Rowley Shoals · Australia · Reef · Wall
Minis & Mighties
Gentle coral slope that plunges to 50 m
Area photo: Maclearite · CC BY-SA 4.0
Minis & Mighties is a Clerke Reef dive on a gentle coral slope that plunges away to 50 m. The water is clear enough to look down from 20 m and pick out the sandy sea floor, and the shallows at the top of the slope are where the dive tends to pay off — two 50 cm cuttlefish were found courting there.
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 reef here starts as a gentle slope rather than a wall, which makes the descent an easy one to control, and then plunges down to 50 m where the slope runs out. Water clarity is the first thing divers notice: from 20 m you can look straight down and pick out the sandy sea floor below, which is both the appeal of the site and the reason to keep checking a computer instead of trusting what the eye reports.
Most of the dive is spent working along the coral of the slope and then coming back up it, with the shallows at the top left for the remaining air. On one dive that was where the best of it was: two large cuttlefish, around 50 cm each, courting in the shallow water while divers burned off the last of their time before surfacing.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Pristine corals
| 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
- Clear water makes 50 m look close and the gentle slope tips into a drop-off, so depth has to be tracked on a computer rather than judged against the bottom.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Minis & Mighties?+
The reef slopes gently and then plunges to 50 m. Recreational divers work the upper part of the slope, and the cuttlefish sightings have come from the shallows at the top.
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.
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
Wall
Gorgonian fans and plate corals on a wall to 50 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Moorings from an 8 m coral garden to a 30 m wall
A training-depth bay with a reef regrowing after Cyclone Debbie
A long eastern wall dropping into deep water
Sheltered ledge from 16 m up to 5 m, thick with nudibranchs