Trip Report: Spirit of Freedom 3 day/night Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs (7/20/2009)

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thespoons

Contributor
Messages
71
Reaction score
14
Location
Minnesota, U.S.A.
# of dives
25 - 49
Greeting divers! I'm just a few days back from my honeymoon to Sydney and Cairns (and airports between). The Spirit of Freedom liveaboard was everything I'd hoped it would be. And since these were the first dives since either my wife or I were certified, they helped convince us that diving is something we want to make a priority.

This trip report is my first, and is probably overly detailed. We'll see if I can keep this up in the future.


The Boat
The Spirit of Freedom is classed as a "luxury" vessel. As someone who has never done a liveaboard before, I find that label a bit perplexing. It was a very very nice boat, but I didn't feel like I was in the penthouse suite at the Ritz or anything. I gather that this term has more meaning to people who are used to a wide range of experiences on liveaboards from good to horrific. I think the point is that you wouldn't consider it "luxury" if it was a hotel room, but the fact that they can provide the level of comfort while floating miles out at sea is what's so special.


The Crew
There really can't be enough said about the crew. Without exception, they were friendly and helpful. They're just a nice set of folks to be around, and they go out of their way to make you feel more like their friends than just their customers.

Since crew rotates in an out, I want to just give a quick rundown of who was on our cruise:

Joel - Trip Director: The head honcho in terms of managing the details of the trip. He gave all the dive briefings and handled the paperwork and financials. His briefings were detailed and helpful. Always happy to clarify.

Cam - Skipper: Didn't see all that much of him, what with him running the boat. But I did get to talk to him a bit on the ride back from the airport (he headed back to Cairns with our group.)

Pete - First Mate: Our main interaction with Pete was in him getting us all ready to get in the water (often the one putting our fins on, defogging our masks) and running the air fills when we got back. And handy guy to have when you need a wetsuit removal assist.

Jesse - Second Mate: Mostly saw him piloting the tender and dealing with moorings. Well, and one other thing. More details later.

Nori - Japanese speaking dive instructor: Didn't really interact with him much as we don't speak each other's languages (though I could tell he knew mine better than I knew his).

Kiri - Hostess: She mostly worked inside the boat. I don't know exactly everything she did, but that's probably because she did them so well and unobtrusively. I know she's part of the crew that gets the food on the table and the clean sheets on the beds.

Lozza, Lucy and Lorraine - Dive instructors: One or two of these three were on every dive, and we followed one on most dives. They knew all the sites and sights to check out.

Andrew - Chef: Last but definitely not least. Andrew whipped us some fantastic meals during our trip. For a Houston boy, he sure made a great pavlova. He even made salmon that two salmon-haters loved. There was always great food and lots of it - all from his tiny tiny kitchen.

I wanted to spend a bit talking about the crew because they're really what made this trip so great. As a "bonus crew member", we had Cindy Stevenson from the TUSA shop as a passenger. She was just a regular passenger enjoying her holiday, but you could tell she was looking out for ways they could improve the entire experience (hard to believe).


The Trip
Oh, you want to hear about some actual diving, eh? Here's the general outline of the intinerary for the 4 day (3 days of diving/3 nights aboard ship) trip.

All dives are unlimited on time and any depth up to 34m, as long as you come back with 50 bar and don't do any reverse profile dives.

Here's how it went down for us:

Day 1
Got on the boat mid-day and got fitted for gear. Sometime at this point, I realized "Hmm, it appears I'm not as seasick proof as the last time I was on the ocean twenty years ago." (Much later I realize there is no such thing as seasick proof, with people who are usually fine getting a bit ill as well.) I manage to keep everything down but am only able to eat about a half sandwich, constantly staring at the horizon.

Dive 1 & 2: Saxon Reef (different sides)
This is a nearby and pretty heavily visited reef for day trips, but it was still impressive to us newbie divers. It was popular with the hawksbill and green turtles that day. So many fish that I didn't know the names of. One that sticks out is a tomato clown hiding in its deep red anemone. Some white-tipped reef sharks gave my wife a bit of an adrenaline rush, even though she knew they were harmless.

The crew great us on the deck with plates of fresh fruit and warm banana bread, as we're going to have a short SIT and there's no point in changing out of our wetsuits and coming inside. It was at this point we realized this is going to be a great trip.

Day 2
Dive 3 - Cod Hole
This is where things went a bit pear-shaped. Right before jumping in, I put on my mask and my snorkel goes leaping off it and into the water. The crew tried to grab it but it was a bit sloshy and it managed to sink. They said to just get it when we dived. I jump in and so does my wife. She has problems with sinking, mainly because we're not at the mooring line like before which helps a bit. We finally get down, me still trying to find my snorkel. The current was a bit stronger than was expected and I lose track of my depth and suddenly see I'm at 19m with still a long way to go to the bottom and my snorkel. Realize that as a newbie, I'm technically supposed to be staying at about 15m max. Give up on the snorkel. Realize we're not sure where we are and surface. Boat is a good ways away and we're on the opposite side where the current pushed us. Get a bearing for my compass, signal OK to the boat and head back down. After a bit, we realize we've been down over 15 minutes and we're both down to 100 bar and tired. Signal that we should surface and head to the boat/throw a safety sausage for pickup. Right as we popped up, we find Jesse in the tender just as stones throw away waiting for us. You can tell they were definitely paying attention. Didn't think we'd be able to hoist ourselves into the boat but Jesse talked us through it. Eventually get back on the boat tired but safe and with some useful experience in the "don't panic, things happen" category.

Dive 4 - Cod Hole - Potato Cod Feed
My wife sat this one out, so I went with one of the crew. We all sat in a large circle waiting for Joel to come down and feed the Cod. We had been advised that the red bass that swim with them mistake fingers for food, so we all had ours shoved in our armpits - especially when we saw the giant vampire teeth they had. The feed was fun, even when the giant fishy rammed into my mask while swimming by me. Saw a lionfish for the first time (and plenty of other stuff I can't name, I'm sure).

Somewhere around here, I realize that the seasickness is going to ruin my trip so I take some ginger tablets. Either they do the trick or I've just got my sea legs. Keep eating them the rest of the trip despite my normal devotion to scientific truth.

Dive 5 - Pixie's Pinnacle
Our first bommie! It's definitely diving on easy mode, as we paddled around and around the point, working our way upwards.

Dive 6 - Challenger Bay
Spent this dive checking the back of my eyelids for any signs of marine life. Missed freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. The jury is still out on whether it was worth it.

Dive 7 - Challenger Bay - Night Dive
Our first night dive and a highlight of the trip. We followed Lozza, secure in the knowledge that we wouldn't get lost. Saw a giant moray, barramundi cod, gray reef sharks hovering at the edge of our vision, some sea cucumbers, a tiny red starfish (the only one we saw on the trip) and lots of trevallies following our lights, trying to use us as spotlights.

Day 3
Dive 8 - Wonderland Wall
Another good dive. Highlight included another tomato clown and some little puffers.

Dive 9 - Wonderland Gardens
Leaf scorpionfish, lots of clowfish, schooling bannerfish, coral cod (love the spots)

Dive 10 - Lighthouse Bommie
Smally moray, some turtles, a shrimp/prawn hiding in his hole, a purple star hiding underneath some coral, three lionfish and... hmm, what else... oh yeah, MINKE WHALES! They obliged by showing up on this dive. They were a good distance away from we, but close enough to see them underwater. Very cool experience.

Dive 11 - Dynamite Pass
Our first drift dive. Was a little nervous about it at first, but we were following Lucy so we weren't too worried. Saw a flounder (wouldn't have if it wasn't pointed out - excellent camouflage). Saw what we think was a map puffer. Some large puffer with very intricate patterns on its back.

BBQ that night with everyone celebrating the end of the trip but wishing it wasn't. The crew surprised us by recognizing that it was our honeymoon and giving us a bottle of free champagne (and our table first run at the food!) Quite nice of them to really make our honeymoon feel that much more special.

Day 4
Lots of tired fishies got their stuff together, said goodbyes and headed off the boat to Lizard Island, where a long, scenic (and incredibly tiring) walk led us to our tiny airplanes and a nice low level flight back to Cairns. It was an amazing calm and clear day and you could make out incredible detail in the waters we flew over.


Conclusion
What can I say? This trip was pricey, but worth every penny. It will always be a special memory for us.

For anyone interested, here are some pics. Not many underwater ones, as the only cameras we had were cheap $15 waterproof ones. The good underwater pics you see came from other divers.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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