littleguppie
Contributor
Sadly we are back from our 2 1/2 week trip to Australia! The entire trip was great but our dive trip with Spirit of Freedom was by far the highlight!!! Based on my review you'd probably think I work for the company or something, but I was that blown away with everything!
We did the 4 day Cod Hole-Ribbon Reef-Coral Sea trip on Sept 4th - Sept 8th. The flight out to Lizard Island was fantastic. We were greeted at the airport by Captain and taken over to tendors that took us aboard SOF. The vessel is very impressive. It can hold 18 divers and we had 15 on our trip. There were 9 staff plus the Captain so a total of 25 people on the boat. The boat has everything you could ever want/need. There are computers available to upload your photos (bring your camera USB cables and CDs or memory card or you can buy a CD on board). DVD library for movies at night in the huge lounge area. Rooms are spacious and clean. Upper deck has plenty of tables, chairs and lounge chairs for getting some sun. The dive prep area is great. Everyone has a bench that opens up to store fins, mask, weight belt, booties, etc.
Diving: Amazing! B/c of an unfortunate incident that happened on the boat the day before we arrived (a guy got the bends as he had been diving dehydrated...didn't drink a lick of water for 3 days!) we got to do the Cod Feed. The 4 day trip goes to Cod hole but does not have the Cod Feed (the feed is on the 3 day or 7 day trip only). The feed was awesome! The Cod swim right up to your face and are so docile. It's soooo cool! We did 2 dives the first day, 5 dives the 2nd, 4 dives the 3rd and 4 dives the 4th for a total of 15 dives. The sites were great! Day 2 we did the shark feed - what can I say about this....it was incredible! 100's of sharks!! It was the neatest thing. The diving was first rate. We saw so many nudibranches, amazing fish, sharks, corals, even manta rays! You can go guided 100% of the time if you want. There are always instructors available if you'd like to go with one.
Service: This is where I think SOF took things above and beyond my expectations. The crew is amazing! They are there to help you have the best time you can have. Anything that you need, they take care of. We did a night dive and my purge valve on my BCD was causing my BCD to constantly deflate. Very frustrating as I had to keep adding air the entire dive to maintain bouyancy. When I surfaced I mentioned that it had happened. I went off to dinner and within 30 minutes, one of the instructors was kneeling down by my side to let me know that she had changed out my BCD and that it was brand new but it was a small instead of an 'XS' and that it might ride up a bit. She told me to let her know if it did and they'd figure something out to make me comfortable. All the crew is so happy and helpful. I didn't feel at all they were the crew and were the guests. Sure they are there to work for you, but they ate meals with us, watched movies, joked around, etc. I helped clear the plates plenty of times. They are a great group of people. I felt they really cared about us and not just b/c they had to. The first night most people got seasick (only 4 did not). I was out on the dive deck getting sick and one of the girls came out and set up her laptop for me with speakers so i could watch a DVD outside to take my mind off things. C'mon...that is just nice! She did not need to do that. I can't say enough goods things about the crew and how helpful they all were. It really made the trip extra special!
Meals: You will not go hungry on this boat. They told us the first day you will either be diving or eating while on the boat. This couldn't be more true. You literally have breakfast #1, dive, breakfast #2, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, snack, dive, dinner, bed. We had a chef on board from Paris and the food was delish! Wine with dinner each night too! Yummy! Plus he will cater to any food likes/dislikes/allergies/etc.
It couldn't have been a better trip! We had amazing sunny weather, great diving, great food, great service! I'm already planning to go back and dive with them again when it's Minke whale season!
Pick SOF and you won't regret it!
We did the 4 day Cod Hole-Ribbon Reef-Coral Sea trip on Sept 4th - Sept 8th. The flight out to Lizard Island was fantastic. We were greeted at the airport by Captain and taken over to tendors that took us aboard SOF. The vessel is very impressive. It can hold 18 divers and we had 15 on our trip. There were 9 staff plus the Captain so a total of 25 people on the boat. The boat has everything you could ever want/need. There are computers available to upload your photos (bring your camera USB cables and CDs or memory card or you can buy a CD on board). DVD library for movies at night in the huge lounge area. Rooms are spacious and clean. Upper deck has plenty of tables, chairs and lounge chairs for getting some sun. The dive prep area is great. Everyone has a bench that opens up to store fins, mask, weight belt, booties, etc.
Diving: Amazing! B/c of an unfortunate incident that happened on the boat the day before we arrived (a guy got the bends as he had been diving dehydrated...didn't drink a lick of water for 3 days!) we got to do the Cod Feed. The 4 day trip goes to Cod hole but does not have the Cod Feed (the feed is on the 3 day or 7 day trip only). The feed was awesome! The Cod swim right up to your face and are so docile. It's soooo cool! We did 2 dives the first day, 5 dives the 2nd, 4 dives the 3rd and 4 dives the 4th for a total of 15 dives. The sites were great! Day 2 we did the shark feed - what can I say about this....it was incredible! 100's of sharks!! It was the neatest thing. The diving was first rate. We saw so many nudibranches, amazing fish, sharks, corals, even manta rays! You can go guided 100% of the time if you want. There are always instructors available if you'd like to go with one.
Service: This is where I think SOF took things above and beyond my expectations. The crew is amazing! They are there to help you have the best time you can have. Anything that you need, they take care of. We did a night dive and my purge valve on my BCD was causing my BCD to constantly deflate. Very frustrating as I had to keep adding air the entire dive to maintain bouyancy. When I surfaced I mentioned that it had happened. I went off to dinner and within 30 minutes, one of the instructors was kneeling down by my side to let me know that she had changed out my BCD and that it was brand new but it was a small instead of an 'XS' and that it might ride up a bit. She told me to let her know if it did and they'd figure something out to make me comfortable. All the crew is so happy and helpful. I didn't feel at all they were the crew and were the guests. Sure they are there to work for you, but they ate meals with us, watched movies, joked around, etc. I helped clear the plates plenty of times. They are a great group of people. I felt they really cared about us and not just b/c they had to. The first night most people got seasick (only 4 did not). I was out on the dive deck getting sick and one of the girls came out and set up her laptop for me with speakers so i could watch a DVD outside to take my mind off things. C'mon...that is just nice! She did not need to do that. I can't say enough goods things about the crew and how helpful they all were. It really made the trip extra special!
Meals: You will not go hungry on this boat. They told us the first day you will either be diving or eating while on the boat. This couldn't be more true. You literally have breakfast #1, dive, breakfast #2, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, snack, dive, dinner, bed. We had a chef on board from Paris and the food was delish! Wine with dinner each night too! Yummy! Plus he will cater to any food likes/dislikes/allergies/etc.
It couldn't have been a better trip! We had amazing sunny weather, great diving, great food, great service! I'm already planning to go back and dive with them again when it's Minke whale season!
Pick SOF and you won't regret it!
