Adele Island

Meet the site

Adele Island is a 217 ha sand island, 2.9 km long, on extensive sandbanks over a limestone platform forming a large lagoon, about 104 km north of Ardyaloon (One Arm Point). Named by Nicolas Baudin in 1801, it carries a navigation light and is an Important Bird Area with thousands of breeding pairs of lesser frigatebirds and brown boobies. It became a nature reserve in 2000.

The WA Museum's Kimberley marine biodiversity program surveyed the island's hard and soft corals and coralline algae in 2009, and Wikipedia notes unusual rhodolith beds. Local boaters mention 'the back of Adele' as one of the few Kimberley spots worth diving, reporting plenty of small and large sharks.

Kimberley diving context: the Kimberley coast between Broome and Wyndham is one of the least-dived coastlines in Australia. Huge tides (up to 10–11 m), turbid inshore water, saltwater crocodiles around the islands and rivers, and large sharks mean that inshore diving is generally discouraged by experienced local boaters, and expedition cruise ships mostly offer snorkelling or Zodiac excursions rather than scuba. The serious diving is offshore, on atolls and island reefs far from river run-off, visited on a handful of liveaboard departures a year from Broome or Darwin. Medical help is many hours away; divers should be conservative and carry DAN or equivalent evacuation cover.

Planning notes: Advanced Open Water certification is recommended and the site is rated advanced. Expect to spend most of the dive around 10 m, with a maximum of about 20 m. It can only be reached on a multi-day expedition or liveaboard, so it is usually one of several sites dived on the trip and choices are made by the crew on the day. Currents are significant, so timing around the tide is part of the plan. Best season: September–November (calmest window). Traffic: remote/expedition only.

What you might see

Hard and soft corals, coralline algae and rhodoliths, reef sharks (numerous), reef fish, turtles; lesser frigatebirds and brown boobies

Location

Remote sand island on a large limestone reef platform and lagoon about 104 km north of One Arm Point (Ardyaloon), off the Kimberley coast; a nature reserve and seabird rookery.

Facilities nearby

None – remote; all services on the vessel.