Diving on the Spirit of Freedom in March 2026, few questions for you guys (Other suggetions?)

[TT_Vert]

Lot of questions and might be better to DM, but quick answer is because of the depth of the sites and often more challenging, the level of AOW is requested. However, if you can show extensive evidence of deeper diving etc and you're regular diver, then should be fine. We used to accept that.
Also only need Deep Adventure Dive or equivalent not full AOW.

Ribbon Reef trips much more varied dive sites and better than Outer Reef. Main expense is because you fly up one way and motor back.

Outer Reef still good options.

As for gear that's a personal choice and really if your used to your gear, it should not a problem to work out your buoyancy on first dive or just prior. If you've dived places like Bonair it's same set up.

When are you looking to travel by the way cos few options out there is could suggest depending what time if year?

Thanks. It's definitely different than any other dive ops I've dove with. I have over 75 dives deeper than 60' all over the country and never once was I asked for AOW (or anything beyond my OW C card really) but I do get the fact they have to protect themselves. I can't take the risk of getting there and them not letting me dive for not having the an advanced cert. We're going to fly out to Florida in a few months and get those dives in to get the cert. Can't do it out my way because I hate cold water diving and my wing only has 17# of lift so it's not going to cut it given I'd need lead for my exposure protection so off to warm water we go .

We are heading out to Australia in late Feb. into mid March. I do love my gear and bring it everywhere I can. I maintain and rebuild all of our gear and that's all I really want to dive with. I've seen enough go wrong w/ rental/loaner gear to lead me to that decision early on. So long as it's above 78F my 3mil should be fine. I generally get cold in 80F after 60-70 mins into a dive and then subsequent dives I seem to get cold sooner. I'm a lazy diver so my SAC is good but I also don't generate much heat because my HR is always pretty low. And with that, our bottom times are a bit longer than most which compounds my hatred for cold.