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Trip report- SOF
"4 Day Coral Sea (26th to 30th March 2015) Trip Report
David & Lorraine, Kathy & Bradley, Chris & JJ, Alan and Vagner said goodbye to their ship mates from the 3 Day
trip on Watsons Bay and jumped back into the tender to return to Spirit of Freedom after their walk around Lizard
Island. Captain Tony arrived with our new passengers from Cairns and introduced himself and the crew before
piloting Spirit of Freedom to Ribbon Reef 9 for our afternoon dives. Kevin, Paul and Vagner formed a trio and
headed off to explore the outer edge of the reef. Sadly Cyclone Nathan had had a big effect on the north west
face of the patch reef and there was evidence of serious structural damage. Marine life was still plentiful with
Green Turtles, White Tip and Grey Reef Sharks, schools of Fusiliers being chased by Mackerel, Red Bass and
Trevally, and Surgeonfish and Parrotfish feeding on the algae starting to cover the exposed coral areas. Kathy,
Bradley, Chris and JJ continued with their Advanced Open Water Course that they had started during the first part
of the week and discovered the challenges of navigation before returning to boat for another amazing meal from
Chef Kaz and a debrief with Instructor Martin.
Overnight we crossed the Coral Sea and arrived in the early hours of the morning at Osprey Reef. With fingers
crossed we jumped in to check out the wall structure at Silver City and found that the ancient coral structures
were mostly intact with damage mainly to the delicate branching corals growing on the walls. Grey Reef Sharks
cruised along the wall and Fanny and Tali teamed up to video and photograph the sharks as they cruised past.
Hide, Nao, Chi and Kuniko explored the deeper sections of the 1,000m deep wall at The Gap before ascending to
the shallows where tunnels and passageways in the reef structure waited for them to investigate. There was
evidence again of the immense power of the waves on the top sections of the reef wall but sighting of more
sharks, a Green Turtle and a Greater Hammerhead were all the talk at lunch! Arriving at False Entrance all the
crew were holding their breath as we checked out the ridge structures running perpendicular to the deep wall.
Thankfully there was minimal damage to the beautiful branching, plate and table corals that grew on the ridges
spanning across the impassable entrance to the lagoon. The huge school of Trevally appeared above the divers
and descended off the wall, creating a shimmering silver arc of fish stretching as far as the eye could see. There
were lots of White Tip Reef Sharks resting on the sand and bigger Grey Reef Sharks hanging just off the wall in
the clear blue water. Admiralty has been our afternoon and night dive spot for many years and its incredible
topography with coral structures meeting together created an intricate maze of tunnels and passageways to swim
through. The immense power of the waves created by Cyclone Nathan had cleared out a lot of the tunnels and
passageways of any sand and collapsed a few small sections of some swim-throughs. The Admiralty anchor was
no longer suspended on a bridge of coral and had fallen to the floor where it was easily visible as Stu, Paul, Kevin
and Vagner followed me through large passageway. After dinner it was time to explore the site again under the
cover of darkness and David joined Tania for his 2nd night dive of the trip and his 5th dive of the day!
North Horn, located right on the northern tip of Osprey Reef, had obviously received the full direct power of the
waves as the top of the Shark Feed Bommie had disappeared and there were several changes to the layout of
the area. However the resident Grey Reef Sharks were still there and Blue Marlin Wall was almost untouched so
we loaded Trevor, Patricia, Stu, Kevin, Wagner and Paul into Fergus’ tender and dropped them along the wall to
drift back to the boat. After breakfast it was time for the awesome Shark Feed so everyone kitted up together and
OF Trip Report 04.03.2015
descended into school of Grey Reef Sharks circling below the boat. Once the Shark Feed Cage was in the water,
the Sharks followed it down and then circled around, giving everyone great photo opportunities. As Sharks spread
out a little, I headed in to the cage and opened it, releasing the Tuna heads and sending the Sharks in to a
feeding frenzy as they tore into the easy meal presented to them. It was an amazing spectacle to see and hear
and all too soon the food was gone and the Sharks started to move off into the blue. Fanny, Tali, Kathy, Bradley,
Chris & JJ jumped in the tender for the third dive and where dropped along Soft Coral Wall to check out the
beautiful coloured corals hanging from the undercut edge of North Horn reef wall. Steve, Alan and David had
formed the “orphans” buddy team and were very happy to be looked after by the wonderful Tania & Mel. The final
dive at Castles was a beautiful relaxed afternoon dive and Lorraine was treated to a very close encounter with a
Bumphead Parrotfish as she snorkelled above the divers.
Crossing back through the Coral Sea, we arrived at Steve’s Bommie at Ribbon Reef 3 for our Sunday morning
dives where the tower of coral in the middle of the lagoon hid so many amazing creatures, the two dives were still
not enough to find everything! Kaz found the Wobbygong Shark hiding under a ledge while Instructor Kai found a
pair of Stonefish sitting right next to each other. Big Red, the massive stonefish, was hanging upside down in a
hole and Nudibranchs of all different varieties were found crawling over the reef structure. The immense schools
of fish, Trevally, Fusiliers, Anthias, Fairy Basslets, Snapper, gave everyone the feeling of swimming around in fish
soup again and was an amazing experience. Our final two dives at Joanie’s Joy and a new site on Ribbon Reef 2,
were relaxed coral garden dives and we decided to call our new site Gardiner’s Corner, in tribute to our super
snorkeler Lorraine and her husband David who have been with us all week and have been superstars on board.
I would like to congratulate Bradley, Kathy, Chris & JJ on not only completing their Advanced Course but also
combining it with the Nitrox course to gain 2 certifications over the course of the week. A special mention needs to
go to Bradley and Kathy as they arrived on the boat having completed their Open Water course back in May and
left the boat with over 25 dives and their new certifications! Congratulations also go to Patricia who completed her
300th dive and Kuniko who completed her 400th dive during the trip. Many thanks to all our passengers for such a
fun and amazing time over the last 4 days.
Nick Leigh - Trip Director"
