Dive Review of Odyssey Expeditions in
Australia/Rowley Shoals, Western Austral

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Odyssey Expeditions: "Pristine remote reefs at Rowley Shoals, north west Western Australia.", Oct, 2024, by Phil Johnston, Bayswater, AU ( Top Contributor 30 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 13184 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Rowley Shoals is a set of atolls 330 kilometers from Broome, an 18 hour steam at Odyssey's 10 knots. The Shoals are generally dived only during October / early November due to generally unfavorable weather the rest of the year - Western Australia's coast is notoriously windy. Only 2 of the 3 main atolls (Clerke & Mermaid) were dived, with only a handful of operators visiting this area you will generally have the place to yourself. As would be expected for a large area visited by only 300-400 divers per year, & with little recreational fishing pressures, both Atolls are very unspoiled. People I had met who had dived Rowley Shoals spoke glowingly of exceptional visibility but this was not quite my experience.....because of the high tidal ranges in this area, water movements in & out of the atoll lagoons can quickly murk up the water on ebb tides. Best visibility on the trip would have been around 25 meters / 75 feet. Sites at Mermaid atoll tended to be steeper wall dives, with Clerke sites tending to be more gently sloping reefs. I personally preferred Clerke sites, due to very healthy & pretty hard corals & abundant small reef fish such as purple anthias at all sites. I didn't see evidence of coral bleaching at either atoll. Mermaid Wall at north Mermaid as spoken of by the crew as one of the world's greatest dive sites, I agreed that it is a beautiful wall dive with profuse soft corals, and handfuls of reef sharks, turtles and pelagics such as dog tooth tuna. Odyssey as a boat was not purpose built for diving, it spends most of the year as a small cruise boat taking in north west Australia's Kimberly Coast. Diving at Clerke reef was from a tender that was left permanently moored there, diving at Mermaid was from the ladders at the rear of the boat, which required fairly rapid entry from all the divers and a high degree of boating skill by the skipper to back the Odyssey to the edge of the reef. Small critters were almost non-existent - a handful of the most common nudibranches. We were advised pygmy seahorses could be found on sea fans at one site at Clerke Atoll, I didn't find these & I don't anyone else found any. I did one night dive, which I rated as one of the least interesting of my 1000+ dives. Accommodations on the Odyssey were only average, no cabins had toilet / shower ensuites, all toilet & shower facilities being on the rear dive deck. Visiting the lavatory during the night from my lower deck cabin entailed climb up & down steep stairs, not ideal for a middle aged man with a middle aged bladder! I found the crew highly skilled and professional, very high priority was given to diving safety, as should be the case in such a remote area. Food was plentiful and good without being gourmet, dinners varied between buffet style in the main salon & more formal meals served on the upper rear deck. Soft drinks were free, passengers could buy beer wine & cocktails from a small bar area on the rear upper deck. Overall I rated the diving at 7/10, whilst the reefs were in a healthy state I would have liked to have seen more larger pelagic life & manta rays & the biodiversity did not reach the levels of the coral triangle in Indonesia & Philippines. Night diving was completely unexceptional. Boat crew & cabin staff were excellent, & tips were not asked for at the end of the trip.
Websites	Odyssey Expeditions
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali, Komodo, Rajah Ampat, Lembeh, Manado, Ambon) Cocos Islands, Mexico (Cozumel & Soccorros) Tonga, Galapagos, Tahiti, Maldives, Mozambique, Bahamas, Red Sea, Roatan, Philippines, Hawaii (Kona, Maui)
Closest Airport	Broome	Getting There	I flew to Broome via Perth. It is called an international airport but not sure how many direct flights there are to Broome.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	26-27°C / 79-81°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	10-18 M / 33-59 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	The usual - no deco diving, return with minimum of 50 bar or complete dive at 50 minutes, no solo diving.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No dedicated station on the dive deck for underwater photographers, battery charging was done in passenger cabins, & then only with a 4-outlet power board. Had I been a serious UWP there would have been competition for those 4 outlets given the amount of charging my room-mate required for his equipment.

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Dive Review of Odyssey Expeditions in Australia/Rowley Shoals, Western Austral

Odyssey Expeditions: "Pristine remote reefs at Rowley Shoals, north west Western Australia.", Oct, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Odyssey Expeditions in
Australia/Rowley Shoals, Western Austral