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Comparison of Mike Balls Spoilsport and Spirit of Freedom (aka SOF) dive boats/operations
The following views and opinions are those of two divers who had approx. 30 dives total before going on the live aboards in mid-Oct. 2010. We had also never been on a live aboard dive boat before. We did the Mike Ball trip first and then literally got off the Spoilsport and transferred to the Spirit of Freedom. We only told the Mike Ball staff we were transferring to SOF the evening before the transfer and when we were done diving. Although the ground staff of SOF knew we had just gotten off Mike Ball (they picked us up for the transfer), we did not make it obviously known to the SOF boat staff we had just finished Mike Ball.
Quick summary: Both boats provided very good, fun diving. The customer service provided by Mike Balls crew was heads and shoulders above SOF. For us, it is like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Lexus or Cadillac .both get you to the objective comfortably, one just more so than the other.
Specifics:
MIKE BALL (3 day Cod Hole trip)
- name tags given out at office in Cairns (pick up point) with cabin #; I liked this because I could start to learn other divers names
- Tour director identified self as tour director when he met the group on Lizard Island
- cheese & fruit platter when we got on board and were going through the safety briefings; we were hungry because we hadnt had time for breakfast before getting to the office for pick-up that morning
- Kleenex (facial tissue) available on dive deck and multiple places on board; I used these a LOT before and after my dives
- Water bottles had our name in permanent marker on them when we arrived on board
- Staff offered to help constantly and ALWAYS very pleasant about it
- Dive deck staff ALWAYS helped lift (BC & Tank) diver out of water at end of dive
- clean dry cabin towels provided without comment or hassle
- adequate seating for all guests at meals
- It didnt seems like we were inconveniencing the staff with any request.
- The boat had ample amounts of all sizes available for rental gear.
- Free soft drinks (this may change in the future though, per Mr. Mike Ball himself)
- had a nice but too quick presentation/lecture on reef ecology that included reef & fish/coral identification
-held a photo contest
-marked hard to find things (like stonefish) with glow sticks nearby so we could see/find them
SOF (4 day Osprey Reef trip)
- Tour director id'ed as dive director when met at Lizard Island
- At boat orientation, divers were told no food or liquid in forward lounge/TV area, but staff always took their meals there.
-We had to take napkins from the meal table to blow our nose on the dive deck as there were no facial tissues to be found anywhere.
-Not enough room for everyone to sit and eat together in the eating area at noon, even though the boat was 2 guests short from full.
- No man overboard drill (Did do fire drill at end of trip on the way in but guests not notified of drill)
- When fresh cabin towels were requested, we were told "we don't usually do that"
- Divers had to ask for help--Staff stood around and watched guests struggle with gear or getting up the ladder after the dive (our BIGGEST complaint or problem w/ SOF staff)
-Water bottles were labeled with paper labels that staff on board acknowledged didnt work because the labels rubbed off within the first day, but no one provided a permanent marker to rectify the problem. It was clear it was a problem for the staff person when we asked for a marker.
- Multiple times comments made about tips for staff
- Multiple times comments made of how staff would be inconvenienced if guests did something stupid
-Did not have adequate amount of rental gear so that everyone got the size they needed
- Dive staff in water generally did not demonstrate any interest in showing divers things/interesting fish they found (I clearly got the message they were doing the dive for their own enjoyment)
-On the night dive, I saw one dive guide go through the flashlight (aka torch) box and pick out the brightest lights for his group but he put the rejected dim ones back in the box for distribution to the rest of us. Unfortunately, I got one of the lights that started out bright but dimmed and went out ½ through the dive so my dive partner and I had to return to the boat early. I didnt think it was safe to continue diving in case my partners light also went out. Upon return to the boat and voicing my frustration, I was told you should have gotten one from the dive guide..they carry a spare. THAT info would have been nice to have been shared at the pre-dive briefing.
-ran photos of the divers and dives on the big screen during meal times, which was fun
-did live boating which while exciting, in retrospect, the return to the SOF was unsafe in my opinion.
General comments:
Perhaps because of Mike Balls bad p.r. in the distant past, the company has focused more on customer service. Their superior customer service is evident. I have to admit, I was a bit leery about booking on Mike Ball because of the history in the distant past of charging certain nationalities more for the same trip, the lost divers afloat for 6+ hrs, and the whole Tina Watson honeymoon murder, but I wish they still offered a dive boat operation elsewhere in the Pacific/Asia because Id gladly go again with Mike Ball.
On SOF we did live boating which while exciting, in retrospect, the return to the SOF was unsafe in my opinion. What the dive master meant by live boating was military style entry for a drift dive, one diver right after the other from the side deck while the SOF was slowly underway. The return to the boat entailed going to the tender (aka Zodiak, rib or small boat) or getting picked up by the tender and then letting go from the tender and grabbing onto the SOFs long mermaid line/rope as it passed by. That rope passed through my hands very quickly and I almost got rope burned each time. One diver almost got his finger caught in a kink of the line...which certainly would have caused a severe injury if not amputation. In retrospect, it would have been much safer (even if slower and less efficient) to just have the tender take us back to the SOF.
My sense was that we did the live boating because the seas were unusually calm at Osprey Reef and we were able to dive sites not usually visited. I cant imagine Mike Ball/Spoilsport doing anything similar to the live boating, but perhaps they do.
SOF went aground for 6-7 hrs at Osprey Reef two weeks before we were due to get on the boat. National authorities were not amused; the boat had to have its stabilizer repaired and couldnt safely go to Osprey Reef without it. When we got off Mike Ball to go onto SOF, we were told by a company employee that the boat wouldnt be going to Osprey Reef and that the company had tried to notify everyone that the destination had been changed. Flat out not true. There was no email to us notifying us of the change and no notification to the local Cairns diver who was booked on the trip because he wanted to go to Osprey. There was a near mutiny at the airport waiting for the flight to Lizard Island. Only when a few divers were going to cancel their trip did an employee call the office and find out the stabilizer was fixed and the trip to Osprey was a go. One diver had made 3 previous trips on SOF (so she obviously liked her previous trips w/ them) booked for Osprey Reef but hadnt made it there due to weather.
CAUTION TO ALL WHO HAVE THEIR HEART SET ON DIVING OSPREY REEF: I dont know the stats for Mike Balls boat Spoilsport making it to Osprey Reef, but for Spirit of Freedom, at least one person (from Canada) finally made it there on her 4th trip on SOF. One SOF employee said that if Cameron is the captain, he will at least attempt the crossing but the other captain wont go if the crossing looks like it will be too rough.
Food on both boats was equally wonderful; accommodations were equally adequate with unlimited hot water for showers. The usual eat-dive-shower-eat-dive-shower-eat-dive-shower-sleep routine for 4-5 dives/day. Both had DVDs of that trips dives and photos that could be purchased the last night.
Spirit of Freedoms web site for post trip summary and photos is nicer than Mike Balls, which is curious because Mike Ball has a photo contest on each trip and those photos would be great to post on the web site.
Interestingly, when we shared our comparison observations with another more experienced diver on SOF, he was glad SOF staff "weren't always trying to help him" and did not want the extra help. Also he had never done the rapid "live boating" entry or return and thought it added to the fun of the trip.
In summary(again), if youre a diver with 100+ dives, perhaps the small niceties of Mike Ball wouldnt be a big deal, but for us, we would dive w/ Mike Ball again but not SOF.
The following views and opinions are those of two divers who had approx. 30 dives total before going on the live aboards in mid-Oct. 2010. We had also never been on a live aboard dive boat before. We did the Mike Ball trip first and then literally got off the Spoilsport and transferred to the Spirit of Freedom. We only told the Mike Ball staff we were transferring to SOF the evening before the transfer and when we were done diving. Although the ground staff of SOF knew we had just gotten off Mike Ball (they picked us up for the transfer), we did not make it obviously known to the SOF boat staff we had just finished Mike Ball.
Quick summary: Both boats provided very good, fun diving. The customer service provided by Mike Balls crew was heads and shoulders above SOF. For us, it is like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Lexus or Cadillac .both get you to the objective comfortably, one just more so than the other.
Specifics:
MIKE BALL (3 day Cod Hole trip)
- name tags given out at office in Cairns (pick up point) with cabin #; I liked this because I could start to learn other divers names
- Tour director identified self as tour director when he met the group on Lizard Island
- cheese & fruit platter when we got on board and were going through the safety briefings; we were hungry because we hadnt had time for breakfast before getting to the office for pick-up that morning
- Kleenex (facial tissue) available on dive deck and multiple places on board; I used these a LOT before and after my dives
- Water bottles had our name in permanent marker on them when we arrived on board
- Staff offered to help constantly and ALWAYS very pleasant about it
- Dive deck staff ALWAYS helped lift (BC & Tank) diver out of water at end of dive
- clean dry cabin towels provided without comment or hassle
- adequate seating for all guests at meals
- It didnt seems like we were inconveniencing the staff with any request.
- The boat had ample amounts of all sizes available for rental gear.
- Free soft drinks (this may change in the future though, per Mr. Mike Ball himself)
- had a nice but too quick presentation/lecture on reef ecology that included reef & fish/coral identification
-held a photo contest
-marked hard to find things (like stonefish) with glow sticks nearby so we could see/find them
SOF (4 day Osprey Reef trip)
- Tour director id'ed as dive director when met at Lizard Island
- At boat orientation, divers were told no food or liquid in forward lounge/TV area, but staff always took their meals there.
-We had to take napkins from the meal table to blow our nose on the dive deck as there were no facial tissues to be found anywhere.
-Not enough room for everyone to sit and eat together in the eating area at noon, even though the boat was 2 guests short from full.
- No man overboard drill (Did do fire drill at end of trip on the way in but guests not notified of drill)
- When fresh cabin towels were requested, we were told "we don't usually do that"
- Divers had to ask for help--Staff stood around and watched guests struggle with gear or getting up the ladder after the dive (our BIGGEST complaint or problem w/ SOF staff)
-Water bottles were labeled with paper labels that staff on board acknowledged didnt work because the labels rubbed off within the first day, but no one provided a permanent marker to rectify the problem. It was clear it was a problem for the staff person when we asked for a marker.
- Multiple times comments made about tips for staff
- Multiple times comments made of how staff would be inconvenienced if guests did something stupid
-Did not have adequate amount of rental gear so that everyone got the size they needed
- Dive staff in water generally did not demonstrate any interest in showing divers things/interesting fish they found (I clearly got the message they were doing the dive for their own enjoyment)
-On the night dive, I saw one dive guide go through the flashlight (aka torch) box and pick out the brightest lights for his group but he put the rejected dim ones back in the box for distribution to the rest of us. Unfortunately, I got one of the lights that started out bright but dimmed and went out ½ through the dive so my dive partner and I had to return to the boat early. I didnt think it was safe to continue diving in case my partners light also went out. Upon return to the boat and voicing my frustration, I was told you should have gotten one from the dive guide..they carry a spare. THAT info would have been nice to have been shared at the pre-dive briefing.
-ran photos of the divers and dives on the big screen during meal times, which was fun
-did live boating which while exciting, in retrospect, the return to the SOF was unsafe in my opinion.
General comments:
Perhaps because of Mike Balls bad p.r. in the distant past, the company has focused more on customer service. Their superior customer service is evident. I have to admit, I was a bit leery about booking on Mike Ball because of the history in the distant past of charging certain nationalities more for the same trip, the lost divers afloat for 6+ hrs, and the whole Tina Watson honeymoon murder, but I wish they still offered a dive boat operation elsewhere in the Pacific/Asia because Id gladly go again with Mike Ball.
On SOF we did live boating which while exciting, in retrospect, the return to the SOF was unsafe in my opinion. What the dive master meant by live boating was military style entry for a drift dive, one diver right after the other from the side deck while the SOF was slowly underway. The return to the boat entailed going to the tender (aka Zodiak, rib or small boat) or getting picked up by the tender and then letting go from the tender and grabbing onto the SOFs long mermaid line/rope as it passed by. That rope passed through my hands very quickly and I almost got rope burned each time. One diver almost got his finger caught in a kink of the line...which certainly would have caused a severe injury if not amputation. In retrospect, it would have been much safer (even if slower and less efficient) to just have the tender take us back to the SOF.
My sense was that we did the live boating because the seas were unusually calm at Osprey Reef and we were able to dive sites not usually visited. I cant imagine Mike Ball/Spoilsport doing anything similar to the live boating, but perhaps they do.
SOF went aground for 6-7 hrs at Osprey Reef two weeks before we were due to get on the boat. National authorities were not amused; the boat had to have its stabilizer repaired and couldnt safely go to Osprey Reef without it. When we got off Mike Ball to go onto SOF, we were told by a company employee that the boat wouldnt be going to Osprey Reef and that the company had tried to notify everyone that the destination had been changed. Flat out not true. There was no email to us notifying us of the change and no notification to the local Cairns diver who was booked on the trip because he wanted to go to Osprey. There was a near mutiny at the airport waiting for the flight to Lizard Island. Only when a few divers were going to cancel their trip did an employee call the office and find out the stabilizer was fixed and the trip to Osprey was a go. One diver had made 3 previous trips on SOF (so she obviously liked her previous trips w/ them) booked for Osprey Reef but hadnt made it there due to weather.
CAUTION TO ALL WHO HAVE THEIR HEART SET ON DIVING OSPREY REEF: I dont know the stats for Mike Balls boat Spoilsport making it to Osprey Reef, but for Spirit of Freedom, at least one person (from Canada) finally made it there on her 4th trip on SOF. One SOF employee said that if Cameron is the captain, he will at least attempt the crossing but the other captain wont go if the crossing looks like it will be too rough.
Food on both boats was equally wonderful; accommodations were equally adequate with unlimited hot water for showers. The usual eat-dive-shower-eat-dive-shower-eat-dive-shower-sleep routine for 4-5 dives/day. Both had DVDs of that trips dives and photos that could be purchased the last night.
Spirit of Freedoms web site for post trip summary and photos is nicer than Mike Balls, which is curious because Mike Ball has a photo contest on each trip and those photos would be great to post on the web site.
Interestingly, when we shared our comparison observations with another more experienced diver on SOF, he was glad SOF staff "weren't always trying to help him" and did not want the extra help. Also he had never done the rapid "live boating" entry or return and thought it added to the fun of the trip.
In summary(again), if youre a diver with 100+ dives, perhaps the small niceties of Mike Ball wouldnt be a big deal, but for us, we would dive w/ Mike Ball again but not SOF.
). The service was spectacular. If my wife did not feel like diving all I had to do was mention it to one of the divemasters and bingo, I had a private guide. I truly can't explain how excellent they were. We saw the SOF at one dive site. Looked a bit long in the tooth but I have seen more recent photos and she looks much better.
