Liveaboard Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea

Minke Whale Competition Finalists

Minke whale on the Great Barrier Reef

The winner has been decided - congratulations to Liz Bosma!

During 2009-2010 Mike Ball Dive Expeditions and Dive Log Magazine have been running a joint competition. The lucky winner of this competition wins a spot on the very special weeklong Exploratory Expedition aboard Spoilsport on the 15th July 2010. This expedition is special for two reasons: 1) Mike Ball and Barry Andrewartha (two of Australia's most well-known divers) will be onboard and 2) the expedition has been timed to coincide with most-prized exotic critter and big animal window on the Great Barrier Reef.

From the micro to the mighty! If you have ever thought of diving the Coral Sea, the Cod Hole or with minke whales this is the trip for you!

What does this mean exactly? Well, during July the Ribbon Reef section of the Great Barrier reef is home to not only the extremely tiny creatures (such as pygmy seahorses), but it is during this time of year that minke whales frequent the area. This extraordinary expedition will also travel to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea where manta rays, sharks and incredible wall dives are to be found. All in all, the expedition will have your head swivelling in all directions and your camera burnt out from the action.

To win the competition entrants needed to send us (in 100 words or less), why they wanted to win this experience, along with a photograph of themselves portraying how they would feel if they won. Here are some of the best that have been published in Dive Log magazine during recent months. One of these is the winner...and the decision will be announced in the coming weeks.

	Alison Smith I would like to win your competition because I can think of no better way to celebrate my wedding anniversary with my lovely husband, than by spending a week on a world class live-aboard , taking photos and learning to write articles with Barry Andrewartha, diving the Ribbon Reefs, playing with Minke Whales and sipping champagne on the al fresco deck. Spoilsport fits the bill nicely. Of course, now we just need to find room for my husband...... Husband, what husband??!??!
	Guy Thornycroft Born inland with a 15 hour drive to the sea, I learned and loved snorkelling from the age of 5 in muddy dams, rivers or even water tanks. The sea held a mystery and power that has only grown with me as I’ve got to know it better. I crave to be in it and under it (and am at every opportunity!) The sounds and sights from specs of florescence to mighty sharks are greater than imagination; captivating, ever changing like the most gripping film you’ve seen, but one that never ends! This trip will put the experience into 3D! (The photo is me, just too happy dreaming to care about clients or the boss!)
	Liz Bosma Call me Ahab. Well, actually, call me Elizabeth. Some months ago – never mind how Long precisely – having seen this competition, I thought I would like to swim about a bit with Minke whales in the watery part of the world. In fact, I thought I would more than like it; I thought it would be the most wondrous thing I could ever do. What an astounding experience It would be! To enter the domain of this Magnificent leviathan, to swim So close that I could look into its intelligent eyes and touch its barnacled body! Nothing could compare.
The Reef is Magic	Leigh Payne Underwater Music Reef magic, Staged below- Orchestrated perfectly - put on a show. Waves of sound- Symphony at Sea Audience of divers- wait for me! Seahorses serenade, Potato Cod dance Hairy Ghost Pipefish delicately prance. Scorpionfish, shy, but sure to sing Mannerless sharks shout in Osprey’s Ring Minkes whisper, “viz clear.” Hammerheads, Humpbacks even appear. Reef resounds here- HEAR? “Applaud Spoilsport- Concert of the Year!” Barry & Mike- legendary fish Conduct the trip- every diver’s wish. Performance encore, mermaid’s “BRAVO” A trip on Spoilsport - Paradise below! From oceanic depths, ring her watermusic cheers “Mike Ball Dive Expeditions MUSIC TO MY EARS”!
	Tara Artner Splash!!! I hit the water on the coral sea, keen to discover and photograph the micro to mighty awaiting for me just below the surface. Lionfish, Seahorses and Sharks... OH MY!!!! After the dive a scurry of excitment overwhelms me, in my many years working in diving I have never been on a dive holiday and realize... LIFE JUST DOESN'T GET BETTER then diving in the best aquarium in the world! Minkes' may be the most abundant baleen whale but to me a once in a lifetime oppourtunity I am SUPER keen to experience!
What Minke Whale?	John Dautzenberg Hi there, I am a Cattle Grazier from Central Western Queensland. I am a keen diver and avid reader of Dive Log magazine. I don’t get to the coast very often and we are a bit short on the wet stuff out here at the moment. When I saw the competition advertised, I thought wow! It sounds great. Here is my entry and please find photo attached. Time off for diving, I’m always an optimist. Laugh or go mad, Is the lot of a pastoralist. Day’s work is finished, Gone past the midday sun. Down to the water hole, By the old ghost gum. But when the dam’s dried up, And you can’t blow a bubble. You know that your diving plan, Is in dire trouble. I see horses and I see snakes, And break hammer heads every day. But when Mike Ball offers an expedition, It’s a whole big world away. On Spoil Sport for a week, Swim with Minke Whales for real. To see these beauties of the deep, Would be the greatest life time thrill. by John Dautzenberg
	Trish Brownett “Ode to Spoilsport.” Dawn is breaking Sea life waking Spoily sits on a jewel sea. Dive brief on the back deck Pirate Pete, Mike and Barry Grab my camera, don’t forget Larry. Crystal waters, white sands, Graceful mantas gliding by, Potato Cods await. Heartbeats’ rising, burley’s in Sharks and fish abound Flashing shapes, a symphony of sound. Night is falling, Sea life calling, Hawaiian nights of fun. Gourmet spread , Mike’s guests well fed, Mints on the pillow then off to bed. Great day, Great crew Goodnight!