Rowley Shoals · Australia · Drift · Channel & pass
Clerke Channel
A tidal channel drift you ride rather than swim
Area photo: Maclearite · CC BY-SA 4.0
Clerke Channel is the tidal entrance to Clerke Reef, dived as a one-way drift out through the channel. Divers are dropped in and carried outwards towards the edge of the atoll with no option but to ride the tide, passing coral bommies, schools of sweetlips, bumphead parrotfish and whitetip reef sharks, and the dive finishes on the outside at Coral Gardens.
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
The boat drops divers into the channel itself and the tide does the rest, carrying the group outwards towards the edge of the atoll. There is no working against it and no stopping to look at anything twice — the only option is to surrender to the tide and zoom past what the channel holds: coral bommies, schools of sweetlips, bumphead parrotfish and whitetip reef sharks. The maximum depth on the drift is around 23 m.
The channel spits divers out at its exit, and that is where the dive changes character. The far side is the site called Coral Gardens, where the flow slows to a gentle drift along a colourful wall that drops away past 50 m. Large grey puffer fish lie on the coral outcrops being cleaned by smaller wrasse, and cod hold still with their mouths open for the wrasse to pick at their teeth. The second half of the dive is the calm one, worked slowly along the wall after the fast run through the channel.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Reef fish swarms
| 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.
Know before you go
- The tide runs fast enough through the channel that divers cannot swim against it or hold position, so entries and keeping the group together have to be planned around a one-way drift.
Questions divers ask
How strong is the current in Clerke Channel?+
Strong enough that divers ride it rather than swim it. The dive is planned as a one-way drift out through the channel, and the group is carried past the coral bommies without stopping.
How deep is Clerke Channel?+
The drift through the channel runs to a maximum of about 23 m. It finishes on the outside of the atoll at Coral Gardens, where the wall drops away past 50 m.
Sources
- Diving Remote Rowley Shoals — Diveplanit
- Rowley Shoals cruise itinerary — Odyssey Expeditions
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.
Cave & cavern
Light beams through cave roofs with trevally circling
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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