November Live Aboard Advice-Mike Ball

[ibskiingu]

Hello,
My wife and 20 year old daughter will be in Cairns the last week of November. We were considering taking a 3 day Dive trip with Mike Ball (Spirit of Freedom not available that week). My wife and I have logged over 30 dives but it has been a while. We are going to take a refresher course. My daughter is getting her certificate this year, but she is extremely athletic, a very strong swimmer, and she also picks stuff up very quickly. My wife is a good diver, but no a real strong swimmer.

With that background in mind, would Mike Ball be a good option. In reading several of the posts, his dives trips sound more intermediate to advanced. I'm really not worried about my daughter, but if the currents are real strong, it might not be the best option for my wife. We have dove in Hawaii (off the Maui coast), Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico (pretty strong currents), Key Largo.

Can anyone advise me on the difficulty of the dives and let me know if their might be better options.

Upon further research, I also was curious if anyone had experience with the "Coral Sea Dreaming" sail boat overnight trip. I know there would not be as much diving on this trip, but the sail boat trip part sounds nice. The website states they go to the outer reefs, any comments on the sites they dive?

Thank you,

 

[TravisD]

I'm only an occasional ocean diver - spend most of my time in the local Quarry. I did a similar trip on the Spoilsport a couple of years ago and think that it would be perfect for them. One of the big advantages of a liveaboard like that is that they can go where the dives will be best. We had no issues at all with currents on the trip I took.

 

[recd]

You are very unlikely to experience stong currents on the Mike ball ribbon reef trips. The skippers select sites and dive times to avoid them.

The "outer reefs" are probably not the northern ribbon reefs ( which is much better diving). Look for a vessel that goes to sites such as steves bommie, cod hole, challenger bay, lighthouse bommie, acropolis.

 

[ibskiingu]

Recd, So the northern ribbon reefs are better in terms of clarity, coral, sea life or all the above? I'm guessing very few if any of the 2 day trips make it to the northern ribbon reefs?

 

[MA]

It really is worth getting firther north to the tibbon reefs if you can!

 

[recd]

Recd, So the northern ribbon reefs are better in terms of clarity, coral, sea life or all the above? I'm guessing very few if any of the 2 day trips make it to the northern ribbon reefs?

Yes, all of these for northern ribbon reefs. AFAIK none of the 2 day trips make it that far. Mike Ball trips to that area start or end with a flight to or from Lizard Island to fit in dives in that area on a 3night trip.

The only rider is, diving conditions can change. I have dived that area in November, or further north, most years and have always had great conditions. Eventually my luck will run out and condtions will be not so great.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

I agree, to get the bestdiving you need to get the trips that do the Ribbon Reef areas. There are 3. Mike Ball, Spirit of Freedom, and Taka.

The fist 2 fly you one way and motor back, whilst Taka motors up and back. More travel time but a budget version of the first 2 with same sites.

The support on each of these trips is excellent, with constant look outs, great buddy system and briefings, and crew in the water to follow at all times.

You can select the degree of difficulty, so on may of these sites, there is no real need to go too deep, or swim off too far. If you do get too far away and "lost" simply surface , signal and a small tender will come pick you up.

Its definately worth the effort and I am sure none of you will have any difficulty at all. If there are strong currents in any of the sites (and as mentioned above, the dive times try to coincide with slack water, but this is not always possible) then a drift dive is often offered.

Coral Sea Dreaming is also a great trip but not really teh best diving. Still good sites, but its Outer Reef from Cairns and is primarily a relaxing, sail trip with diving offered as an additional activity.