The Merindah Pearl was a pearl-meat vessel – one of the workboats used in the northern Australian pearling industry to harvest and process pearl oysters – before being retired and donated to the artificial reef program. Darwin Sub Aqua Club members cleaned and prepared her for scuttling, and she was sunk at Fenton Patches in 2013, the same year as the Amelia C. The DSAC page places her about 100 m north of the Antares and Amelia C pair and near the 10 m x 10 m steel barge, making her the northern end of the Fenton wreck cluster.

She is a steel vessel of about 25 m lying on sand in 25–28 m of water. The hull has the long, low working deck typical of pearling boats, with the wheelhouse and accommodation forward or amidships and open deck space where oyster panels were once handled. Hatches and doorways were opened during preparation, so the interior can be seen with a torch, but silt settles quickly and nobody should go inside without training and a line.

In the decade since scuttling the hull has grown a mantle of sponges, soft corals, sea whips, hydroids and oysters. Resident fish include golden snapper, saddletail snapper, estuary cod and black jewfish, while trevally, queenfish, Spanish mackerel and cobia move through when the tide begins to run. Batfish and small reef fish crowd the superstructure, and the sand around the hull is worth a look for rays and flathead.

As a dive, the Merindah Pearl is a compact, easily covered wreck that works well either as a stand-alone dive or as the start of a navigated tour of the cluster. It is also a reminder of the pearling industry that shaped the Top End's coastal history. It suits advanced divers used to open-water descents on a shot line in limited visibility, with depth and slack-water timing the main constraints. On a clear neap-tide morning it is one of the easier Fenton wrecks to enjoy.

Fenton Patches lies about 17 nautical miles (roughly 31 km) north-west of Darwin in open water beyond the harbour mouth, so it is a boat-only site. Club and charter boats usually launch from the Cullen Bay ramp and marina (Marina Boulevard, Larrakeyah – ample trailer parking) or from Dinah Beach / Sadgroves Creek ramps inside the harbour, then run out past East Point and across Beagle Gulf. In a fast 6–7 m trailer boat allow roughly an hour each way in trade-wind chop; slower in a southeasterly above 15 knots.

There are no public moorings: the site is found on GPS and sounder, and a shot line or grapnel is dropped on the structure. Private boats need a competent skipper who can work the tide and keep a boat cover on the surface while divers are down.

Fenton Patches is open water in Beagle Gulf with no shelter. Dive it only on neap tides and time the dive for slack water (typically a window of 30–60 minutes around the turn; Darwin's tidal range reaches 7–8 m on springs and currents at Fenton run hard outside slack). The dry season (May–October) brings the south-east trades: mornings are usually calm, but a 15–20 knot south-easterly by late morning makes the run back uncomfortable, so plan an early start.

The build-up (October–December) brings glassy days but storms in the afternoon; the wet season (December–April) brings north-westerly monsoon winds, heavy run-off that cuts visibility, cyclone risk (November–April) and box jellyfish in the water. Visibility is best after several days of neaps and no rain.

Shot the hull, descend and circuit the vessel at 22–25 m from the upstream end. Inspect the working deck and open hatches from outside, look under the bow and stern for jewfish, then finish around the wheelhouse at 18–20 m. Experienced divers with good visibility can navigate about 100 m south to the Antares/Amelia C using a compass and reel.

Return to the shot for the ascent before the tide turns.

No daily operator. Darwin Sub Aqua Club (DSAC) runs member boat dives to Fenton Patches on suitable neap-tide weekends in the dry season; Dive Darwin (learntodivedarwin.com.au) and Western Blue Dive Charters offer outer-harbour/offshore wreck trips on demand when tides and weather line up. Otherwise private boat only.