****Note - Mike Ball are running specials until March 2012.
$200 off selected Cod Hole and Coral Sea trips
and $500 off 7 day safari trips. Click
here for details |
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Coral Sea Safari |
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| Duration: 7 Nights |
| Departing: Every Thursday 7pm,
Cairns Trinity Wharf |
| Returning: Every Thursday 7am,
Complimentary transfers to local accommodation |
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| 7 nights / 6 dive days – Unlimited diving
(approx. 26 dives or 28 dives whole vessel charter) |
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| Thursday: Check-in and Departure
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| Prior to 4:00pm. Check-in luggage
at Mike Ball office - 143 Lake Street, Cairns. |
| If unable to check-in prior
to 4:00pm phone us on 07 4031 5484 for departure details. |
| 6:00pm our crew meet you at
the Cairns Corporate Towers entrance and escort you to Spoilsport
– Trinity Wharf. |
| Cruise overnight to the magnificent
Ribbon Reefs, the first stop on your 700km dive odyssey. |
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| Friday: Ribbon Reef #9 -
Pixie Gardens, Cod Hole |
| Buddy up with diver size fish
that dive with you at the Cod Hole! |
| Swim with giant potato cod,
napoleon wrasse, moray eels, tuna and barracuda. |
| Enjoy close encounters with
huge Maori wrasse. |
| Anticipate spectacular coral
gardens, spotted rays, reef sharks and green turtle sightings.
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| Night dive where decorator
crabs, egg cowry shells, moray eels and crayfish are just a few
of the creatures you can find. |
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| Saturday & Sunday: Coral
Sea - Osprey Reef |
| Cruise 100 miles overnight
to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. |
| Enjoy 40 meter (132ft) visibility
with spectacular walls disappearing to 1000metres. |
| Witness the resident shark
population including grey whalers, whitetip reef sharks, silvertips
and hammerheads. |
| Search for the commonly seen
green and loggerhead turtles. |
| Find the caves, overhangs and
spectacular walls adorned with huge soft coral trees and gorgonian
fans. |
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| Monday: Lizard Island &
Ribbon Reef #10 & #9 – Cod Wall, Cod Hole, Challenger Bay |
| Climb “Cook’s Look” at Lizard
Island where Captain Cook searched for safe passage through the
reef. |
| Explore the rarely dived Cod
Wall at the outer reef edge that disappears into 60 meters (200ft)
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| Glide back towards the Cod
Hole while enjoying the clear water and spectacular coral formations.
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| Shallow but fantastic, Challenger
Bay is extremely rich in biodiversity from spectacular coral gardens
and unusual critters through to large schooling fish. Great night
dive location… watch out for Baza the Barra! |
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| Tuesday: Ribbon Reef #9,
#5, #4 - Lighthouse Bommie, Pixie Pinnacle, Andy’s Postcard, Clam
Beds, Vertical Gdns |
| Circumnavigate Pixie Pinnacle
and Lighthouse Bommie shrouded in fusiliers and baitfish. Fluorescent
purple and orange anthias attract predatory fish to these photogenic
sites. Majestic Minke whales are seen here in June and July. |
| Rising from 80 meters the pinnacle
of Andy’s Postcard is encrusted in hard corals, lion fish, nudibranchs,
octopus, schooling trevally and barracuda. |
| See spectacular giant clams
at Clam Beds as well as caves, canyons and coral encrusted bommies
awaiting exploration. |
| Sheer walls covered in whip
corals and sea fans brim the natural amphitheatre of Vertical
Gardens. Marine life varies from the many colourful nudibranchs
to large schooling bump head parrotfish. |
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| Wednesday: Ribbon Reef #3
- Flare Point, Joani’s Joy, Steve’s Bommie |
| Spiral majestic coral pinnacles
teeming with marine life. |
| See huge schools of baitfish
stalked by barracuda, mackerel and trevally. |
| Anticipate spectacular coral
gardens, spotted rays, reef sharks and green turtle sightings. |
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| Thursday: Dock |
| Early morning docking at Trinity
Wharf - Cairns, breakfast, 8:00am courtesy transfers to Cairns
city hotels. |
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| Prime dives sites - GUARANTEED!
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| This itinerary has been designed
to include the ‘prime’ Ribbon Reef and Coral Sea dive sites. |
| If weather forces an itinerary
change our surety of access to the prime Ribbon Reef sites is
your guarantee of the best possible diving. |
| Spoilsport’s outstanding stability
minimises disruption to your itinerary and your diving experience. |
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| PRICES |
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| Note: |
| Itinerary subject to change. |
| Flying After Diving - the surface
interval between the last dive completed at 5pm and flying at
9.30am is 16.5 hours, which exceeds the DAN minimum requirement
of 12 hours. An additional safety feature is that Hinterland Air
fly below 1000ft (weather permitting). |
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