Spirit of Freedom - TRIP Gallery

Thu 23rd December 2010 - Mon 27th December 2010

We started the trip off with 2 dives at Monolith. There we saw bumphead parrotfish, many- spotted sweetlip, a black tip reef shark, trumpet fish, pipe fish, banner fish, coral trout, white lined grouper and gobies. Great start to what will become an epic trip of diving and snorkelling.

The first dive of the day was at Pixie Wall. Over night the weather had turned to good, the sun was shinning and the visibility looked great. The first divers to jump in got some great photos of a manta ray. Sharks, rays, humphead wrasse, blennies, triggerfish and coral trout were all seen. There was also a huge barracuda swim beside a couple of big eyed trevally.

The 2nd dive was at a site called Cathedrals on Ribbon Reef 10. The sun was still shinning and the visibility was about 15 -20m. An Australian Giant cuttle fish, wrasse, a white tip reef shark, giant clam and a long sea snake were all seen on the dive. There were very good comments about the coral coverage as well.
The 3rd dive was at the world famous Cod Hole. To state the obvious, yes we did see potato cod. We also saw blue spotted grouper, pipe fish, razor fish, trumpetfish, clown and blue triggerfish and a black spotted puffer.

Dive 4 was at the site called Lighthouse Bommie, given the name to its silhouette appearance.
The night dive was sick! We stayed moored up at Light House Bommie. There was heaps to see, long nose filefish, a turtle, a decorator and soft coral crab, feather stars, surgeon fish, 3 lionfish and plenty of coral polyps feeding.

Merry Christmas! What an awesome way to spend Christmas onboard Spirit of Freedom. The Christmas cheer was out and everyone was excited to dive pixie pinnacle, especially was flat seas and excellent visibility.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Spirit of Freedom sent me, 12 parrot fish a chomping, eleven pipe fish pipping, 10 dolphins leaping,9 spanish dancers dancing, 8 minkies marching, 7 sharks swimming, 6 sea cucumbers laying, 5 file flame shells flaming, 4 calling seagulls, 3 french angelfish, two turtles cruising and a nemo in an anemone!

Yippie, Merry Christmas from all aboard Spirit of Freedom.

For the 2nd dive our skipper Cameron took us to a spot he knew on Pixie Reef. Here we did a drift dive and snorkel. There were plenty to see. Some of the highlights included, reef sharks, parrotfish, angelfish, blennies, trumpet fish and triggerfish. The hard and soft corals on the wall were also amazing.

Dive 3 and 4 were at The Crack. We again decided to be adventurous and participate in 2 drift dives. There were some huge purple and red soft corals, coral trout, clown fish, christmas tree worms and a plethora of many different species of reef fish.

The last day was jammed packed full of unreal diving. We dove Steve's bommie, Boxing Day bommie and Irean bommie. On the dives we saw sweetlips, snapper, stonefish, turtles, anthias, a black tip reef shark, elephant ear coral and a moray eel, just to name a few. Irean bommie was a real treat and some said it was the best dive of the trip. It was an excellent way to finish an awesome trip. Thanks to everyone you joined us for Christmas aboard the Spirit of Freedom.

Signing off, Chris (Trip director)

Well done Eric on your 500th dive. Keep on rockin mate! Nearly there Moreton just 2 more dives to get to 100, I am sure it will happen soon.

Thanks for all the kind words gang. Christmas on Spirit of Freedom was unreal. Thanks for the presents, unreal.

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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