Rowley Shoals · Australia · Lagoon · Reef
Clerke Aquarium
A check-out dive circling one big bommie in 12 m of sheltered water.
Area photo: Maclearite · CC BY-SA 4.0
Clerke Aquarium is the shallow check-out dive inside Clerke Atoll, in protected water behind the reef rim. The dive circles the base of a large bommie in about 12 m, on white sand with thick staghorn forests around it, and it is where liveaboard trips get divers sorted before working the outer reefs.
Where it is and how deep
17.3167° S, 119.3500° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
This is the first dive of the trip on the itinerary that published it: a check-out dive in a shallow, protected area inside the atoll, where gear gets sorted and weighting gets fixed without the tide or the depth the outer sites bring. Divers drop onto white sand and navigate around the base of a large bommie standing in about 12 m of water.
Large hard corals dominate the bommie itself, many of them flattened by the strong tides that run through the atoll - a first look at what moves the water out here. On the white sand around it are thick forests of staghorn, and reef fish dart through all of it; the reported dive picked out a bright yellow trumpetfish hunting through the coral.
With the bottom at 12 m there is no depth pressure and the dive can run long, which is exactly what makes it useful as an opener. Nothing has been published on current, visibility or water temperature for this specific spot. The water is sheltered compared with the ocean side of the reef, but the flattened coral is a reminder that the tide reaches in here too.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Good | Prime | Prime | Off-season |
Season follows Rowley Shoals: Liveaboards run in the calm window from late September to November; trade winds before it and the December–April cyclone season keep boats away.
Know before you go
- The strong tides that flattened the hard corals here still run through the lagoon, so watch the sand for which way the water is moving and stay with the group.
Questions divers ask
Is Clerke Aquarium a good first dive of the trip?+
It is used as one. The site sits in shallow, protected water inside Clerke Atoll with the bottom around 12 m, which makes it a straightforward check-out dive after the crossing from Broome, before the boat moves on to the outer reefs.
Sources
- Diving Remote Rowley Shoals — Diveplanit
- Rowley Shoals — Wikipedia
- Diving in Australia — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Rowley Shoals
White rubble floors at 8-12 m ringed by sheer coral walls.
Cave & cavern
Light beams through cave roofs with trevally circling
Drift
A tidal channel drift you ride rather than swim
Wall
A broadclub cuttlefish on the coral, sharks and turtles out in the blue.
Reef
Cupcake-shaped bommies above a reef slope that runs off to 50 m.
Sand slope
Hundreds of garden eels standing out of white sand at 20 m
Reef
Gentle coral slope that plunges to 50 m
Wall
Gorgonian fans and plate corals on a wall to 50 m
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