Steve's Bommie - Great Barrier Reef
Steve’s Bommie is a photographers dream with an incredible quantity of diverse marine life. Hunt out such creatures as stonefish, scorpionfish, octopus, clown anemone fish and turtles, not to mention the many schools of fish that call this place home.
Joani's Joy - Great Barrier Reef
Hard coral bommies rise vertically from 20m depth in turret-like formations swarming with blue damsels, sweetlips and the odd cuttlefish. Further along the reef, the gardens meet a vertical wall cut with caverns where sunlight filters down through the nooks and crannies.
Clam Beds - Great Barrier Reef
Hard coral gardens spread along the reef slope from 20m to 5m, dotted with giant clams that grow to over a metre in length and weigh over 200kg. Vibrantly coloured mantles make for fantastic photo opportunities and an abundant fish population adds to the magic.
Amazing - Holmes Reef - Coral Sea
A maze of bommies create tunnels and swim throughs, great to explore. The site provides a great habitat for fish as well as creatures such as octopus, cuttlefish and rock lobster, plus it’s a hotspot for grey reef and silvertip sharks which patrol the shallow reef wall.
Nonki Bommie - Holmes Reef - Coral Sea
Soft coral and sea fan enthusiasts will love this dive. Nonki Bommie rises to the surface from 35 metres and it is split with a huge crack down the middle filled with giant yellow and orange sea fans. Sharks and other fish are attracted to the site, making for an exciting dive.
MV Antonio Tarabocchia - Coral Sea
This cargo ship struck the Reef in 1961. The scattered remains include a huge engine block and propeller which now lie on the gentle sloping terraces of the reef. The clear water, strewn wreckage and abundant fish life, including resident potato cod, make fantastic diving.
Fairy Grotto - Osprey Reef - Coral Sea
A ‘mountain range’ of big coral bommies flanked by a steep wall dropping to over a 1000 meters. The many small caverns and swim throughs at this site give it its name, the largest of which is spacious enough to fit several divers.
Admiralty Anchor - Osprey Reef - Coral Sea
Named after an anchor lodged midway through a tunnel that makes for an exciting swim through. A maze of huge towering bommies are home to plenty of fish and a delight to explore. Below them a sheer wall attracts sharks and occasionally manta rays.
Shark Diving
This expedition offers three shark attraction dives: a shark observation dive with around 10 sharks; an exhilarating shark feed with up to 40 sharks; and a private shark shoot, for small groups of photographers allowing extremely close and clean shots. Read more
Dungeons & Dragons - Bougainville - Coral Sea
The reef top here is cut with an incredible maze of caves, tunnels and swim throughs – great to poke around to discover fish and other critters. Or venture beyond the shallows to a wall descending to around 1000m, where you can find sharks and barracuda.
Crystal Plateau - Bougainville Reef - Coral Sea
The reef top descends to a spectacular terrace of hard corals at 20-30m before edging over into an abyss hundreds of metres deep. Sea fans and soft corals adorn the reef wall where sharks also patrol.
False Entrance - Osprey Reef - Coral Sea
This site never disappoints with exciting fish action alongside colourful gorgonian fans, whips and soft corals. Resident barracuda and schooling big eye trevally make for great photo opportunities, and keep an eye out for cruising hammerheads out in the blue.
North Horn - Osprey Reef - Coral Sea
Welcome to shark central! Watch a controlled shark feed with 10-30 grey reef, white-tip reef, silver tip sharks. Keen photographers will have the opportunity to do a private shark shoot dive with limited numbers of divers, ensuring fantastic, clean and up close photos.
Western Wall - Osprey Reef - Coral Sea
Drift along a sheer wall plummeting over 1000m, cut with overhangs and grottos lined with soft corals and fans. Surgeon fish and fusiliers flow up and down the wall like waterfalls. Search for dogtooth tuna, grey reef sharks, barracuda and other pelagics out in the blue.
Scenic reef flight
End with a low level scenic flight over the reef from Lizard Island back to Cairns. Captain James Cook landed on Lizard Island in 1770, climbing to its peak to search for a way through the labyrinth of coral. He named the island after the many monitor lizards that live here.
Sample itinerary, subject to change based on conditions.
Thursday:
Friday: (4 dives + night dive) This is a sample of a ‘typical day’, however exact times may vary to optimise the prevailing weather conditions on the day.
Saturday: (4 dives + night dive)
Sunday: (4 dives)
Monday:
Important:
Itinerary selection subject to weather forecast, 6:30pm Thursday departure.
A: Standard Itinerary:
Or B: Fair Weather Itinerary (Preferred):
If itinerary B doesn’t proceed, reverts to A.
A & B: Stunning 250km low level Great Barrier Reef flight from Lizard Is. to Cairns. (Luggage)
Summary: Adventure Diving
Experience: Advanced, or 15 logged ocean dives inc. 5 in last 12 months
Embark:
Thursday 6pm – Trinity Wharf, Cairns.
(Check-in before 4pm at the Mike Ball office.)
Disembark:
Monday 11:45am - Cairns