How ‘the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean’ lives up to its name

I was trying to spot whales in the waves when the first atolls of the Houtman Abrolhos slid into view, appearing as streaks of emerald and turquoise against the inky blue. From the air, it was as close to paradise as any postcard could muster.

Located 37 miles off the coast of Western Australia, the 122 islands here are often described as being the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean. Scattered across three island groups – Wallabi to the north, Easter in the middle, and Pelsaert to the south – they span some 62 miles from one end to the other. Just like their cousins in the Pacific, they are influenced by both warm and cool ocean currents, creating a wildlife haven heaving with tropical and temperate species that don’t normally live together. However, hardly anyone knows about the Abrolhos archipelago beyond fishermen and scientists – and even fewer people visit.

That’s changing though. Since the islands were designated a national park in 2019, tours have been steadily increasing. Most are 75-minute scenic flights from Geraldton, a coastal city 260 miles north of Perth, or day trips with a few hours of sunbathing and snorkelling. The only way for tourists to stay longer is via a cruise, and that’s what I’d flown here for – a five-day Shipwrecks & Wonders sailing aboard the Eco Abrolhos.

As our six-seater Piper Navajo bumped onto the dusty landing strip on East Wallabi, one of the bigger islands in the Wallabi group, I caught a glimpse of the boat. Gleaming white against the deep blue, the 115ft catamaran has room for just 32 passengers. The interiors give the impression of a cosy coastal cottage rather than anything more glamorous, but that’s the whole ethos – the cruise is about seeing, doing and experiencing rather than champagne and caviar (which suited the mostly Australian passengers just fine).

That said, lunches consisting of Western rock lobsters – known as crayfish in these parts – were always in plentiful supply, and after the first of these we were back on East Wallabi for our first excursion: a wildlife walk and snorkel with our guide for the week, local historian Dr Howard Gray.

At just 1.24 square miles, much of East Wallabi is covered by an near-impenetrable mop of shrubby samphire and saltbush, but it didn’t take long for Howard to spot tammar wallabies hiding under their low canopy. These hare-sized marsupials have adapted to survive on the island’s saline-saturated fauna and seawater, and are even capable of pausing a pregnancy if the conditions aren’t right to give birth. Sadly, under the glare of the mid-afternoon sun, they were rather camera-shy. The juvenile white-bellied sea eagle that welcomed our arrival earlier was suddenly nowhere to be seen either.

We had more luck in the water. Just off the sandy beach at Turtle Bay is a circular reef that forms a natural trail. Here colourful nudibranchs (a type of sea slug) clung to staghorn corals while peach-sized reef fish darted in and out of the shallows.

A hot shower later and I was back on the water to watch the crew retrieve lobster traps they set a day earlier. The Abrolhos have been at the centre of Western Australia’s lobster industry since the 19th century, with entire villages established on islands like Big Rat and Little Rat in the Easter group, where fishermen and their families lived during the season.

We headed for deeper waters on the companion vessel Dhu Force, a powerful 60ft trawler used for snorkelling, deep sea fishing, and these daily pot pulls. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it became clear very quickly that lobster fishing in these waters isn’t for the faint of heart.

The crew had seconds to catch each buoy marker with a claw hook as the boat sped past, before feeding the rope into the winch to pull the trap up. A missed opportunity or getting the positioning wrong meant the process had to start all over again. Meanwhile, the waves would rock the trawler left and right, covering us with salty sea spray. And there were other hazards, too. About two pots in, a shark leapt out of the water and wrestled with something in the waves before disappearing into the deep. I kept my fingers inside the boat after that.

Just as for commercial fishermen, there were regulations on sizes and numbers of lobsters we could take. From 12 pots, we came away with 43 lobsters and a couple of fish. Howard held one up that was perhaps half a metre long and said as calmly as anything: “This would be worth $100 (£52) to a fisherman; probably $300 to $400 in a restaurant.” And for us, a free dinner provided by the sea.

The morning brought us to Beacon Island, the most easterly island of the Wallabi group, for a short history lesson. The name Abrolhos came from the Portuguese nautical term “abre os olhos”, meaning keep your eyes open. Dutch explorer Frederick de Houtman used it to describe the maze of low-lying reefs he saw when he discovered the islands in 1619. By some estimates, as many as 50 vessels have been wrecked around the islands since; the most notorious remains the Batavia.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) merchant ship was bound for Indonesia when it struck a reef near Beacon Island in 1629. Most of the 341 people on board swam to safety as the ship slowly sank, but that was only the beginning of the tragedy. It became immediately clear there wasn’t enough freshwater on the islands, and people were dying of thirst, so Batavia’s commander Francisco Pelsaert was forced to sail on to Indonesia in the ship’s longboat for help.

Unbeknown to Pelsaert, Jeronimus Cornelisz, the senior VOC official left in charge, had been planning a mutiny to plunder Batavia’s treasures. After dispatching the remaining soldiers to West Wallabi in search of water, Cornelisz enslaved a number of survivors and ordered a massacre of the rest. By the time Pelsaert returned, 125 people had been brutally murdered, their bodies tossed in mass graves on Beacon Island or into the sea.

The rest of our cruise was significantly more upbeat. Each morning I woke up to a new island where Howard would lead a short walk focussed on the wildlife or history followed by some snorkelling. We would spot rare seabirds like the diminutive lesser noddy – the Abrolhos is one of Australia’s most important seabird breeding sites – and learn about how the islands were mined for guano by the Brits.

In the afternoon, a handful of people would go fishing for dinner on the Dhu Force while the Eco Abrolhos transferred to a new spot with fresh snorkelling opportunities. Sometimes there were schools of tropical fish, sometimes starfish that looked like Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants, but there were always terns somersaulting over the water and pristine coral gardens beneath the waves. Once there was even a curious Australian sea lion that nibbled at my flippers; I screamed and it darted off.

On the last night, goodbyes and contact details were exchanged over drinks. One returning guest stood up and made a heartfelt speech about the wonderful time he’d had, and we all went a little teary-eyed in agreement. I bumped into our skipper Jay at the bar afterwards. “Do you think the Poms will like it?” he asked me, referring to the Ten Pound Poms scheme that brought over a million Brits to Australia between 1945 and 1982. Well, if they’re after a real Australian adventure, this is as good as it gets.

Essentials

Qin Xie travelled as a guest of Tourism Western Australia.

A five-day Shipwrecks & Wonders cruise with Eco Abrolhos (0061 8 9964 5101, ecoabrolhos.com.au) starts from £1,802pp on a full-board basis, including transfers from Geraldton and most excursions. Fly to Geraldton via Perth with Qantas.