CORAL SEA SAFARI, AUSTRALIA
7 nights / 6 dive days – Unlimited diving
Thursday:Check-in and Departure - Prior to 4:00pm . Check-in luggage at 143 Lake Street , Cairns .
7:00pm board Spoilsport at the Marlin Jetty - Berth 16, Cairns .
Cruise overnight to the magnificent Ribbon Reefs, the first stop on your 700km dive odyssey.
Friday:Ribbon Reef - Pixie Gardens , Cod Hole
Buddy up with diver size fish that dive with you at the CodHole! Swim with giant potato cod, napoleon wrasse and moray eels. Enjoy close encounters with huge Maori wrasse. Anticipate spectacular coral gardens, spotted rays, reef sharks and green turtle sightings. Night dive where decorator crabs, egg cowry shells, moray eels and crayfish are just a few of the creatures you can find.
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. At North Horn swim with giant potato cod, napoleon wrasse, moray eels, tuna and barracuda. 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.
Monday : Lizard Island & Ribbon Reef– 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)
Glide back towards the Cod Hole while enjoying the clear water and spectacular coral formations. • Choose to dive the Cod Hole again if you agree with us that one day is not enough to enjoy its diverse marine life. 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.
Tuesday:Ribbon Reef - Lighthouse Bommie, Pixie Pinnacle, Andy’s Postcard, Clam Beds, Vertical Gardens
Circumnavigate Pixie Pinnacle and Lighthouse Bommie shrouded in fusilier 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 had 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.
Wednesday:Ribbon Reef - Flare Point, Joani’s Joy, Steve’s Bommie
Spiral majestic coral pinnacles teeming with diverse 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.
Thursday:Dock at Marlin Jetty - Berth 16, Cairns
Early morning docking, breakfast, 8:00am courtesy transfers to Cairns city hotels.
This itinerary has been designed to include the ‘prime’ Ribbon Reef sites that have restricted access.
If weather forces an itinerary change our surety of access to the prime Ribbon Reef sites is your guarantee of the best diving.
• Additional Ribbon Reef sites: No Name Reef, Yonge Reef, Day Reef, Hicks Reef.
• Drift dives with schooling fish at the northern Ribbon Reef passes between No Name Reef, Yonge Reef and Hicks Reef, can be substituted for the standard Monday itinerary. |
