Dive cruises: The Great Escape visits the Rowley Shoals on 7 and 5 night itineraries. Rowley Shoals diving is limited to a few months per year for weather reasons. Cruises are starting late October, ending in December.
Kimberley Coast cruises: During the other months of each year, the Great Escape offers sightseeing and fishing excursions, cruising along the beautiful Kimberley Coast of Western Australia in comfort and style. No diving is offered on those itineraries. They even have a helicopter on board during these excursions. We are happy to email you details of you are interested in one of these special adventures.
7 Night Rowley Shoals
Day 1: Your Rowley Shoals Underwater Adventure will begin at 5:30pm with a warm welcome aboard your vessel. Once under way you will enjoy a delicious dinner as we cruise out toward the Rowley Shoals.
Day 2: We will enter the lagoon through a narrow channel in the coral around 8am. Dive and snorkelling Standards and Procedures are discussed before you prepare for your first familiarisation dive or snorkel – The Blue Lagoon. An easy, colourful dive through coral bommies with a white sandy ocean floor, swim throughs and small caves. The depth is from 12 – 30m if you are diving or 2 – 10m if you choose to snorkel this beautiful location. Then onto an exhilarating drift dive through The Channel! No effort needed here just hang on and watch schools of tropical fish shooting through the coral formations to the outer reef system. An absolute Rowley’s favourite. Snorkellers are more than welcome to join in the great fun! After lunch we will snorkel through the Aquarium before heading outside the lagoon for another dive. On the way back to anchor inside the lagoon for the evening we will try and catch a sailfish or yellow fin tuna. Sunset activities include exciting drift snorkels through the dinghy channels – the closest you will feel to flying without having wings!
Day 3: First dive is before 7:30am on the Western Wall where you can get a lot of depth before breakfast is served! Your second dive may be Jimmy Goes to China. A 40m wall, encrusted with large gorgonian and black corals. We often see pelagic fish life and larger sharks. Top of the reef is 10 – 20m and an ocean scape of coral and tropical fish life. Anyone who would like to snorkel can jump in the dinghy with a crew member and explore the reef where it is 1 – 5 metres deep. After lunch we can dive Tiger Alley where it is common to see tuna, mackerel, sharks and large cod. Before heading inside the lagoon for the evening we will choose another dive site and the snorkellers can discover the colourful shallow reef edge. Explore the sandy island to see rare red-tailed tropic birds that have started a unique colony. A BBQ on the beach is always fantastic at sunset or maybe a night dive.
Day 4: Dive the eerie Crevasse or snorkel at the Aquarium before a hearty breakfast. Gear up for a drift dive along the eastern edge before relaxing on deck or targeting a few reef fish for dinner in the tenders. Try skurfing with the crew or wonder off for a snorkel. An exploratory reef dive will complete the afternoon. Then get ready for another night dive before dinner.
Day 5: Start the day with a dive at Chef’s Nightmare – snorkellers will love very visible plate coral at this location. Enjoy breakfast as we cruise between atolls to Mermaid Reef. Our first dive will be at The ‘V’ in The Wall – great to view from underwater or snorkelling from the surface. The last dive will be at The Cod Hole before we head inside the lagoon for the evening. The Cod Hole is an absolute favourite with divers and snorkellers alike. A night dive will be arranged at The Net.
Day 6: Drift dive one of the world’s most spectacular wall dives. Lots of tropical fish, pelagic species, the odd hammerhead shark and turtles. Before lunch we will dive at The Caves – 3 to explore. There are loads of locations to explore with anyone interested in snorkelling.
The Mermaid Channel is another favourite drift dive or snorkel. It is not unusual to see a sailfish cruise by on this dive! We will then choose an exploratory reef dive as our last dive or snorkel for the day. A night dive will be available.
Day 7: The crew will have most of you eager to try The Big Blue! Where we take you off the reef in about 200m of clear blue water. Here you go down to your maximum depth and wait to see what comes to look at you!!! We regularly see schooling hammerheads and silver tips, sometimes even tiger sharks! Afterwards we go back to everyone’s favourite place The Cod Hole for a settle down dive/snorkel before lunch. Next we will move to the southern tip of the Shoal for an exploratory dive and snorkelling. Our last dive at the Rowley Shoals will be at sunset.
Day 8: Disembark at 8am where transfers are included to the airport or your accommodation.
