Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

Thu 10th May 2012 - Mon 14th May 2012

The single plane landed on the airpstrip at Lizard Island and Alex and Sukhia, Pascal and Veronique, Brian and Elanor, Angel and Ronald walked down to the beach before being taken to Spirit of Freedom by tender. There they met Marvin who was staying onboard for the whole 7 days and were introduced to the crew and the vessel. We departed Watson's Bay and headed out to Pixie Wall for our afternoon dives where we saw sharks, turtles and beautiful schools of reef fish darting in and around the coral gardens.

The wind was certainly blowing in the morning to match the strong wind warning that had been issued and so we headed from Pixie Gardens to the Cod Hole for two brilliant dives with crystal clear water as the tide ran through the site, giving us 30m visibility and therefore a great view of all the awesome Potato Cod. They followed us around like puppy dogs and one pair of them twisted and intertwined themselves together, showing us the pale white colours that they turn when they are mating. There was a huge school of Soldier Fish on the pressure point at the Cod Hole that Alex, Sukhia, Marvin and Cam sat in the middle of and were completely surrounded by fish! Brian and Elanor hit the Monolith and headed along the wall to see a big Grey Reef Shark cruising past while Pascal and Marvin chilled in the shallow coral gardens.

Roland was off snorkelling, exploring the reef from the top at every site without fail, armed with his trusty video camera. Elanor braved the darkness for her first ever night dive and came back with big smiles and stories of sharks and eels hunting.

Angel buddied up with Lucy for most of the dives on the third day where we explored Ribbon Reef 5, starting at George's Wall for a deep dive around the bommies under the boat. The juvenile Midnight Snapper was spotted hiding in the branching coral by Ahi and Kaz and Brian and Elanor swam with a Green Turtle in the shallows. Veronique joined Roland and myself for a drift snorkel at Clam Gardens where I lost count of the amount of Giant Clams nestling in the beautiful coral gardens. From the surface the myriad of colours in the sunshine was a sight to behold. Veronique waved down to her husband Pascal and got a face full of bubbles in return! A rare treat was to drop in at Andy's Postcard and hang out in the pressure point with the schools of fusiliers and unicornfish while a couple of Grey Reef Sharks swam lazily along in the depths below us. However, Alex and Sukhia were treated to the best sight of all at Hi Five as they had a 3m plus Hammerhead swim past them while I had my head stuck in a hole taking a picture of a Moray Eel. Thanks Alex, it was a good photo but not quite the same as seeing the Hammerhead! Angel, Brian and Elanor were the hardcore few that jumped back in at George's Wall for the night dive.

Steve's Bommie was world class as always with the colourful reef fish adorning the Bommie, a Green Turtle joining the mass of marine life spotted including pipefish, stonefish, a wobbygong shark, nudibranchs, barracuda, trevally, and the flame file shell to name just a few! Dives at Flair Point and Century Bay resulted in the divers swimming with the big Loggerhead Turtle and playing with the juvenile Cuttlefish and also Marvin spotted a juvenile Barramundi hiding in the coral. A great trip over the last 4 days with some brilliant diving in the sunshine but also a sad one as it was the last trip for Nicole our hostess who is moving on to pastures new. Nicole even jumped in for a Discover Scuba Dive with me at Dreamtime and swam with a young Green Turtle for 5 minutes so now thoroughly understands why we all love being underwater! I wish you all the best in the future.

Nick Leigh
(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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