Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
To kick off the trip we started at the world famous Cod Hole with glass out conditions, still water and dolphins playing around the boat. A sign of great things to come!!

After spending some time with our friends the potato cod it was off to Challenger Bay with action 'a' plenty as usual. Lots of nudibranchs, some cuttle fish, fish everywhere and fantastic coral.

More fantastic weather greeted us at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea where we took the plunge to dive the drop off's, canyons and swim through's that abound. An afternoon dive along the wall at North Horn always a crown favourite.. and mine!!, offered up a sighting of hammerhead sharks, mating turtles and of course the resident gray reef sharks and white-tip reef sharks. They of course turned up on mass the next day for a fantastic shark attraction to finish the trip on a high.

Thanks to all the passengers and crew for another great adventure onboard Spoilsport.

Devonne Straub, USA. "Everything was perfect! All staff excellent, friendly, helpful, etc. Hitomi and Rowan get extra points for service above and beyond."

Trip Director - Daniel Foote

Sally Erdin, Switzerland. "The staff was absolutely great!! Everything was convenient - we just had to relax, no rush, no alarm clocks."

Trip Director - Daniel Foote

Brandon Beem, USA. "The staff, the food, the awesomeness. Keep kicking ass."

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
Time to head south again and Spoilsport picked up some new guests at Lizard Island. The winds dropped off somewhat making for more relaxed cruising. This week the bommie's provided some spectacular diving opportunities with large schools of trevally, and barracuda in the blue. It was a fish frenzy as fusiliers, anthias and snapper tried to avoid the marauders.

Those divers that took time to search the nooks and crannies were rewarded with some unusual critters: leafy scorpion fish, pipe fish, stone fish, mantis shrimp, flat worms, anemone crabs and a variety of weird and wonderful nudibranchs were all sighted.

The resident snakes of Lighthouse Bommie got a bit too close for a few divers but they were simply displaying their usual curiosity. To finish off Spoilsport pulled in for an afternoon dive at Flare Point. A relaxed dive in a beautiful and diverse coral garden is a great way to end the week.

Thank you to all for a fun week on the Ribbon Reefs.

Vicki Luquire, USA. "The diving was fantastic, the food very tastefully done, but the best part was the staff. They made everyone feel welcome and important. They were well informed and tried to educate us about the reef and what we were seeing."

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
Our first dives of the week were at the always delightful Cod Hole. The usually curious potato cod were found scattered around the dive site, preferring a good clean to following the divers. Though it is always interesting to see creatures interacting and going about their usual activities.

Overnight Spoilsport headed out to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea for two days of adventure diving. 25 knot winds made for choppy surface conditions but once submerged it was business as usual. The shark attraction was a definite highlight with 20-30 different sharks joining in. A beautiful juvenile silver-tip shark cruised in for a look as well as the regulars. Two potato groupers gave the sharks a run for their money and escaped with a few prizes. To top it off a 6 foot logger-head turtle cruised just meters from all the divers just prior to the food release. Manta rays, sharks, including two hammerheads, turtles, blue fin tuna... it's what Osprey Reef is all about.

Thank you for an adventure on the high seas.

Alison Smith, USA. "The hospitality - like being on a cruise ship. Much more service than expected. Nice warm towels, oranges, water service. The small things made the difference."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
7 new guests joined the Spoilsport crew and the gang from Scuba Shack for our journey south down the Ribbon Reefs back to Cairns. Around Ribbon Reefs 9 and 10 visibility was down a bit but the fish and critter action was fantastic. At Lighthouse Bommie guests were introduced to olive sea snakes and the resident green turtle. Both Lighthouse Bommie and PIxie Pinnacle had many colourful nudibranchs for those with a good eye.

Moving south visibility improved, starting off at Andy's POstcard for beautiful plate corals and great fish life. Steve's Bommie provided plenty of critters with stonefish, leaf scorpion fish, nudibranchs, crustaceans and the like.

Great diving, great people, what a life!

Anthony Embry, USA. "Diving - the crew made an excellent trip better: captain Larry, Shea, Chris, Jason, Tomi, 'Uncle Fester'... highly recommended - would definitely do again. Had everything needed and more. Excellent crew - they worked very well with inexperienced divers. Thanks to everyone for a fantastic time!!!"

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Joined by 2 dive clubs from the United States of America and a lone representative from Canada we set forth on our adventure on the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef. Visibility was down at Challenger Bay but otherwise conditions were amazing with glassy seas and sunshine and incredible fish life.

On the night dive at the Cod Hole divers were joined by hungry potato cod who have leant to hunt in their torch beams.

Tanking the plunge at Osprey Reef, in the Coral Sea, revealed crystal clear 40m visibility and sunshine bringing out spectacular colour.

We had a manta ray encounter at Halfway Wall and the shark attraction feed brought in two beautiful silver-tip reef sharks and a pack of medium size dogtooth tuna.

A great trip was had by all.

Steve Fehr, Canada. "Well organized, very safe, good overview of each dive site."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Heading south bound... first stop was the world famous Cod Hole to visit the locals who put on a great show. A few guests had some trouble counting the number of hulls on our boat turning up at the wrong boat. Challenger Bay though very stirred up revealed a huge amount of activity. Most had a very unusual encounter with a large wobbegong shark free swimming around at Pixie Wall. At Lighthouse Bommie we hung out with a huge marble ray, a very chilled out green turtle and even sighted a mobula ray.

For our last day we started off admiring the sheer wall and huge fans at Gorgonian Wall before heading to the almighty Steve's Bommie for amazing schooling fish and macro life. An unusual sight were four stone fish stacked on top of each other.

Sheryl Todd, USA. "Great staff!... makes the while trip work - made it easy to bring a group with you. Keep up the good work."

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
An international mix of American, Swiss, German, English and Aussie divers splashed into the clear waters of the Cod Hole to consort with frisky potato cod and schooling sweetlips. Yes its that time on the Great Barrier Reef and everybody loves it!

A major highlight for a lucky few was being completely surrounded by literally hundreds and hundreds of barracuda circling them in the blue. Perfect conditions awaited us at Osprey Reef with light winds and fantastic 40 meter visibility at Admiralty Anchor. Guests were introduced to white-tip reef sharks and gray reef sharks at North Horn and many got up close and personal with a huge loggerhead turtle who has been hanging around lately. A beautiful big sliver-tip shark was sighted at Round the Bend along with a big manta ray before finishing with a fantastic shark attraction and relaxing wall dive at wonderful North Horn.

Gaelle Gervais, Australia. "Out of 4 trips this was the best crew ever!! Pirate Pete (skipper) entertainment was amazing. Great guests."