Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

Mon 9th January 2012 - Thu 12th January 2012

The sun was shining and the ocean was calm and still as Spirit of Freedom departed Cairns with 21 passengers heading out for the 3 Day Cod Hole trip. We started with 2 check out dives at Caves on Norman Reef where the reef fish were in abundance amongst the coral gardens.

The sunrise was stunning over the glass ocean on the second day and we jumped in for 2 superb dives at Pixie Pinnacle with a Moray Eel, two Banded Boxer Shrimps and a juvenile Lionfish hanging out in the hole next to the Flame File Shell! Banded Pipefish were all over the shallow part of the pinnacle and the Mantis Shrimp was out rushing around his little domain moving pieces of coral around. Two Towers had a mild current running through the gap between the pinnacle but there were lots of Olive Sea Snakes winding their way amongst the coral gardens, a Green Turtle, Bumphead Parrotfish, White Tip Reef Sharks and huge schools of Fusiliers and Snapper feeding along the walls. Challenger Bay stunned everyone with the coral gardens along the reef wall before we hopped in for an awesome night dive. I have to congratulate all of our first time night divers who had a brilliant dive with the G.T.s and Red Bass hunting in the torchlight, White Tip Reef Sharks lazily swimming over the top of the reef and a big Grey Reef Shark coming to check out what was on offer in the torchlight.

An awesome drift dive at Dynamite Pass started the third day off with big Grey Reef Sharks down deep on the wall, before we moved to Snake Pit. As we put the mooring line on the stern an 8m Whaleshark swam along the starboard side of the boat and we all grabbed masks, snorkels and fins before jumping in to swim with the largest fish in the ocean! As we descended down the line the Whaleshark cruised past the divers with an effortless kick of the tail and headed off into the depths. The rest of the dive at Snake Pit was awesome with thousands of fusiliers and trevally feeding on the plankton in the water; batfish hanging under the ledges and on our safety stop the Whaleshark returned to grace us with another 10 minutes of beauty. All in all we were privileged to spend nearly 2 hours snorkelling and diving with one of the most graceful creatures in the ocean. The last 2 dives of the trip at the Cod Hole were excellent with the huge Potato Cod playfully biting my glove, obviously very hungry, before being fed right in front of each of the divers. Our surface interval between the two dives was a case of basking in the sunshine and watching the Potato Cod and Sharks swimming around the Cod Hole as the ocean was like glass with not a breath of wind around to make a ripple on the surface. The big Grey reef Shark followed us on the second dive and the huge Potato Cod were hiding under ledges at almost every turn.

Our BBQ night at Lizard Island was treated to a stunning sunset and three Tawny Nurse Sharks turning up at the back of the boat with the usual collection of G.T.'s and Black Tip Reef Sharks.
Congratulations to Luis and Paula on their honeymoon and to all our first time night divers. It has been a fantastic 3 day trip with perfect weather conditions and unbelievable marine life sightings, making it an extremely memorable start to 2012.

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

TRIP GALLERIES

Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

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