Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

Mon 28th March 2011 - Thu 31st March 2011

The first 2 dives of the trip really got things under way. They were uncomplicated and allowed for those divers that had not dived in awhile to get comfortable in the water again. During the dive there was much to see which included nudibranchs, a green turtle, a feather star with a crinoid shrimp inside, a white tip reef shark, a school of many spotted sweetlip, bump headed parrot fish and a school of stripped catfish. Great start to the trip!

Day 2 was a little ripper with an abundance of marine life making itself present to us divers. With well over 5000 species of animal calling The Great Barrier Reef home it is impossible to name everything we saw throughout the day. Instead we all got involved in making a list of some of the interesting marine life seen, this list included; a lacey scorpion fish, grey reef shark, bumpheaded parrot fish, starry and black spotted puffer, black- saddled toby, schultz pipefish, threadfin butterfly fish, longfin banner fish, six banded anglefish, longfin spade fish, achilles tang, spotted unicorn fish, the pink, spinecheek, clark's, true and false anemonefish, speckled sandperch, spotted eagle ray, a midnight snapper being cleaned by a couple of anemone shrimp and giant clams. I didn't say the list was going to be short. And that was just some of what we saw. It truly is one of the most diverse environments in the world.

We also had the cod feed at one of the most famous dive sites in the Great Barrier Reef, Cod Hole. Many giant groupers call this place home and are particularly used to humans. This dive was one of the many highlights of the day. The 12 divers followed 4 instructors to a sandy bottom at 8 metres, and not long after 6 enormous specimens, weighing from 40 - 150kgs, began to circle with grace as they waited for their breakfast. The show was amazing with close interactions as the cod approached only a few inches away from the divers face, sucking up the offered food with their huge mouths. The dive made for many excellent photos and memories that will last a lifetime.

During the night dive the divers encountered various marine species the highlights being a few grey reef sharks circling in the deck lights at the back of the boat along with 1000's of fish including bait fish, red bass and trevally. The divers got a nice treat when they returned from their night dive as sharks were trying to grab some dinner.

Day 3 was another epic day of diving. Again the divers compiled a list of the interesting things they saw under water that was not on their first list. This list include; a fire flame shell, painted cray, a few nudibranchs including, noto doris, hikuera glossodoris, chromodrosis elizabethina and chromodoris magnifica, a polyclad flatworm, reef lizard fish, a juvenile midnight snapper, schools of magenta dottyback and anthias, fire dart fish, leopard blenny, various species of lionfish, garden eels, shark sucker fish, slender grouper, yellow box fish in its young adult phase, schools of halfmoon triggerfish, schools of barracuda, freckled hawkfish, unicorn fish and harlequin tuskfish.

This was such an epic trip with so much to see on each dive. I really enjoyed everyone's enthusiasm in finding the many different marine species that call the Great Barrier Reef home. There were some great discussions while compiling our marine specie lists. I had a fantastic trip and look forward to diving with you all again.
Cheers, Chris Haslam (Trip director)

Congratulations Stefanie Hilder for completing you PADI Advanced Course. Thanks to, Wally, Terry, Howard, Thomas and Hank for helping in data collection for Eye on the Reef. The researchers, Spirit of Freedom and the marine life within the Great Barrier Reef appreciate your efforts.

Phone :	+61 (0) 7 4047 9150
Fax :	+61 (0) 7 4047 9110
Email :
PO Box 1276, Cairns QLD 4870 Australia

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Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

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