Northern Atolls Diving & Snorkelling (12 nights)

Day 1 - Depart Broome Port

Broome to Scott Reef, Seringapatam Reef, Ashmore Reef, Hibernia Reef, and Cartier Island to Broome

This is a real exploratory type cruise - every dive will be an adventure!  The Northern Atolls have one of the largest tidal ranges of any coral atoll diving in the world.  This provides the opportunity for exhilarating drift dives, but it will also govern how we plan our days.  Our itinerary will change according to tides and weather conditions.  We will encounter Indonesian fishermen.

Itinerary

Day One
Board MV Great Escape at lunchtime for an early getaway. Once onboard, enjoy welcome drinks whilst the Captain presents his cruise and safety briefing. We will disembark from the jetty and have lunch while we steam towards Scott and Seringapatam Reefs. Scott reef is approximately 420km north west of Broome so you will have all afternoon to settle into your cabin and familiarise yourself with the boat and fellow passengers.

Day Two

We will explore as many parts of the reef as we can and we will organise a night dive to see if anything new materialises. We will anchor here until very early morning when we will leave at 5am to get to Seringapatam Reef in time for an early morning dive. Or if the group decide to miss Seringapatam Reef due to the extent of coral bleaching, we will depart early in the afternoon to make it to Ashmore Reef for an extra day of the usual spectacular tropical diving you are all used to! In 1998, Scott and Seringapatam Reefs suffered a large degree of coral bleaching due to a long and unseasonable concentration of warm water sitting on top of the reef structures. We took a group of AIMS scientists out to Scott Reef in 2001 and they recorded new corals were slowly growing back.

"In 1998 the richest coral reefs of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean have undergone a catastrophic mass mortality. Most of the Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives, Seychelles, for instance, it seems up to 90% or more of the corals have died. The branching corals have been almost wiped out."
(Source: Google. Search term: Scott Reef)

The most exciting part of our last visit was an amazing number of manta rays that entertained us for days-on-end while the scientists recorded the effects of the bleaching. The crew still have the scars from fin blisters. None of us could stop watching their graceful underwater exhibitions for the week we were out there. We found a couple of dive spots that had a reasonable amount of live corals, and the channel dives into and out of the reef structure were good fun and also where we found most of the fish life. There were quite a few different species of schooling fish. One entrance was very rubbly and hosted a great array of shells including many Latissimus shells from the Strombus family.

Day Three

We will explore Seringapatam Reef in the same manner that we did on Scott Reef the day before. We have not been to Seringapatam Reef for many years but believe the coral bleaching was of a similar calibre. This is to be expected since the reefs are so close together. Before the bleaching occurred, Seringapatam Reef had probably the best wall dive in the world! If we stop here, we will have to see how it is looking. There is a chance it may still be magnificent down deeper where the warm water didn't have the chance to kill the coral off. In the past we have had quite a bit of luck game fishing out here as we move between reefs; so there is a chance we could see some good pelagic species. A big blue dive may be pretty interesting if we find a good contour line. We will explore as many parts of the reef as we can before departing north in the early afternoon. The next dive on Northern Atolls is at Ashmore Reef some 100 nautical miles away. This will take us approximately 9 hours to reach.

Day Four & Five - Ashmore Reef

Arrive at Ashmore Reef in the early morning for a refreshing dive before breakfast. We visited Ashmore Reef in 2001 and there was no sign of the coral bleaching evident at Scott and Seringapatam Reefs. The diving here is truly wild frontier stuff and very similar to the Rowley Shoals! This area is heavily guarded and controlled for a number of reasons and we are required to get strict permits for this zone. There is a permanent Australian Customs vessel stationed here to combat the large number of illegal immigrants flooding into Australia. By now on our adventure we will be encountering Type II Indonesian fishermen aboard their wooden sail boats. They quite often hang around our boat and ask for food and water. This allows them to stay out fishing for longer without having to return to their homelands. It's quite an interesting experience. They still dive for shells and turtles with wooden, hand carved goggles! We will explore Ashmore Reef for approximately four days before we head north to Hibernia Reef as it is quite an extensive area of reef to dive. Or we can break the days up and head up to Hibernia Reef and come back via Ashmore Reef on our way to Cartier Reef. We will make a decision once we are all-together and see how the diving profiles are panning out!

Day Six & Seven - Hibernia Reef

We will spend the day exploring Hibernia Reef. Being only 40 miles from the island of Roti in Indonesia, you can really notice all the different species of tropical fish that we don't get further south at the Rowley Shoals. We will return to Ashmore to explore for another two days before heading south east to Cartier Reef.

Day Eight & Nine - Ashmore Reef

Explore the outer reef structures before cruising over to Cartier Reef. Cartier Reef is about a five hour cruise from here, so we will organise a night dive and depart Hibernia just after midnight to arrive at Cartier Reef by daybreak.

Day Ten & Eleven - Cartier Reef

Cartier Reef will be the last diving in pristine clear waters filled with colourful corals and beautiful fish before we make the enormous steam back to Broome. There is a sandy cay here so you can stretch your legs. The place is (was) abundant in huge Helmet shells. It is great to snorkel around and see them scattered about with their mates - it is believed they pair for life! Upon departure from Cartier Reef, we will stop over at Scott & Seringapatam Reefs for the day to break the long cruise back to Broome.

Day Twelve - Scott / Seringapatam Reef

We will dive here for most part of the morning before preparing to leave after lunch. As you will all know by now - it is a long cruise home to Broome! Good time for de-gassing!

Day Thirteen - Broome

Arrive at Broome Jetty at 7am. Disembark at 8am, taxis will transfer you to the airport or to your accommodation. Don't forget to calculate your no-fly before booking flights.