6 Day GBR and Osprey Reef Liveaboard dive trip

OSPREY REEF SHARK ENCOUNTER

6 day Expeditions to Ribbon Reefs, Cod Hole, and Osprey Reef

• We are glad to offer 5% off the above RRP prices for all bookings on-line.
• This full 5% discount will be given at the time of booking and taken from the deposit.
• A 20% deposit is required at the time of booking, with the balance paid 30 days prior to departure.
• Please check availability with us before booking

Click here for a full schedule and prices for 2008

This expedition will include 3 days (weather depending) at remote Osprey Reef which offers incredible visibility and 1000 metre deep coral walls. Undersea Explorer has the most experience of visiting Osprey Reef, compared to other North Queensland liveaboard operators. At North Horn, Osprey Reef, where the currents meet, we'll see large schools of tuna, barracuda and plenty of sharks - white tips, grey and silver tip whalers, leopard sharks, thresher sharks and schooling hammerheads. You'll dive with one to seven Manta Rays, the gentle giants of the deep. This is exhilarating diving with the shark experts.

You'll also enjoy the contrast of 3 days diving the Ribbon Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. There's many varied dive sites featuring the diversity of coral gardens, the overwhelming fish life of the pinnacles, and diving the world famous Cod Hole.

Undersea Explorer has been studying sharks at Osprey Reef since 1995. We have taken shark diving to new, unusual and exciting levels through our researchers capturing the sharks underwater during a shark attraction dive (with guests observing), and bringing them to the surface for measurement and tagging. Guests love this experience as it creates a non-frenzied "grey ballet", with great close-up photo opportunities, and they can observe up to 25 sharks whilst diving, without being inside a cage. We take this experience to the next level, by the on-deck research after the dive. We believe we are the only tourism boat in the world doing this, not to mention the long term conservation objectives of this project.

Undersea Explorer's frequent access to an easily monitored population of Reef sharks at Osprey Reef, gives us a unique opportunity for long term comprehensive study which investigates growth rates, breeding times and locations as well as behavioural patterns and movements. A key element is the identification of individual animals, consistent monitoring of the population at monthly intervals, and recording of growth characteristics on an annual basis.

During this expedition there will be much more than just sharks. You'll experience the excitement of 3-4 superb dives per day in remote areas, drift dives and deep dives. Onboard activities range from informative presentations in the biologist room, mid-week barbecues under the stars, Nautilus capture and 'creature feature' talks on the top deck, and our 'fancy dress quiz night'!

• We are glad to offer 5% off the above RRP prices for all bookings on-line.
• This full 5% discount will be given at the time of booking and taken from the deposit.
• A 20% deposit is required at the time of booking, with the balance paid 30 days prior to departure.
• Please check availability with us before booking

“Please note a AU$15 per person/per day fuel levy applies on all Undersea Explorer expeditions. This is subject to change, and is payable onboard.”

DWARF MINKE WHALE EXPEDITIONS

6 Day Expeditions to Ribbon Reefs and Cod Hole - Mid June to July

The Undersea Explorer Dwarf Minke Whale Project is now in its tenth year. This expedition spending 6 days on the Great Barrier Ribbon Reefs, has developed into an amazing experience of in-water whale encounters unparalleled around the world. We now know a lot more about these whales than other dive boats, and we encounter over 220 whales during our 6 week season, with up to 60 whales in some weeks! On these expeditions you will swim with magnificent Dwarf Minke Whales, and have the added bonus of diving the northern Great Barrier Reef.

Most of our whale interactions are conducted while snorkelling and being totally predictable while holding on to lines attached to the vessel as it drifts. This ensures that the encounter happens under the whales terms. The dwarf minke whales within the northern Great Barrier Reef are probably the most curious and interactive of all the baleen whales.

Encounters usually last for over 1 ½ hours and often many hours with multiple whales. Usually Undersea Explorer breaks off the encounter before the whales, after hours of close whale passes and sufficient scientific data gathering! Seeing a whale from above the water is amazing, seeing a whale whilst in the water with it is incredible, close and prolonged eye contact with a whale is a lifetime experience and eyeballing a whale while its vocalisations reverberate through your chest is as good as it gets! We now know a lot more about these whales since their identification as a probable sub-species of the northern hemisphere minke whale in 1985.

The project has been responsible for developing a world-renowned set of guidelines and code of practice for minke whale encounters. This has enabled in-water encounters to be heralded by the International Whaling Commission, Marine Park Authority, & Environment Australia as world's best practice examples of in-water whale encounters. The minke project is working to ensure that the dwarf minke whale tourism is ecologically sustainable at a time when currently most in-water marine mammal interactions are being banned around the world due to potentially unsustainable practices.

Every guest on board is helping fund the project and is part of the exciting research. Snorkellers and divers will help identify individual whales, be involved in behavioural observations and be absorbed by the atmosphere of minke research.

Also remember that this is not 'just' a whale trip. There is also the magnificent diving and snorkeling on the coral gardens and pinnacles of the Great Barrier Ribbon Reefs. Mix this with world class marine interpretation with experts in whale and coral reef biology and it really is a unique adventure.

“Please note a AU$15 per person/per day fuel levy applies on all Undersea Explorer expeditions. This is subject to change, and is payable onboard.”

Click here for a full schedule and prices for 2008