Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

Thu 14th April 2011 - Mon 18th April 2011

After a fantastic time in the Ribbon Reefs it was time to begin our Coral Sea part of the trip. We collected a few new passengers and before setting voyage to Osprey Reef we completed two check out dives at Ribbon Reef # 9 2/3. During the dives we saw schools of rainbow runners, some with chunks taken out of them. A few smaller schools of giant trevally and barracuda, a napoleon wrasse and a giant moray eel. They were some very relaxing dives to start the trip. Not before long the new and old gets were having good ol time and enjoying each others company.

After a good nights sleep we awoke to the beautiful scenery at Osprey reef. We had an epic day of diving. There was a plethora of marine life to be sighted and we hit 45m+ visibility throughout the day. The coral filled walls at Osprey reef blur out to the deep blue abyss over 1000m deep. During the day of diving we encountered grey and black tip reef sharks, school of bump headed parrotfish, a purple anemone ball and a few dog tooth tuna.Their was a white tip sleeping in a coral cave, a moray eel which looked like it was yawning and awesome swim throughs and sea caves.

The highlight of the day would definitely be the hammerhead and manta ray spotted by a few divers. There were many macro opportunities as well including nudibranch such as loch's chromodoris. After the sun goes down the ocean turns into uncanny tranquil environment with much to see. During the dive we saw a couple of white tip reef sharks, a school of bump headed parrotfish, a slipper lobster, shrimp, nudibranchs, sea cucumbers feeding, coral polyps feeding, the intestines of coral fighting for territory, a moray eel and giant trevally hunting in the torch light. Great way to finish an awesome day.

Day 3 was definitely the best so far. I was sure what was better, the shark feed or spotting a whale shark, you decide. The shark feed had over 40 sharks of all different species ripping apart a few tuna heads violently, making for excellent photos. The whale shark was so elegant in the water gracefully passing under the boat along the reef wall and into the distance. Was such a fantastic experience.

During the last dive of the day a few divers were stocked with the small species of scorpion fish they found and 3 beautiful gorgonian fans lined up one after another is a small sea grotto. The big tuna that came into the reef for a look was also a crowd pleaser.

After a fantastic 3 days of diving things were set to get a whole lot better, next stop Bougainville Reef! Bougainville Reef is a small reef south- east of Osprey and is seldom visited by other dive vessels. The 1000m walls are filled with coral in pristine condition and a ton of marine species. We plunged into 70m+ visibility for the first dive and drifted from a site called Burnsie's Bend to Dungeons and Dragons. On the dive we saw a huge marble ray cruising along the wall and many sharks hiding in the swim throughs and caves.

During the rest of the day we had many crevices and swim throughs to explore. We encountered many unicorn fish, pelagic schools of barracuda and trevally, a not so common thorny ray, a ton of sharks and plenty of dogtooth tuna. This trip was amazing!

Well done to Paul, Veronica, Stephen, Andrew, Linnea and Lisa for completing your Nitrox Course. Awesome work!

Thanks for the awesome time.
Chris Haslam (Trip Director)

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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