Pristine Rowley Shoals: Coral Gardens of the Indian Ocean Cruise

Embark on your extraordinary adventure to one of the world’s most pristine coral reef systems. 

Your Rowley Shoals expedition begins late afternoon in Broome, where you’ll step aboard Paspaley Pearl—your home for the next five nights. As the sun sets over the Indian Ocean, we’ll depart for our overnight passage to Clerke Reef, 300 kilometres west into open ocean. 

This evening, meet your fellow adventurers and expedition team over a light dinner as we discuss what lies ahead. Our specialist dive masters and marine biologists will brief you on the dive and snorkelling sites, marine life encounters, and safety protocols that will guide our exploration of these remote atolls.

Dawn reveals Clerke Reef rising from 390 metres—an 18-kilometre atoll with impossible turquoise clarity. Your first session is an equipment check in calm lagoon waters, meeting giant potato cod and Maori wrasse. 

The outer walls offer world-class snorkelling and drift diving. Snorkellers float along reef edges gazing into the abyss. Divers descend to 25-30 metres where corals cascade down vertical walls. Tidal currents sweep you past schools of trevally, mackerel, hammerhead sharks, and manta rays.

Mermaid Reef, rising from 440 metres, is a Commonwealth Marine Park with highest protection. No fishing means marine life shows no fear, creating extraordinary encounters. 

Outer walls rival world’s best destinations. Snorkellers drift where lagoon meets abyss above plate corals. Divers explore vertical drops sheltering reef fish, patrolling sharks, barracuda schools, and passing sailfish or whale sharks. Inside the lagoon, staghorn coral forests, giant clams, and resting turtles create remarkable diversity.

Imperieuse Reef rises from 230 metres. Though it lacks a navigable channel to the central lagoon, we’ll access the outer walls and use small tenders to enter the lagoon for snorkelling when tidal conditions permit. 

The walls here feature particularly dramatic spur and groove formations—fingers of coral extending into deep water separated by sandy channels. It’s in these grooves that you’ll often encounter the reef’s larger residents: sleeping nurse sharks, giant groupers, and schools of pelagic fish moving between reef and open ocean. Optional fishing is permitted around the outside of Imperieuse for those who wish to try their luck.

This morning you’ll arrive in Broome carrying memories of one of the world’s most pristine snorkelling and diving destinations. 

You’ve snorkelled and dived where no rubbish floats, where marine life shows no fear, and where coral reefs thrive in conditions that seem impossible in our modern world.

Itineraries are subject to change.