The shoals are known to support more than 300 species of fish and it’s not surprising that sharks are encountered on every dive. It’s also not much of a surprise that with less than 200 divers visiting the Rowley Shoals each year, species such as grey reef sharks, silver tips, hammerheads, white tips, and tawny nurse sharks freely interact with dive groups. However, not satisfied with these close encounters of the ‘jaws kind’ the intrepid crew of the True North have long suspected that some as yet undiscovered dive site, might yield the ultimate underwater experience – swimming with schools of hammerheads!

With this ‘not for everyone’ ambition in mind, it was early in season 2002 when a True North dive party conducted a ‘big blue’ off a likely piece of outer reef. ‘Big blue’ dives are an exciting variation of more typical sport diving – conducted away from the outer reef, divers must use instrumentation to maintain orientation as they descend in crystal clear oceanic waters. With no reef area to provide comfort, the experience always gets the adrenalin pumping! And this time the ‘big blue’ was to deliver something special - more than a hundred hammerhead sharks in a single school!

Since that first encounter, the True North crew has dived “The Hardware” numerous times and to date the site has delivered a 100% success rate for hammerhead sharks.

North Star’s 2003 Rowley season kicks off in late September – as always it’s guaranteed to be the highlight of the year!

For more information, click on Cruises and Expeditions and select Coral Atoll Dive Cruise.