cracks. The dive goes down to 40M and the average depth of the net is 18m. Stunning coral formations and tropical fish species to be found here.

The last dive will be a twilight dive at another magnificent location before we pack up and head off back to Broome.

Day Six

Arrive at Broome Jetty at 7am. Disembark at 8am, taxis will transfer you to the airport or to your accommodation.