Spoilsport - 28 December, 2006

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
The journey north to the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef kicked off with great camaraderie. This week was a bit of a reunion with 11 guests being return customers. It also had a great family feel with the Moore's, the Hurlbert's and Team Italy the Piccone's all joining us aboard Spoilsport.

Conditions at Osprey Reef were very favourable for some mild drift dives and some spectactular deep wall adventures. North Horn didn't disappoint with lots of shark action, the resident loggerhead turtle and breeding Maori wrasse, all making an appearance.

There were bumphead parrotfish showing up all over the place this week and schools of mackerel cruised the walls. Admiralty Anchor seems to have attracted a resident eagle ray on teh lagoon with repeat sightings this week.

New Years Eve was memorable for a successful shark feed and a fun Aussie BBQ on the alfresco deck. King Neptune made an appearnce as did numerous other strangley attired individuals. Great effort with teh costumes guys! I can't think of a better place to celebrate a new year than in an oceanic wilderness with a dip in the big blue.

Happy New Years everyone!

Spoilsport - 25 December, 2006

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
Merry Christmas and welcome to LIzard Island and Spoilsport!! For Christmas with a twist we spent the afternoon diving the world famous Cod Hole and Challenger Bay before taking on an amazing Christmas dinner; ham, turkey and pudding of course, whipped up by our incredible chef Tony.

After a good nights rest it was back in the water with sea snakes and turtles at Lighthouse Bommie with loads of lion fish at Pixie Wall and leaf scorpion fish at Pixie Gardens.

My all time favourite and guaranteed crowd pleaser Steve's Bommie was all action again with big schools of trevally and barracuda, giant trevally and mackerel chasing the bait schools and anthias and grumpy faced stone fish all in a heap. Another local I've not seen for a while was back! A great barracuda easily five feet long hung out under the boat the entire dive allowing us quite close photo's - scary teeth!

We finished up our adventure at Flare Point hanging out with some very large cuttle fish - one about one and a half feet long. Very, very cool stuff.

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
It was a misty night not long before Christmas, as a crowd gathered aboard Spoilsport set for an adventure on the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Dolphins played at the front of the boat at Challenger Bay and could be heard very loudly checking us out with their sonar but unfortunately did not reveal themselves underwater.

Osprey Reef impressed everyone with its sheer walls dropping into inky depths, swim-through's and gullies to explore. Sunday afternoon saw a bunch of slightly nervous scuba divers splashing into the water at North Horn for a shark attraction not really knowing quite what to expect... seeing is believing!! A great way to end a day and a great story to take home to impress friends and family.

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
After a relaxing morning exploring beautiful Lizard Island we boarded Spoilsport with a few new faces and set off for the Cod Hole. The stars of the show, the potato cod themselves were in a playful mood doing figure eights around one buddy team and literally sitting in another lap. After lunch we went with the flow on a swift drift dive round the Cod Wall which was enjoyed by all.

A big day of diving on Tuesday revealed sea snakes, turtles, and loads of nudibranchs on the diverse reefs between Ribbons #9 and #10. Steve's Bommie blew our minds once again a little bit of current stirring up the action with trevally, mackerel and barracuda chasing the swirling schools of bait fish and colourful anthias. At one point a massive Queensland grouper barrelled up over the top of the bommie like a bull and as quick as he came he was gone again - at easily six feet long a very impressive animal. Awesome stuff!

Written by Trip Director - Shea Callaghan
A great international mix of divers met aboard Spoilsport bound for an adventure on the far northern Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef in the COral Sea. The first day brought us close encounters of the fishy kind with huge potato cod and sleepy white-tip reef sharks at the Cod Hole and giant moray eels amongst the coral gardens at Challenger bay.

At Osprey Reef we dived breathtaking drop-offs and mazes of swim-through's amongst a huge variety of marine life. A few lucky people had a manta ray experience out in the blue at 3/8ths Reef. Without a doubt though North Horn will remain foremost in memory of most. We finished up with an absolute incredible shark attraction dive bringing in many, many gray reef sharks, which were coming in very, very close to those in the front row - exhilarating action!

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
Heading south we took the morning out to tour Lizard Island and greet some new guests. The diving on the Ribbon Reefs this trip was spectacular and very diverse. Guests witnessed a small coral spawning event on both of our night dives - a rare treat!

Close encounters were had with sea snakes at Two Towers - too close for some! However the pinnacles again proved breathtaking. Pixie Pinnacle was a crowd favourite - delighting everyone with its small treasures: pipe fish, nudibranchs, flame file shell, lion fish, shrimps and more. This week though Steve's Bommie was in top form with visibility at around 35 meters and big schools of fish it was stunning. Big eye trevally, soldier fish, yellow lined snapper and fusiliers were abundant. A juvenile reef shark was seen hiding in the many crevices that Steve's Bommie offers.

The best sighting of the week goes to our videographer, Julia Sumerling, with her photo's of five mating Nembotha's (nudibranchs).

Well done Nicola for obtaining your Open Water certification, also a big thank you to a very lovely group of people for joining us on Spoilsport. I hope we see you all again in the future.

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
The trip kicked off with two great dives at the world famous Cod Hole. Gray reef sharks, a school of bumphead parrot fish, paddeltail snappers, sweetlips and trumpet fish were just some of the aquatic life spotted. Spinner dolphins cruised by just as the divers were preparing to leave for Challenger Bay.

Overnight to Osprey Reef in the COral Sea and we had a big two days of wall, deep and drift diving. Admiralty Anchor proved a favourite again with many guests heading through the swim through's to view the ancient and somewhat rusty relic of sailing days gone by. The resident loggerhead of North Horn took time to approach many divers and inspect them at very close range. The highlight of the trip had to be the shark attraction at North Horn. It was an intense ten minutes of shark action with about thirty individuals coming in to check out the tuna heads. The gray reef sharks were very active and there was allot of competition for food. Funnily enough the potato cod stole the prize right from under their noses - it literally took the food right out of their mouths!

Congratulations to Richard for completing the Advanced Open Water course. Thanks to all for a super trip!

Written by Trip Director - Fran Truter
Our trip began with a walk through the wilds of Lizard Island. While our northbound guests headed for the airport, the weekly visitors toured the mangrove boardwalks, Watson's Cottage and the pandanus swamp. Then it was off to a perfect dive at the world famous Cod Hole. Again we were blessed with gorgeous weather, little current and glassy conditions.

The pinnacle diving this trip offered up a few surprises with some first sightings of some critters. Valery spotted a rhinopias on whip coral at Pixie Pinnacle - this artfully placed leaf scorpion fish made for some stunning photographs in the competition as did cuttle fish at Pixie Gardens.

With such great conditions and marine diversity the photographs taken were outstanding. A special mention goes to our winner Alastair with a well composed lion fish shot. Also congratulations to all who passed their Nitrox Course; Melissa, Tom, Kathryn, Wendy and Paula. Graduating as an Open Water Diver this week was Donna whose first ever ocean dive was at the Cod Hole. It's going to be hard to beat!!

Thanks everyone for a super week.

Guy Churchill, USA. "Loved all of it - staff, food, and of course the diving!"