Odyssey Liveaboard, Australia

Rowley revisited.

A well organised trip, Patcy the Dive master went over and beyond the call of duty to ensure everything went to plan. Food was plentiful and very tasty. Mostly drift diving. Saw Manta rays, hammerheads, turtles, reef sharks, tuna as well as all the tropical fish. Coral bleaching is taking its toll on the atolls, but still plenty to see.

Recommended for

Comfortable roomy cabins. Staff were brilliant. Dive master Patsy was exceptional..

21 Oct, 2025

Pristine and exciting divning in a remote part of the world.

Hidden Australian gem of diving. It takes a 20 hr boat ride from the nearest city at the far end of the world to get to, but totally worth it! Pelagics, Tiger shark, hammerhead, juvenile black tips, schools of sweet lips, sharks on almost every dive. Even got some of the small stuff, found a pygmy seahorse. Considering only 200 people get to dive this park every year, get early on the list to dive as its totally unencumbered of people and the Odyssey provides everything you need to have a great time.

Recommended for

Top notch operator, no crowds, variety of diving

18 Oct, 2022

Pristine and healthy marine environmen at Rowley Shoals

I would rate the diving at Rowley Shoals 7/10 overall, with Mermaid Wall being the highlight dive site. Both hard and soft corals were very healthy with no sign of bleaching. Small fish life was abundant, with some larger fish species like milkfish, bump headed parrot fish, dogtooth tuna and a couple of mantas. Reef sharks, mainly white tips were seen on the majority of dives. I would have like to have seen more pelagics at Mermaid Reef, it being a complete no-take zone. Macro life was almost non-existent, saw only one of 2 nudibranchs across 6 days of diving. I did the one night dive that was offered, I rated it as one of the least interesting of my 1000+ dives. The boat itself was in good condition, the only drawback being the absence of ensuites in any of the cabins, all 4 toilets/ showers being situated at the dive deck at the stern of the boat. My lower deck cabin had a bar fridge but no sink / wash basin, & toilets were a steep climb up a flight of stairs. The boat itself is quite tall, as a result it is a bit rolly in sideswells & windy conditions. Boat and dive staff were very professional, with very high levels of attention to safety commensurate with the remoteness of the area. Food was good quality and plentiful, I gained a couple of kilos over the course of the week 🤭. My main suggestion for the operator would to provide information about rental gear on their website - they don’t stock their own hire gear but do have an arrangement with a sporting goods store in Broome - but I had to contact Odyssey by phone to get that info. Overall I’d rate Rowley Shoals as being good coral reef diving in a pristine but remote location.

Recommended for

Pristine marine environment of Rowley Shoals. Food was good quality and plentiful, soft drinks were free.. Very safe diving operations.

30 Oct, 2024

A very enjoyable trip

Odyssey is usually used for trips up into the Kimberley so it is not primarily used as a dive boat. While she was more than adequate, on occasions it was obvious she hadn’t been designed as a dive boat. There are 4 bathrooms (each with hot shower & toilet) on the dive deck, used by punters & crew. None of the rooms have ensuites. The deluxe rooms have a sink, the standard rooms don’t. I had a standard room and it was fine. All have a fridge and separate aircon (although this doesn’t work when the compressor is in action), the mattress was comfortable & there was plenty of storage space. Soft drinks, juices & water provided, beer, wine & spirits extra. Diving is done from “Homer”, the tender. All of us dived from the one tender and while there was more than enough space, it took a while to pick everybody up / get everybody on board / into the water. An extra zodiac would improve efficiency significantly. There was no dedicated camera area on Odyssey, but a crate with fresh water to rinse cameras off in afterwards. Luckily, most of us just had GoPros but I think if anyone had a large camera / complex set up they may have found it annoying. There was a hose at the back of the boat to rinse of wetsuits etc after each dive but nothing to soak them in – I generally rinsed mine off in the shower. Nitrox was not available. We missed one dive as the compressor broke. Crew were easy going, friendly and efficient. Liam the chef kept the good food coming. Cooked breakfast every second day and on the days with no cooked breakfast you got dessert. I put on weight on the trip!! Plenty of snack food available – home baked cookies, fresh fruit…. It was about a 20 hour overnight steam to get to Rowley Shoals from Broome. Seasickness tablets were provided and I took my own concoction and felt fine. Others looked a little green about the gills. We boarded mid afternoon on the first day and our first 2 dives were the second day in the afternoon at Clerke atoll. Then 3-4 dives per day, with 2 on the last day before another overnight steam back to Broome. Fishing also available for those who were keen (I wasn’t but the fishermen in the group seemed pretty contented). The diving was good. We had one dive master for 15 punters… other crew members dived but they went off on their own rather than diving with the group. Max depth 30m, no deco diving. Briefings usually went along the lines of ‘descend to the wall, drift with the current and see what you see, follow the current, come up at 50 bar or 50 minutes, whichever comes first and set your SMB’(!!). Dive master kept an eye on us and pointed some things out but not outstanding at pointing things out but I guess she was busy enough keeping a watch on people which she seemed to do. Dives limited to 50 minutes or 50 bar (sigh, so not long dives) and then you set your SMB and were retrieved by Homer. Currents present but not strong. The diving – I was happy. The best thing for me was the stunning isolation, 360 degrees of horizon, turquoise waters (water temps 29-30 – most people dived in rash suits, I am cold blooded and even I was plenty warm enough in sharkskin!). The coral was pristine (I guess not often visited), colourful… Fish – plenty of white tipped reef sharks, grey reef sharks, saw some leopard sharks & a hammerhead was spotted. Turtles. Potato cod but the big cod promised at cod hole never eventuated. Schooling Trevally, the hugest Bumphead Parrot fish I have ever seen, coral trout, angel fish… many varieties of clown fish… We also had dolphins swimming at the bow of Odyssey and were lucky enough to see a Mama Humpback whale & her calf up close at Mermaid Atoll (this alone made the trip really!). We had 18 dives in the week long trip. Overall a fun trip with a good group of people.

Recommended for

isolation, stunning turquoise waters, great food

01 Nov, 2016

Awesome Wall Dives with friendly crew

Large variety of dives, seeing an abundance of fish swimming in an endless field of coral. Visibility to 50m+. Lots of swimthroughs to explore at depths of 5-40m.

Recommended for

Rich diversity of Fish and Coral, and great crew

05 Dec, 2022

Excellent snorkelling in atoll

Snorkelling in atoll Accommodating my needs to ensure best possible experience

Recommended for

Crew accomdating changes to improve experience.

18 Oct, 2023