Rowley Shoals · Australia · Cave & cavern · Reef
Clerke Caves
Light beams through cave roofs with trevally circling
Area photo: Maclearite · CC BY-SA 4.0
Clerke Caves is a shallow dive at about 12 m where the reef at Clerke Reef is broken into tunnels, gutters and caves. Daylight comes through holes in the cave ceilings as defined beams and a school of trevally circles around them. One of the larger cave entrances is framed with an array of red gorgonian fans.
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 shallow end of the diving at Rowley Shoals — the dive sits at about 12 m, which leaves plenty of bottom time to work the structure slowly. The reef here is not a plain slope but a honeycomb of tunnels, gutters and caves, so the route is a matter of dropping into one cut, following it through and coming out somewhere else on the reef rather than swimming a straight line along a contour.
Holes in the cave ceilings let daylight through in defined beams, and a school of trevally circles around them. One of the larger entrances is framed with an array of red gorgonian fans, and it is worth sitting inside that cave and looking out while the trevally circle the opening. Because the depth is modest, air rather than no-decompression time sets the limit, and the dive ends on the shallow reef where it started.
Marine life and season
- Trevally & jacks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair |
Season follows Rowley Shoals: Liveaboards run only in the short weather window Sep–Dec when seas are calm; the Kimberley wet season and cyclone risk close the shoals the rest of the year.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Clerke Caves?+
It is a shallow dive at about 12 m, so air rather than depth tends to set how long the dive runs.
What do you see at Clerke Caves?+
Tunnels, gutters and caves cut through the reef, daylight coming down through holes in the cave ceilings, a school of trevally circling the beams, and red gorgonian fans framing one of the larger entrances.
Sources
- Diving Remote Rowley Shoals — Diveplanit
More dive sites in Rowley Shoals
White rubble floors at 8-12 m ringed by sheer coral walls.
Lagoon
A check-out dive circling one big bommie in 12 m of sheltered water.
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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