Archive for the ‘Go to Mike Ball Archive’ Category

Where Will You Be?
Captain Trevor Jackson

I used to do this exercise in my head each day, wondering where I would be at an exact point in time in the future. Why don’t you try it now…where will you be say next Tuesday at 10:45am? Chances are your answer didn’t impress you much. Maybe you said “At my desk”, or “In the car on the way to another meeting”, or “Stuck in traffic”. At least those were the type of answers I used to give. Problem was it never changed.
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Dwarf Minke Whales in the Great Barrier Reef
Jurgen Freund

It’s been a while since I was out diving and snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef. This time I went with the superb liveaboard “Spoilsport” of the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions during the best time of the year to see minke whales underwater. The weather was amazing with only 10-15 knot winds and about 20-30 whales around the boat mainly at Lighthouse Bommie. Water visibility was a bit challenging for photography but workable. It’s a wonderful experience being back on the minke line and I can’t recommend it enough to everyone to try it even once in their life. Read the rest of this entry »

Century of Coral
Captain Trevor Jackson
We went, we saw and despite some early weather issues, we dived the heck out of it…the SS Yongala that is. Last month’s 4 expedition sojourn to Australia’s most famous wreck dive were memorable to say the least…but that of course was to be expected. The Yongala didn’t gain her reputation in diving folklore for nothing, she is the quintessential dive. But, for many on board, the real eye opener was one of the extras we threw in. The SS Gothenburg, lost at Old Reef in 1875. This wonderful little shipwreck proved to be just as popular as her larger, better known counterpart. Read the rest of this entry »

“ERROR: Card Full!”
by Damien Siviero

Usually that’s the last thing you want to see on your camera underwater, but after 90 minutes shooting sharks it meant my camera was full of images. My card was full because I’d gone wild on the trigger, but it wasn’t my fault. Sharks just kept coming, and by that I mean kept coming closer. Read the rest of this entry »

A Thing of The Past
Captain Trevor Jackson

Dinosaurs. Kids love them. If you’ve got little children about the house chances are you’ve also got a dinosaur or two…the fluffy toy variety of course. I’d never really given it much thought until the other night my 4 year old asked me “Daddy, what happened to the dinosaurs?” Read the rest of this entry »

Before the Ink Dries
By Captain Trevor Jackson

People can be a little quirky sometimes can’t they? When I was a boy I had a friend who loved to ride his bike right up close behind the school bus because he loved the smell of diesel. Another guy I knew committed to memory the number plates of every person he ever came in contact with…he could literally rattle of hundreds of them and never miss a digit or a letter. Read the rest of this entry »

We were fortunate that recent Cyclone Ita did not blow quite as hard as expected and although both Lizard Island and the Ribbon Reefs have sustained some damage, the results are better than expected. The Coral Sea reefs, Lighthouse Bommie, Snake Pit and Steve’s Bommie were not affected by Cyclone Ita. Read the rest of this entry »

Find Out How
Captain Trevor Jackson

Here is a little project for ya! Get on Google Earth. Are you doing that? Okay now fly yourself up to North Qld, find Cape Melville and keep going north till you hit Tijou Reef. Go to the top end of Tijou Reef and zoom in…there’s something funny there isn’t there? Notice what looks like some giant creature has taken a bite out of the reef just a wee bit down on the west face? Yeh …intriguing isn’t it? We thought so, so we went for a look in real life and what we found blew our minds. I’ve been diving this Great Barrier Reef its entire length and breadth for 30 plus years and I’ve never seen nor heard of anything that resembles this. Read the rest of this entry »

Yongala 2014
Captain Trevor Jackson

We are heading south on May 15 to see the results of nature’s latest muscle flexing. I wonder which version of the Yongala we are going to get. Read the rest of this entry »

We don’t know how many, but at least some explorers visited our part of the world before James Cook. Some, such as the Polynesians who colonised New Zealand, made journeys that were more difficult and perilous than even Cook’s epic voyages. Yet ask any amateur historian to name the pre-eminent sea-going explorer in our region and they will all name Cook. So what made him the “peoples’ choice” explorer? The answer is that Cook bought us back images, descriptions and maps that connect us to this day to what he found.  Cook documented his discoveries  compellingly; others did not. Read the rest of this entry »