Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
After a brief stop over on beautiful and rugged Lizard Island, Spoilsport headed south for a three day cruise through the Ribbon Reefs. The week long guests made some new buddies and together they experienced the reef during a very fertile period. During the lead up to the annual coral spawn, sea cucumbers were observed up-ended, releasing gametes from pores in their heads. Also during a fantastic night dive at PIxie Gardens, guests witnessed giant red sea stars massed ready for reproduction.

The sea conditions, combined with diversity os species made for some spectacular diving and critter spotting. Guests saw several leafy scorpion fish, nudibranchs, a basket star, juvenile rock mover wrasse, olive sea snakes, green turtles, and that rarest individual the incredible rhinopias (lacy scorpion fish). It was a beauty!

The trip closed in style with a traditional Aussie BBQ, champagne, sunset and some cruising dolphins. The fish are frolicking, seas are getting warmer, wind are fair and the reef is just biding its time 'til its big night. Full moon here we come.

Thanks all for a great trip!

Carrie Theunissen, Canada. "The staff were amazing - very helpful with anything we needed."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
A full compliment of avid divers chose a fantastic week to come and experience the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and the hospitality of the Spoilsport crew.

This week finally saw the onset of our October/November weather just in the nick of time. Kicking off at Challenger Bay we introduced most to the beautiful and bizarre cuttle fish, before heading to the world famous Cod Hole to visit the giant potato cod who live there. The more adventurous few splashed in after dark to see the cods more predatory sides.

A smooth ride out to Osprey Reef let us all get a good rest and we woke up to the beautiful conditions. False Entrance delivered huge schools of big eye trevally and North Horn gave us incredible fans and soft corals along with turtle encounters. It only got better with an ocean like a sheet of glass, under which we found giant manta rays, an eagle ray and sharks galore at Round the Bend. The shark attraction at North Horn went off!!... with lots of action and the awesome presence of a big beautiful silver-tip shark.

Fantastic stuff, roll on summer!!

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Monday we welcomed new friends aboard and set off down the Ribbon Reefs starting at the world famous Cod Hole and then moving onto Challenger Bay. Cuttle fish were again seen by many as they are guarding their eggs at the moment and are very approachable.

A day at Pixie Pinnacle, we explored its steep walls, pinnacle and shallow gardens with prolific fish life, amazing coral and cool critters such as a giant basket star whose fronds open as night falls. Steve's Bommie ever the crowd pleaser delivered huge schools of fish, octopus, stone fish, leaf scorpion fish, and nudibranchs. The delightful coloured dusky nembrohta is a sight I'm sure many will treasure. Beautiful.

Kevin Parish, USA. "Everything... I will be back for the 7 day trip."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Thursday evening saw a boat load of keen divers boarding Spoilsport bound for the far northern Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. In spite of blustery conditions visibility was fantastic and out fishy friends were all out and about ready to greet us.

An evening at Challenger bay had us hanging with cuttle fish and schooling big-eye trevally before heading off to Osprey R3eef overnight.

A drift dive along North Horn wall was incredible with amazing lush fans and soft corals in a dazzling array of colours, and a lively shark attraction. Once again Round the Bend delivered us gentle giant manta rays, an eagle ray, silver-tip and gray reef sharks and even some hammerhead sharks were sighted. FANTASTIC!!

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
After sad goodbyes we said happy hellos to our new guests and whisked them away to the magnificent Cod Hole. A big tide had us off to Challenger Bay for an afternoon dive amongst hundreds of hungry fish and incredible corals. Next day brought encounters with sea snakes and turtles at Twin Towers, nudibranchs at Pixie Pinnacle and three cuttle fish at Pixie Gardens where they have been secreting away their eggs lately.

Last day we finished on a high with huge colourful fans at Gorgonia Wall and the incredible array of fish and critters that inhabit the mighty Steve's Bommie.

Thanks to all our guests for making this a great dive adventure.

Dee Wescott, USA. "All the new friends I made. How well planned and smoothly run each day was. The attention to detail and safety."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Another Thursday comes around and its back to the office... fortunately for us that means the Great Barrier Reef!

We were joined by a fantastic international mix of eager divers keen to wet their ears. Splashdown at Challenger Bay had everyone blown away by the coral and fish diversity. The surface was also busy as we spotted not two but three mating turtles. Its that time of year folks! Next off to the world famous Cod Hole, where a strong current had us flying along Cod Wall.

Osprey Reef was excellent as ever with amazing fans and soft corals, not to mention sharks at North Horn and no less than five friendly manta rays at Round the Bend. What a fantastic trip.

Written by Trip Director - Andrew Sutherland
Flying at 600ft along the outer Great Barrier Reef from Cairns to Lizard Island, seeing all the dive sites, Endeavour Reef and the very picturesque Lizard Island itself really set the new guests up for what turned out to be a really exciting trip.

A couple of close encounters with a few huge potato cod on the first two dives, followed by Challenger Bay and the unique hunting behaviour of the giant trevally and red bass at night wrapped up a fantastic day. Lighthouse Bommie was a favourite site of many, with plenty of small critters for the macro enthusiasts as well as schooling barracuda, trevally, bull rays and sea snakes all putting on a great show! But, as usual Steve's Bommie just topped them all - two wobbegongs, stone fish, three different coloured leaf scorpion fish, schooling blue lined snapper, green carpet anemones, five species of anemone fish on the one site, flame file shells, plus all the frenzied feeding action of feeding mackerel and blue finned trevally - there was action wherever you looked!

Party night was as expected; loud and fun! Congratulations to Craig, Sandra and Pamela on reaching some milestone dives, and thanks to all for making it such an enjoyable trip.

Carrie May, USA. "Loved the staff they made the trip, great diving locations."

Written by Trip Director - Andrew Sutherland
North America, South Korea, Taiwan, Wales, Scotland, Switzerland and of course Australia were all represented on board this trip - and what a trip it was! After two fantastic dives at the world famous Cod Hole where we were treated to some good shark action, potato cod and a beautiful huge Maori wrasse we moved onto Challenger Bay. May of the guests said this was actually some of the best coral reef they'd ever seen - great biodiversity of hard and soft corals with an amazing quality of fish species present. What a great first day!

And it juts got better and better; hammer head sharks, silver-tip sharks, and three huge manta rays were the highlight of the big stuff at Osprey Reef, as well as free swimming moray eels, thirty gray reef sharks and three dog tooth tuna the size of small ponies turning up at the shark feed in 40m (150ft) visibility - it doesn't get much better than this!

After a great party night with 'Pirate Pete' on the guitar and some very unique head dresses on display we returned to LIzard Island and said a fond farewell to a few guests, while those staying on board got a chance to stretch their legs in preparation for their next 3 days of diving...

John Lai, Taiwan. "Diving with cod fish, seeing manta rays, shark feeding."

Written by Trip Director - Andrew Sutherland
After a spectacular low level flight over the outer Great Barrier Reef to Lizard Island, our twelve intrepid snorkellers and divers joined 'Team America' who had stayed on board for the next leg of their adventure in Australia. The trip started off in fabulous fashion with two great dives at the Cod Hole, including an exhilarating drift dive through Cormorant Pass. Ten it was onto Challenger Bay, with its fantastic diversity of coral growth and associated fish life. On Tuesday we visited four different sites which included Lighthouse Bommie and Pixie Pinnacle - barracuda, trevally and gray reef sharks hung in the current, while turtles and sea snakes cruised on the reef. The day was wrapped up by a great night dive at Pixie Gardens followed by our chef Scotty' fabulous restaurant night which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Our final days diving included two dives at Steve's Bommie - stone fish, leaf scorpion fish, wobbegongs, sharks and a flame file shell kept the macro photographers busy, while schooling trevally patrolled around the outside. The trip was wrapped up with a very entertaining 'P' Party and a BBQ - thanks to Chris for his various offers, Michelle for the 'Points', and all for making this a thoroughly enjoyable trip for the staff and guests alike.

Deborah Dahling, USA. "The dive staff was excellent - informative, good humoured, patient and attentive (especially AJ, Shea, and Hitomi). Cath was terrific and I appreciated her humour and constant willingness to help."