Hi Everyone,
Just got back for the 7-night Ashmore Exploratory Expedition with Mike Ball. This Trip Report is for people in the future who may be researching about the trip.
This trip was planned back in April 2024, and is a follow up from a thread I posted here:
All up, the plan went successfully!
A few of the things I saw on the trip:
Why Did I Go on This Trip?
I have previously been on various Australian liveaboards, including Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom. Have visited Osprey Reef twice; have done the Minke Whale expedition. Decided on this trip to try something different.
The Itinerary
Throughout the 7 nights, the itinerary for us was:
How Does it Compare to Osprey Reef
My curiosity was to see how this trip compared to the "standard" Osprey trips that I have been doing over the past 17 years, I found Ashmore to be excellent if you enjoy unspoilt coral environment diving. There were reef sharks, barracuda, the rare turtle and manta ray - but expect less pelagic species compared to the classic Osprey Reef experience. It is a totally different experience really.
Water depth was between 50 metres (although I never went that deep due to my gas selection), and the beautiful coral gardens were as shallow as 3 metres.
The other differentiator is that the boat is boarded and disembarked at Horn Island, which is a small island in the Torres Strait of Australia. I need up spending a total of four nights in Horns Island to check out the environment, the history and nearby Thursday Island. It is very remote, reminds me of small villages and towns in South East Asia and Cairns by comparison is a big city in comparison.
Visibility was typically around 20 metres, as low as 12 metres and as high as 30 metres. So not the 40+ metres blue sphere I have experienced on other trips to Osprey.
The Crew Service and Boat Ammenities
Service was consistently good. The crew are well-trained, we encountered some sudden plan changes as the weather was erratic, but everything was under control. One of the reasons why I favour diving on "luxury" class liveaboards in Australia's the high level of safety expected. Everything from diving practices to equipment like Nautilus Lifeline supplied to every diver makes for safer diving for everyone.
Diving (slightly) Non-Standard Equipment
My preferred equipment configuration which was twin cylinders in side mount configuration, use of a Dive Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) and for me to dive solo with my camera set up. I brought all of my own equipment (excluding cylinders and dive weights). All up it was around 55kg of gear to Horn Island.
Once geared up, I jumped from the dive platform into the water with my cylinders attached and DPV on hand. Then have the camera passed to me by the helpful crew at the bottom dive platform.
Getting back into the boat was no issue, I handed up my camera, locked the DPV trigger throttle and unclipped my DPV and passed that up. Then climbed onboard on the dive ladder with my side mount cylinders attached. They were able to accomodate me even when we were doing drift dives with the boat tenders.
Charging of my camera video lights, camera batteries and DPV were done at the charging station the dive deck. They have a special charging setup to allow 24 hour charging (and this is all monitored).
Nitrox 32% (although it measured 30% on two of the boat's analysers and my own personal analyser) was the choice of gas. At standard oxgen partial pressure of 1.4, this meant a 37m Maximum Operating Depth, which was fine for the dives we did.
I found the use of a DPV to be bowline essential to conserve energy and have a more relaxing diving experience, combined with the sheer range it gives me to explore. Obviously, I had to consider not going so far that I couldn't swim back to the boat in the planned dive time, if my scooter were to fail.
Finally, we had Helen a professional videotographer onboard to provide us photos and videos made of the trip. I will link her video when we receive the link to the final movie.
Food
The food was excellent in quality and plentiful. My expectation was rather high, and the quality of the food onboard was something II consider very good. June our chef prepared well cooked and presented meals. She also did prepare some alternative dishes (usually asian style stir fries) as I indicated I was lactose-intolerant, and those were delicious.
Was there anything not ideal
Sleeping can be an issue onboard, particularly when the boat is underway in rough weather. I had a standard room to myself and the air conditioning in the room combined with the diesel generator meant I was woken up several time throughout the night. Some passengers also reported sea sickness due to the rough weather, and this can cause lack of sleep.
My advice is to hunker down and try and sleep as soon as you can before the boat moves. Use sea sickness medication early as that takes time to take effect.
There is also no WiFi or internet offered to guests, even though I could clearly see a Starlink High-Performance dish on the top deck. My suggestion to Mike Ball after the trip is to offer some form of internet service (even if a secondary StarLink standard dish on a roaming plan) is setup. I heard some guests bring their own portable Starlink dish and set it up in their cabin. Some of my photographic software (PhotoAI) needed to be authorised and this wasn't possible to be done onboard without internet access.
Summary
Really enjoyed my trip and it was great to see a different part of Australia.
Just got back for the 7-night Ashmore Exploratory Expedition with Mike Ball. This Trip Report is for people in the future who may be researching about the trip.
This trip was planned back in April 2024, and is a follow up from a thread I posted here:
All up, the plan went successfully!
A few of the things I saw on the trip:
Why Did I Go on This Trip?
I have previously been on various Australian liveaboards, including Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom. Have visited Osprey Reef twice; have done the Minke Whale expedition. Decided on this trip to try something different.
The Itinerary
Throughout the 7 nights, the itinerary for us was:
- Friday 11 April - Board Spoilsport from the Horn Island public pier. Welcome, briefings and administration paperwork were done onboard that evening.
- Saturday 12 April - Arrived at the Great Detached Reef. Dove the site "Big Woody" twice. Motored to Moulter Cay and dove "Cocoon" twice (including night dive).
- Sunday 13 April - Motored to Beva Reef and dove "Silvertip". Motored to Boot Reef and dove "Boot Scoot" twice. Then motored to a different area and dove "Knee-High" twice (including a night dive).
- Monday 14 April - Overnight motor to Ashmore Reef. Dove "Cassowary's Head" as a drift dive in rough conditions, "Plate Paradise". Then dove "Stag Dew" twice (including a night dive).
- Tuesday 15 April - Dove "Top Notch" twice, then dove "Coral Meadows" once. A night dive at "Coral Meadows" was cancelled due to bad weather.
- Wednesday 16 April - Motored overnight back to the Great Detached Reef and dove "Oh My Bommie!" and then "Twin Peaks" twice.
- Thursday 17 April - Due to windy weather we motored to a sheltered area on the Great Detached Reef and dove "Crusty's Azure Canyons" three times. The weather conditions was windy, wind directions were erratic and there was plenty of rain.
- Friday 18 April - Arrival back in Horn Island.
How Does it Compare to Osprey Reef
My curiosity was to see how this trip compared to the "standard" Osprey trips that I have been doing over the past 17 years, I found Ashmore to be excellent if you enjoy unspoilt coral environment diving. There were reef sharks, barracuda, the rare turtle and manta ray - but expect less pelagic species compared to the classic Osprey Reef experience. It is a totally different experience really.
Water depth was between 50 metres (although I never went that deep due to my gas selection), and the beautiful coral gardens were as shallow as 3 metres.
The other differentiator is that the boat is boarded and disembarked at Horn Island, which is a small island in the Torres Strait of Australia. I need up spending a total of four nights in Horns Island to check out the environment, the history and nearby Thursday Island. It is very remote, reminds me of small villages and towns in South East Asia and Cairns by comparison is a big city in comparison.
Visibility was typically around 20 metres, as low as 12 metres and as high as 30 metres. So not the 40+ metres blue sphere I have experienced on other trips to Osprey.
The Crew Service and Boat Ammenities
Service was consistently good. The crew are well-trained, we encountered some sudden plan changes as the weather was erratic, but everything was under control. One of the reasons why I favour diving on "luxury" class liveaboards in Australia's the high level of safety expected. Everything from diving practices to equipment like Nautilus Lifeline supplied to every diver makes for safer diving for everyone.
Diving (slightly) Non-Standard Equipment
My preferred equipment configuration which was twin cylinders in side mount configuration, use of a Dive Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) and for me to dive solo with my camera set up. I brought all of my own equipment (excluding cylinders and dive weights). All up it was around 55kg of gear to Horn Island.
Once geared up, I jumped from the dive platform into the water with my cylinders attached and DPV on hand. Then have the camera passed to me by the helpful crew at the bottom dive platform.
Getting back into the boat was no issue, I handed up my camera, locked the DPV trigger throttle and unclipped my DPV and passed that up. Then climbed onboard on the dive ladder with my side mount cylinders attached. They were able to accomodate me even when we were doing drift dives with the boat tenders.
Charging of my camera video lights, camera batteries and DPV were done at the charging station the dive deck. They have a special charging setup to allow 24 hour charging (and this is all monitored).
Nitrox 32% (although it measured 30% on two of the boat's analysers and my own personal analyser) was the choice of gas. At standard oxgen partial pressure of 1.4, this meant a 37m Maximum Operating Depth, which was fine for the dives we did.
I found the use of a DPV to be bowline essential to conserve energy and have a more relaxing diving experience, combined with the sheer range it gives me to explore. Obviously, I had to consider not going so far that I couldn't swim back to the boat in the planned dive time, if my scooter were to fail.
Finally, we had Helen a professional videotographer onboard to provide us photos and videos made of the trip. I will link her video when we receive the link to the final movie.
Food
The food was excellent in quality and plentiful. My expectation was rather high, and the quality of the food onboard was something II consider very good. June our chef prepared well cooked and presented meals. She also did prepare some alternative dishes (usually asian style stir fries) as I indicated I was lactose-intolerant, and those were delicious.
Was there anything not ideal
Sleeping can be an issue onboard, particularly when the boat is underway in rough weather. I had a standard room to myself and the air conditioning in the room combined with the diesel generator meant I was woken up several time throughout the night. Some passengers also reported sea sickness due to the rough weather, and this can cause lack of sleep.
My advice is to hunker down and try and sleep as soon as you can before the boat moves. Use sea sickness medication early as that takes time to take effect.
There is also no WiFi or internet offered to guests, even though I could clearly see a Starlink High-Performance dish on the top deck. My suggestion to Mike Ball after the trip is to offer some form of internet service (even if a secondary StarLink standard dish on a roaming plan) is setup. I heard some guests bring their own portable Starlink dish and set it up in their cabin. Some of my photographic software (PhotoAI) needed to be authorised and this wasn't possible to be done onboard without internet access.
Summary
Really enjoyed my trip and it was great to see a different part of Australia.
- Had some magical swimming moments with the reef sharks and turtles.
- Found the crew to be superb and were great at their jobs.
- Very safe diving practices, no corners were cut.
- Mike Ball accommodated my request for solo diving (after showing certification) and use of DPV.
