Spirit of Freedom - Cairns. 4 day Osprey Reef Trip.

[Ulsterkiwi]

My wife and I have just returned home after a 4 day trip on the Spirit of Freedom to the Osprey Reef.

I dont intend to write a huge review here, that has been done by others more eloquent than I in previous posts.

What I do want to do is mark what we found to be an exemplary experience both in terms of the diving and the "living" part of a liveaboard.

I realise crews change all the time on such boats which simply move from one group of guests to the other but the skipper on our trip was Tony and Joe was the amazing trip director. It is slightly cliched to say they treated us like the only guests on the boat but we honestly came away with that feeling. The entire crew seemed to be going the second mile to make our particular trip the best ever, nothing and I mean nothing, was too much trouble or an inconvenience to these amazing people. I realise they were simply doing their job but the level of professionalism applied was just outstanding.

This was our first warm water diving experience, we were delighted with the right mix of adrenaline (the shark feed) and relaxation (final lagoon dives). 15 dives were offered and we did them all. Using nitrox helped but such was the enthusiasm of the crew we were not going to miss anything on offer.

Food was excellent and plentiful, accomodation was more than comfortable and spotless, even with a full complement of guests there was plenty of room for everyone to relax between dives. Things seemed to happen without our noticing from the tanks being filled to our used coffee cups being whisked away to the servicing of the cabins on a daily basis and always the crew were smiling and ready to answer our requests.

Osprey Reef is a gem, worth the somewhat rough crossing to get there. The crew know the good spots and love to share them. My eyes still pop when I recall what we saw there. Its not the kind of diving you do if you last were in the water a few years ago in 6metres just to see if you remembered what it felt like. I would strongly urge you to be up to speed with your skills, if only so you can enjoy everything on offer.

If you are going to be in Queensland, want to dive the GBR and are wondering how to do it, this boat is your answer.

Thank you to Capt Tony, Joe and all the team for an experience we will never forget and one we very much want to repeat in the future.

 

[nelsonj8]

I have just booked the exact trip on the spirit of freedom. My girlfriend and I are going and are both experienced divers. We are greatly looking forward to this trip and have even invested in a new camera.

However, i have a couple friends joining us who just recently got open water and advanced certified within a week of each other. They seem pretty comfortable in the water, but do you think this dive is too much for them to handle?

I noticed you said you should be up to speed on your skills. But can you elaborate more about the difficulty of the dive. What did you experience that i should warn my friends about? Drift diving, greater depth, etc...?

Thanks

 

[Ulsterkiwi]

If this reply is too late, I apologise, your question slipped my attention.
The experience on Osprey reef is not outside the bounds of someone who has recently done the PADI AOW. In fact you can get your AOW certification on the trip. If they are already comfortable in the water there should be no issue and you can on request, be accompanied by a guide on each dive.
Osprey reef is essentially a large pinnacle 250km odd out from the coast of Queensland. The sea bed around the reef lies anywhere between 900 and 1200 metres down. You will do lots of wall diving and if you are not up to speed with your buoyancy you will not get the best possible value from this trip. Most dives begin around the 30+m mark and the dive is a lazy swim back up to 10m for your first stop. 30m is not the place for a novice (in my opinion). Yes you can do many of the dives at 12m and I also believe going deep for sake of it is pointless but with this place there is so much to see at 30m its worth being comfortable at these depths.
There is also the possibility of diving in current. My wife and I do most of our diving on the south coast of New Zealand's North Island. Even our shore dives often have perceptible current and a run of the mill boat dive for us might see us covering 1km in less than 30 minutes. What am I saying? We are comfortable in stiff currents, not everyone is!
I dont mean to put you off, this is an awesome trip and the crew will brief you fully on what to expect on each dive and let you plan accordingly. I guess I am expressing an opinion that this trip is best enjoyed by those with a little more experience and confidence but can be enjoyed by all under the watchful eye of the crew.