EDITING IN PROCESS, CHECK BACK SOON!

I am in the process of compiling a dive log and trip report of my 7 days on the Spirit of Freedom.  Stay tuned for a complete dive log and overall review of the entire trip, as well as pictures and a few movies.  It turned out to be everything I was hoping and I had an incredible time.

This is a log of every dive I did while on my liveaboard trip with Spirit of Freedom. It is a lot more detailed and long than many people care to read, however I like writing dive logs out like this as a way of remembering my trips for my own benefit.  I’ve added some pictures in there that I took as well to make things a bit more interesting.

Dive #1 – 23/11/09

Site: The Caves, Norman Reef, Great Barrier Reef

Time: 4:05 pm to 5:05 pm (60 minutes)

Depth: 22.1 meters

Visibility: 30 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 230 bar to 70 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.01 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  We started off the trip by steaming for a few hours out to Norman Reef, a reef within the Great Barrier off of Cairns.  We spent the first few hours of the trip doing orientation type things-meeting each other, going over dive itineraries, getting equipment, that type of thing.  I was booked for a full Nitrox package for the trip so I decided to buddy up with the two other people on the trip who would also be using Nitrox.  They turned out to be two older German guys, Holger and Lotz, and it ended up being an interesting buddy pairing for the next few days.  Holger spoke limited English and Lotz spoke basically none at all, but I guess it doesn’t really make a difference since you are not speaking at all underwater.

They ended up viewing me as one of those “kids these days” and our diving styles couldn’t have been more different.   I was the kid tearing around chasing sharks super excited and hyper about everything we were seeing while they were the experienced divers who were content to float in the same 10-foot area the whole dive.  Holger even told me we couldn’t be buddies on the night dive because it was too much stress for him to have me running around everywhere with that type of limited visibility.  Nevertheless, it turned out that Holger loved me and Lotz just kind of laughed and shook his head every time I did something stupid.  It was a lot of fun being buddies with those guys over the next few days and I definitely learned to chill out a little while diving.

Jumping in for our first dive of the trip at Norman, the first thing that stood out was how good the visibility was.  Easily 30 meters.  The dive was meant to be a relaxed dive for everyone to get back comfortable with things at the start of the trip.  From the boat we went down the mooring line to the left, weaving in and out of coral walls, bommies, and caverns.  The coral geography at the site was quite amazing, with huge structures separated by windy sandy gaps.  It was really cool.  The fish life was great as well.  Tons of triggerfish, surgeonfish, and dogface puffers.  We also found some clownfish (the face of the GBR), a small turtle, a blue-spotted ray, a big maori wrasse, giant trevallies, nudibranchs, moorish idols (one of my favourite fish), giant clams, and a swarm of small jellyfish.  The most interesting part of the dive was a batfish that followed us around for the entire second half of the dive.  Literally right in our face.  I have at least 10 pictures of half a batfish because it was too close to fit the whole thing in the frame.  I have no idea what its intentions were but it was funny to have it chase us around rushing at our masks and cameras.  It was an excellent first dive.

Dive #2 – 23/11/09

Site: The Caves, Norman Reef, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI  38 minutes) 5:44 pm to 6:30 pm (46 minutes)

Depth: 22.9 meters

Visibility: 25 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 220 bar to 90 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.04 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  The second dive of the trip was at the same site.  For this dive we went right from the mooring line to explore a different area of the site.  Once again the coral structures were awesome and the fish life did not disappoint as well.  We saw some sweet nudibranchs and flatworms on this dive, including a few with the gills sticking up and flapping in the current which I always think looks pretty awesome.  Other highlights were a lionfish, a clown triggerfish, some starfish, and unicornfish.  The dive was done right at dusk as the sun was going done, which I discovered was an awesome time of day to dive.  Everything seemed very active and it was cool to see the colours change as the environment continued to get darker.  I also found out that this is a great time of day to take pictures with my camera because its dark enough to use the internal flash but there isn’t a ton of backscatter.  I ended up getting some decent shots on the dive, especially of some of the macro stuff.  Because we had a full night of steaming ahead of us our dive time was limited to 45 minutes in order to get us on our way in time for diving in the morning (of course I made sure I got that extra minute though).

Dive #3 – 24/11/09

Site:  Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 12 hours, 57 minutes) 7:28 am to 8:23 am (55 minutes)

Depth: 33.4 meters

Visibility: 25 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 220 bar to 60 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.37 Partial Pressure O₂)
Notes:  After a full night of steaming all the way up the Ribbon Reefs we arrived at the famous Cod Hole near Ribbon Reefs 9 and 10.  Because we had 5 dives ahead of us for the dive we started off this dive by getting some depth.
Because we were on Nitrox we were limited to 34 meters in order to stay within safe oxygen exposure limits, however it worked perfectly with the dive, because there was a sea fan at 33 meters with famous pygmy sea horses on them.  Props to Loz (one of the instructors) for finding them because I would not in a million years been able to.  They were the size of my pinky fingernail, if not smaller.  I didn’t even bother trying to take a picture because I knew my camera wouldn’t have been able to pick them up, and besides there were other people waiting to see them.  After getting our depth, we worked our way up several different terraces of coral crests throughout the dive.  We ended up seeing three whitetips and one grey reef shark, although none close enough to get any pictures.  The reef was absolutely beautiful, with loads of fish everywhere-sturgeonfish, wrasse, butterflyfish, everything.  We also found some clownfish and a small boxfish.

The highlight of the dive was the half dozen or so large potato cod for which the site gets its name.  These fish are in the grouper family and about diver sized, usually 5 to 6 feet big.The site has been used as a dive site for potato cod feeding for a while, so the fish are quite tame and let you go right up to them which makes for good pictures (although tame fish isn’t really my thing).  Either way they were pretty neat and it was really cool to have a fish that size just sitting there right in front of you staring at you.  I also managed to get stung by something that I brushed up against when I was taking a picture of a cod, which made me pretty excited.  We finished up the dive by coming across a lacy scorpionfish right under the boat.  I don’t know who found it but they did well because it looked like a plant.  Very well camouflaged fish.  It was a great dive and ended up being one of my favourites from the trip.

Dive #4 – 24/11/09

Site: Cod Hole (Cod Feed), Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 1 hour, 55 minutes) 10:18 am to 11:07 am (49 minutes)

Depth: 28.0 meters

Visibility: 20-25 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 200 bar to 80 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.20 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  After a delicious breakfast we got back in for our second dive at the Cod Hole.  This dive was our Cod Feed dive, something that several different liveaboard operators have been doing for a number of years with the potato cod at this sight.  Upon entry in the water our group of divers swam a short way to a small sandy patch and aligned ourselves in a circle.  Joel the trip director made his way into the centre of the circle with a bucket of fish, and the cod knew exactly what was going on as they all showed up immediately.  For the next 15 minutes or so Joel made his way around the circle feeding the cod in front of

each of us.  I’m not a big fan of this type of diving, but at the very least it was interesting to watch and unlike any type of diving I had done before.  Joining the cod at the feed were tons of red bass, which we were warned would happily take a chomp at any stray fingers (Joel and Loz have the scars to prove it).  After the feed finished, we made our way out to get some more depth considering the three more dives we had later.  After a bit of diving and working our way around the site the current had picked up alot, and I turned around to find both of my buddies in addition to 5 or 6 other people hanging on to the mooring line.  I kind of shrugged at Holger and Lotz but neither made any sort of sign to indicate that something was the matter so I just continued swimming around in the general vicinity taking pictures.  Every once in a while I would look back to see more and more people hanging on to the line, but I didn’t feel any need to stop diving until anybody told me otherwise (which earned me a good shake of the head from Lotz).  Finally I realized I was the only one still in the water not on the line and one of the instructors came up to me and told me to abort the dive and get on the line for a safety stop.  Apparently the current had picked up enough that they felt it was best to get everyone out of the water.  I turned out to be alright because we saw some cool stuff while hanging on the line, such as a big trumpetfish and a school of barracuda that swam by.  Well after my safety stop was complete I was still hanging on the line just for fun when out of nowhere a manta ray swooped right by us!  It was one of the coolest things I have seen while diving, it just appeared out of the blue, swam by us for about 10 seconds, then disappeared again.  At that point there were about 8 of us still left in the water that got a look at it.  The manta itself made that dive a great one for me, but I still preferred the first dive over the feed.  Either way the site was great and definitely lives up to its reputation.

Dive #5 – 24/11/09

Site: Two Towers, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours, 14 minutes) 1:22 pm to 2:14 pm (52 minutes)

Depth: 21.6 meters

Visibility: 15 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.99 Partial Pressure O₂)
Notes:  Lunch time, and then more diving.  This time we moved to a site in the area called Two Towers, which consisted of several main coral bommies.  We weaved our way around the walls of the site, making our way shallower to dive over the top of the crests towards the end of the dive.  This visibility at this site was not as good as the previous dives, however the fish life made up for it.  There were loads of fish at the site including some baitballs and tons of colorfol schooling anthias.  Near the beginning of the dive I spotted a big (1 foot) giant cuttlefish, which I was very excited about because they are on of my favourite animals to see underwater.  He was camoflauged pretty well, and I saw 5 or 6 people swim right over the top of him before I got over there to point him out.  The cuttlefish did not feel intimidated by us at all, and stuck around for a good 5 minutes while we watched him change colours and textures.  He even raised a few of his tentacles at us.  While Lotz and I were checking out the cuttlefish Holger spotted a decent sized green turtle swimming by that stopped to rest on the reef.  The highlight of the dive, however, came in the form of two olive sea snakes that we found later in the dive.  Sea snakes are notorious for being very curious and approaching divers.  These guys lived up to the reputation and weaved in and out of our legs.  Sea snakes are one of the most venomous animals in the entire world, however they are very timid and I really enjoyed playing with them.  We would end up coming across tons of sea snakes throughout the trip and they became one of my new favourite things to see.

Dive #6 – 24/11/09

Site: Challenger Bay, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 5 hours, 10 minutes) 7:24 pm to 8:16 pm (52 minutes)

Depth: 10.6 meters

Visibility: 5-10 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 200 bar to 100 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.65 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  Following the dive at Two Towers we were schedule for two dives at Challenger Bay, including a night dive.  Getting in for the first dive the coral colours were stunning, definitely attributable to the shallower depth of the site.  Right away we came across a white tip reef shark resting on the sandy bottom.  I stopped to take some photos, however Holger and Lotz must have continued because I turned around and they were nowhere to be found.  I searched for a minute and then surfaced like I was supposed to, they however, did not.  Since I was at the surface and buddieless there was nothing to do except abort the dive and swim back to the boat so that they knew everything was alright.  I was pretty bummed but I did jump right back out to snorkel so it turned out alright.  That is until I found out that there was a manta ray they did some circles over the divers after I was forced to come up.  I was pretty irritated I missed it but still giddy about seeing a manta earlier in the day so I figured I would survive.  I ended up seeing some neat stuff snorkelling around, including a barramundi cod, a potato cod, a peacock flounder, and schools of milkfish, giant trevally, and spiralling barracuda.  Holger and Lotz did end up coming up about 20 minutes after I did (not sure what the hold up was) so I swam over and told them just to keep going and finish the dive.

My missed dive episode made me even more excited for the night dive.  For the night dive I was buddied up with Jules, and we dove in a group along with Marc and Caroline that was led by Loz.  We found some really cool stuff, including a bunch of huge red nudibranchs moving along across the bottom.  Also found another very tolerant cuttlefish, as well as a bunch of small hermit crabs, coral crabs, and red-banded shrimps in the coral.  Loz found the biggest moray eel I have ever seen (easily 8 feet) and we also got to see some feeding soft corals as well as a lionfish.  The coolest part of the dive was the giant trevallys that followed us around the whole time.  Prior to the dive we were warned that they would shadow us waiting for us to highlight fish with our lights for them to prey on.  Sure enough, there where several instances where we were checking out a fish and a GT swooped out of nowhere to have dinner.  I had an interesting moment when I saw a small fish by itself swimming towards me out in the open away from the coral.  Idiotically I shined my light on it for a closer look, and immediately almost got my head taken off by three hungry GTs.  Quite the experience.

Dive #7 – 25/11/09

Site: Pixie’s Pinnacle, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 10 hours, 58 minutes) 7:15 am to 8:13 am (58 minutes)

Depth: 29.9 meters

Visibility: 12-15 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.27 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Pixie's Pinnacle dive site map

Notes:  We started off the new day at Pixie’s Pinnacle, a pretty famous site.  The site consisted of one large underwater coral mountain which we spiralled around throughout the dive.  Towards the beginning of the dive when we were deeper, I was relatively unimpressed and not quite sure what all the hubbub was about.  Once we started reaching shallow depths, the site’s reputation started to make more sense as the coral cover and fish life suddenly exploded.  There were fish everywhere—large colourful schools of everything.  We came across dozens of lionfish and clownfish all within one area in the site.  I had never seen a congregation like that before and it was really interesting to observe.  I also watched two coral trout attacking a lionfish together.  Throughout the dive we also encountered two moray eels, barracuda, a lobster, nudibranchs, giant clams, and some puffers.  I also found a weird 12-inch-long worm-like thing that had appendages coming out of one end and seemed to be feeding.  According to Loz it is some type of relative to sea cucumbers, though I’m not entirely convinced.  We also managed to find two tiny pipefish on the dive, which I thought was pretty sweet.  I had never seen them before and I was able to get a few decent photos.  Pixie’s Pinnacle ended up being the favourite dive of the trip for a lot of people, and its definitely understandable because the quantity and diversity of fish was very impressive.

Dive #8 – 25/11/09

Site: Rod’s Rock, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 1 hour, 58 minutes) 10:12 am to 11:10 am (58 minutes)

Depth: 19.4 meters

Visibility: 12-15 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 205 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.93 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Rod's Rock dive site map

Notes:  Our next site of the day was nearby Rod’s Rock.  On this dive we curled around several main bommies.  There was a lot more rubble at this site, however the coral was good at shallower depths and there were plenty of things to see: maori wrasse, clownfish, nudibranchs, and schools of big-eye trevally.  I also found a few more pipefish, which made me pretty proud because they are quite difficult to see.  Additionally, there were heaps of olive sea snakes at this site so I spent most of the time playing with them. One of my goals of this trip was to use the experience and quantity of dives to become a better diver.  Specifically I have always wanted to improve on my air consumption, and its something I have been working on for a while.  At this point in the trip my shortest dive was 49 minutes and we had quite a few that were approaching an hour.  I was doing a lot better with not rushing around everywhere (unless there was something to chase down, obviously).

Dive #9 – 25/11/09

Site: Stepping Stones, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours, 9 minutes) 1:19 pm to 2:16 pm (57 minutes)

Depth: 21.9 meters

Visibility: 12-15 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 70 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.01 Partial Pressure O₂)
Notes: Getting ready for this dive Holgar had some equipment problems so I ended up buddying up with Clark (a friend in my study abroad program) and his dad.  The site consisted of a coral ridge that led to several distinct bommies, making up a series of “stepping stones”.  The dive was a nice calm one, however the coral and fish life were not as impressive as the previous dives.  However this could partly be attributable to the fact that we got lost and were nowhere near the boat when we surfaced, so its likely we were a ways away from the dive site for a while.  That being said, there were some cool coral swim throughs and it there was a neat geography of multiple coral patches split up by sand.

Dive #10 – 25/11/09

Site: Snake Pit, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 1 hour, 46 minutes) 4:03 pm to 4:53 pm (55 minutes)

Depth: 22.1 meters

Visibility: 10 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 40 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.01 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  The last dive of the trip for the people on the 3 day Cod Hole itinerary was at a site called “Snake Pit”.  This site was a consensus favourite among the crew so we were all pretty excited.  The site consisted of an L-shaped series of coral bommie walls.  Right off the bat there was loads to see—tons of coral cod, many unicorn fish, lionfish, tons of cornetfish, and a huge moray eel.

Early in the dive I caught a glimpse of a few people streaking out into the blue away from the wall so I followed and was able to catch a glimpse of two huge eagle rays swimming past.  The size of the rays was very impressive, and while I only got to see them for a few seconds off in the distance they were still cool to see.  Some others in the group came across another eagle ray later in the dive, but we weren’t so lucky.  Towards the end of the dive we did find a huge turtle with a remoraon its back that followed us for a while.  Additionally there were tongs of goatfish, some toby fish, and nudibranchs among the incredible coral.  The coral cover at this site was really interesting because it consisted of thousands of stacked plate morphologies, a community composition I have never really seen before.  The site also lived up to its name as we saw two banded sea snakes and three olive sea snakes, which were just as curious as always.  We even got to watch one swim to the surface to breathe.  It was a great dive to end the trip for the Cod Hole group.

Dive #11 – 26/11/09

Site: Pixie Gardens, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 21 hours, 26 minutes) 2:25 pm to 3:27 pm (62 minutes)

Depth: 19.9 meters

Visibility: 10-12 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 60 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.95 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Pixie Gardens dive site map

Notes:  After the final dive of the trip for the Cod Hole group at the Snake Pit, we steamed to Lizard Island and moored there for the night.  After dinner, Kiri (the hostess) and I were messing around with some fish from the freezer, feeding the GTs that swim around in the boat lights and trying to attract some of the tawny nurse sharks that they often see in that area.  Eventually one of the sharks did come, it was pretty good size (about 8-9 feet).  By now, the whole boat was watching the show and some more of the crew came down to feed the shark and take pictures.  The fun ended when the shark gave Loz’s hand a chomp when going for a fish.  She was fine and only got some cuts on a few of her fingers, but the whole incident was caught on video so I’ll have to get a copy.  The morning we went for a short walk on Lizard island, and then the Cod Hole people left via plane and the new Osprey Reef group got on.  After a bit of orientation stuff for them, we headed over for a couple afternoon dives at Pixie Gardens, which was right near Pixie’s Pinnacle from earlier in the trip.

Since Holger and Lotz had departed I found some new buddies and dove in a group with Caroline (another study abroad student who had just finished a semester in Sydney), Marc (who just got back from a year in Antarctica with the NOAA Corps), and Pam (who has done dozens of liveaboards all over the world in her diving career).  On this dive we headed left from the mooring line along the walls of various coral bommies.  The coral was outstanding (especially because it was a pretty shallow dive), and there were several terraces and swim through channels.  Highlights included a clown triggerfish (Pam’s favourite fish), a titan triggerfish, cornetfish, barracuda, and lionfish.  I also found another pipefish.  Right at the end of the dive we came across two giant cuttlefish hovering over a coral patch!  Both of them hung around for about 5 minutes even when a crowd started gathering, so it was fun to watch them for a while.

Dive #12 – 26/11/09

Site: Pixie Gardens, Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef

Time: (SI 48 minutes) 4:16 pm to 5:26 pm (70 minutes)

Depth: 14.9 meters

Visibility: 10-12 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 70 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.79 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  Our next dive was at the same site, however this time we went the other way off of the mooring line to see a different area.  The coral was beautiful, there were tons of high bommies that we zigzagged around, and we squeezed through a couple channels in coral walls.  We ended up running out of ground and getting stuck in very shallow water, so we turned back around and headed to where we had been on the previous dive.  We found a couple nudibranchs on this dive and some starfish, and I also saw a scrawled filefish which are awesome looking.  This dive was also the longest I’ve ever done so that was pretty neat.  Granted it was a really shallow dive, but I’ll still take it.

Dive #13 – 27/11/09

Site: North Horn Wall, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 13 hours 54 minutes) 7:21 am to 8:18 am (57 minutes)

Depth: 30.7 meters

Visibility: 20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 215 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.28 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for North Horn dive site map

Notes:  After a bumpy trip overnight to Osprey Reef we were all ready to start our diving at Osprey.  Osprey is an underwater mountain that comes up from the deep ocean, so all our dives here were wall dives in 1000+ meters of water.  As soon as we jumped in the water for the first dive, there were several grey reef sharks and whitetip reef sharks hanging around the mooring line.  We went right along the wall from the mooring line, starting off deeper and getting shallower as the dive progressed.  There were dozens of grey reef and whitetips swimming out in the blue off the wall throughout the dive.  There are tons of soft corals at Osprey among the coral walls, and we also saw lots of fan corals, a big pufferfish, a potato cod, and a trumpetfish.  Since the dive is in such deep water there are tons of big pelagic fish that you see as well such as huge jacks and dogtooth tuna.  We even got escorted by remoras for a good fifteen minutes of the dive, and one guy, Jared, even had one stick to his leg.  After only the first dive I can see where Osprey gets its reputation.  It was really cool how different the diving was from the Cod Hole and the Ribbon Reefs as well. Both were excellent but very dissimilar.

Dive #14 – 27/11/09

Site: North Horn Shark Feed, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 3 minutes) 10:21 am to 11:19 am (58 minutes)

Depth: 29.3 meters

Visibility: 20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.25 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  Our second dive on the North Horn was a shark feed.  I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about the whole idea, but regardless of your opinion there’s no denying it is an awesome spectacle.  We made our way down into an “amphitheatre” of coral and arranged ourselves in a semicircle facing a bommie to which the crew attached a garbage can full of tuna heads.  The sharks were on it immediately, before the can was even opened.  Joel used a pulley system to drop the can down and take the top off.  Instantly all the sharks jumped in trying to get a piece.  There were probably close to 60 sharks at the feed, all grey reefand whitetips.  Three potato cod and a bunch of other fish also got in on the action.  The feed was crazy to watch, the sharks would rush in, take a hunk out, and swim out so that nothing tried to steal their food.  You could hear them crunching the fish as they swam by too.  We were only 20 feet away so we were right in the middle of the action as the sharks were swimming right over are heads and in front of us the whole time.  The whole feed lasted only 7-8 minutes, and as soon as Joel gave the signal that it was over and we could go dive, I bolted out into the middle of where all the sharks were still circling.  It was an awesome feeling to have 30 sharks swimming around me in all directions, they would even swim right at me and peel off at the last minute.

To continue the dive our group went the other direction along the wall this time, to the left of the mooring line.  I stayed out in the deeper blue water off the wall than most of the group because all the sharks were still cruising out in this area.  We also saw a small turtle and a moray on the dive, can’t ask for much more than that.  The sharks hung around the whole dive and I had a blast swimming around with them.  I enjoyed the part of the dive after the feed much more than the actual feed, because there were just as many sharks but they were cruising and acting naturally as opposed to being frenzied about the food.  Definitely one of the cooler things I’ve ever done.

Dive #15 – 27/11/09

Site: Castles, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 1 hours 56 minutes) 1:17 pm to 2:14 pm (57 minutes)

Depth: 26.3 meters

Visibility: 15-20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 55 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.15 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Castles dive site map

Notes:  After the shark feed we moved to the Castles, another wall dive on Osprey.  The coral here was beautiful, covering the whole wall as far as you could see.  There were several sand cut-ns and swim through channels near the top of the wall.  We saw tons of dogface pufferfish, a couple trumpetfish, anenome fish, some big puffers, clown triggerfish, and several lionfish.  Marc was also somehow able to spot a leafy scorpionfish.  The coral at the site was great-loads of gorgonians and soft corals.

Dive #16 – 27/11/09

Site: Admiralty, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 6 minutes) 4:20 pm to 5:21 pm (61 minutes)

Depth: 23.8 meters

Visibility: 15 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.07 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Admiralty dive site map

Notes:  Our final site of the day was Admiralty, named for an anchor that could be found in an enclosed swim-through.  We were at the site for two dives as this was where we did our second and final night dive of the trip.  The site had amazing coral with numerous sand channels and caves, which created a maze-like feeling as we navigated through.  Following the directions from the briefing we were able to locate the tunnel with the abandoned “Admiralty” anchor in it, however I was so excited about the cave we were going through that I forgot to look for the anchor so never even saw it.  The fish life on the dive was good as well, as we saw anenome fish, several cornetfish, schooling jacks, and a half dozen or so white tips resting in the sand. A couple days earlier during the trip I had noticed that all of the pictures I had of the Titan triggerfish were had seen were head on with mouth open and showing teeth, and someone pointed me to an article about how they are very territorial and frequently attack divers.  Turns out on this dive I got to experience it as one took a run at me as I tried to photograph it.  Exciting stuff.

Dive #17 – 27/11/09

Site: Admiralty, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 1 hours 55 minutes) 7:18 pm to 8:06 pm (48 minutes)

Depth: 18.7 meters

Visibility: 5 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 100 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.91 Partial Pressure O₂)

Notes:  On this dive Jared joined Marc, Caroline, and I as we were led by Lara on a night dive at Admiralty.  The tunnel with the anchor was incredible at night with only torch light to guide us, and I made certain this time to find the anchor.  As always I loved the night dive and couldn’t get enough of the eerie feeling they always give me.  We saw tons of brittle stars and feather stars, as well as a bumphead parrotfish in a cave, a whitetip, and a lionfish.  The highlight of the dive was definitely towards the end when I had a pretty good find.  On the very edge of visibility I could make out something very large in my light, but it was too far into the darkness to identify.  Over the next couple minutes I kept checking back to see if anything was still there, and finally a huge bumphead parrotfish swam into view.  Then a few more came.  Then they kept coming until their was at least 20-30 huge bumpheads swimming among us in the coral.  I have seen a few bumphead parrotfish before, but never at night and never with 30 more right behind them.  The sight of more of them just continuing to appear was definitely one of my favorite moments from the trip.

Dive #18 – 28/11/09

Site: False Entrace, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 11 hours 12 minutes) 7:19 am to 8:12 am (53 minutes)

Depth: 32.9 meters

Visibility: 15 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 55 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.36 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for False Entrance dive site map

Notes:  Our second day of diving on Osprey Reef started off with a site called False Entrance, which consisted of several coral ridgelines cut into the top of the wall.  We saw lots of smaller groupers, a group of cornetfish, some trumpetfish, several titan triggerfish, a clown triggerfish, a three whitetips swimming along the wall.  There was a fairly strong current pushing in from the wall so the dive was a combination of strenuous kicking and the wonderful feeling of flying with the current as we zigzagged within the ridges.

Dive #19 – 28/11/09

Site: Around the Bend, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 4 minutes) 10:16 am to 11:09 pm (53 minutes)

Depth: 31.1 meters

Visibility: 20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.30 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Around the Bend dive site map

Notes:  Around the Bend consisted of a wall which came to a corner, as well as a second prominent ridge out away from the wall that was in about 30-40 meters of water, leaving a channel a couple hundred meters wide in between the two.  Because there was a strong current we didn’t end up diving “around the bend” of the wall corner, but instead headed out one direction and came back over the ridge.  There were dozens of whitetips resting and swimming in the sandy trench between the wall and the ridge, and we also saw tons of anenomefish, some bumphead parrotfish, and several large puffers.  The current was really ripping towards the end of the dive, which made it a bit difficult to get back to the wall from the trench.  The strong current had me hoping for another manta, but no look on this dive.

Dive #20 – 28/11/09

Site: The Gap, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 10 minutes) 1:20 pm to 2:28 pm (68 minutes)

Depth: 22.4 meters

Visibility: 15-20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.02 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for The Gap dive site map

Notes:  The gap was another wall dive that we dove over the top of into many channels and caves.  Someone spotted a swimming nudibranch out away from the coral, something I’ve never seen before.  We also saw a small moray, several whitetips including one resting in a cave, a bumphead parrotfish, fox face rabbitifsh, a school of barracuda, and some fluorescent colored scallops, and a small solar boxfish.  We also watched a pair of square spot antheas going at it for a few minutes.  The fish had their lips locked and were spinning in circles, which everyone said was a mating behavior but I like to think they were fighting.  There is also a resident tawny nurse shark at this sight that is often found sleeping in a cave, however we didn’t see it and I’m not sure if anyone was able to find it.

At one point in the dive Caroline had me the most confused I had ever been underwater.  We were floating over coral when she pointed at an isolated coral patch in the sand about 5 meters away.  It was a decent sized patch of coral but I couldn’t figure out what she was pointing at on the patch.  I quizzically looked at her and she pointed again.  This went on for about a minute until I finally gave up and pretended I saw it and gave her the okay.   We ended up hanging around in that area for a while though, and it was bugging me so I asked her to point out whatever it was again.  I figured wow this must be a really well camoflauged octopus if I still can’t find it.  We went through our game of her pointing and me looking around stupidly for a few more minutes.  I was getting visibily frustrated when finally she swam up and put her finger next to a tiny nudibranch in the sand below the coral patch.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  I don’t know why she thought I would be able to see a 2 cm nudibranch from 5 meters away when looking at huge coral patch.  Or why she didn’t just swim up to it to show me in the first place.  Caroline you are a goon.

Dive #21 – 28/11/09

Site: Silver City, Osprey Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 14 minutes) 4:43 pm to 5:46 pm (63 minutes)

Depth: 20.6 meters

Visibility: 15-20 meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.96 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Silver City dive site map

Notes:  Our final dive on Osprey Reef was at a site named for the large number of Silvertip reef sharks seen when the mooring was put in.  We had several whitetips swimming with us along the wall, and also saw school of bigeye barracuda, and a great barracuda.  There were several crinoids/basket stars actively feeding, which was cool to watch as they looked like huge spiders moving their arms around.  I also got a surprise from a big moray eel.  I was in the back of the group when I found the moray so I stopped to take some pictures while everyone else kept going as I couldn’t get their attention.  While taking some photos I checked back to make sure everyone wasn’t too far away so I would be able to catch up.  When I turned back around the moray had come out and was right in my face, which gave me a bit of a jump.

I did 25 dives during my 7 days on the Spirit of Freedom, so check back soon for an update with logs of the remaining  4 dives from the trip.

Dive #22 – 29/11/09

Site: Dungeons and Dragons, Bougenville Reef

Time: (SI 13 hours 19 minutes) 7:06 am to 8:06 am (60 minutes)

Depth: 31.6 meters

Visibility: 25-30 meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 200 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.31 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Dungeons and Dragons dive site map

Dive #23 – 29/11/09

Site: Walmart, Bougenville Reef

Time: (SI 1 hour 44 minutes) 9:51 am to 10:48 am (57 minutes)

Depth: 34.1 meters

Visibility: 35+ meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.40 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Walmart dive site map

Dive #24 – 29/11/09

Site: Anchors Away, Bougenville Reef

Time: (SI 2 hours 10 minutes) 12:59 pm to 1:57 pm (58 minutes)

Depth: 28.9 meters

Visibility: 35+ meters

Water Temp: 24 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 210 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (1.24 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click for Anchors Away dive site map

Dive #25 – 29/11/09

Site: Corner Shop, Bougenville Reef

Time: (SI 1 hour 53 minutes) 3:52 pm to 4:54 pm (62 minutes)

Depth: 21.5 meters

Visibility: 35+ meters

Water Temp: 25 C

Equipment: Full suit w/ boots and fins, GEO computer, 6 kgs weight, 200 bar to 50 bar dive, Nitrox 32 (0.99 Partial Pressure O₂)

Click to view Corner Shop dive site map

Additional photos from the trip (click for full size photo)

Sharks

Nemo Shots