SPOILSPORT, AUSTRALIA: Itinerary
CORAL SEA EXPEDITION / CLASSIC ITINERARY:
Day 1: Normally on Tuesday, check in before 4 p.m. at the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions office on 252 Walker Street in Townsville. Board the Spoilsport, flagship of the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions fleet, by 8 p.m. Start the 130-mile Spoilsport cruise to Flinder's Reef, Australia's renowned Coral Sea diving destination to the north.
Day 2: The Spoilsport visits Rock Arch & Anemone City. Here "viz" often reaches 150 feet on a good day & the wall diving is just spectacular. The Rock Arch is laden with large golden gorgonia (sea fans). But there's so much more on these Mike Ball Dive Expeditions scuba vacations.
Day 3: Visit Next the Spoilsport visits Herald Surprise & Lonely Eel dive sites. These coral reefs are very seldom ever dived & are wonderfully virgin marine sanctuaries. There's one long deep wall that's loaded with colorful soft corals, many of them gigantic formations. Pelagic sharks & turtles abound, as do billowing schools of fusilliers. Some sea fans reach 10 feet in height! This is like the Beatles' Octopus' Garden -- to the 7th Power!
Day 4: Visit Then the Spoilsport heads over to Soft Spot, Tawriffic, Eel Field & Flinders Sand Cay. You will see a dazzling aggregate of soft corals & sea fans at the Soft Spot + big fish cruising the Tawriffic Pinnacle + rare garden eels at Eel Field + you can amble amongst nesting ocean birds & sea turtles during the Nov. - Feb. season. On Flinders Cay you'll get a refreshing drink at sundown plus a dandy barbecue. Throw another shrimp on the...yep, you've got it, mate.
Day 5: Spoilsport also visits Watanabe, Dart Reef & Coral Gardens, among other Australia scuba diving classics. Here schools of barracuda, tuna, trevally & sharks will encircle & enchant you with their sheer numbers & diversity of color. The Watanabe pinnacle juts more than 140 feet above the ocean floor. There's an old Coral Sea diving classic wreck near Dart Reef's South Wall that's fun to explore.
Day 6: You'll also visit China Wall, Cod Wall & Scuba Zoo, Australia scuba diving classics. The China Wall drops off from your reef position to nearly 1000 feet into the inky abyss! You'll see the weird & intriguing Auger Cave, which spirals upwards like a rocky corkscrew tunnel & exits into a placid lagoon that's bristling with marine life. Scuba Zoo, another venerable classic of Australia diving, features graceful sharks that your dive guides will feed for maximum adrenaline & critter cruising action. But there's still more on these Mike Ball Dive Expeditions dive vacations.
Day 7: You'll visit the world-famous Yongala Wreck, one of the most fish-laden sites on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Some days gentle stingrays will float placidlly with you above the wreck. The numbers of different species here at Yongala Wreck, & the health of these Yongala Wreck fish will amaze you. You return to Townsville by 5 p.m., bidding adieu to one of the finest packages in Australia diving -- Yongala Wreck.
ANOTHER TYPICAL ITINERARY for this COLORFUL CORAL SEA EXPEDITION on SPOILSPORT
7 Days, 6 Dive Days & Unlimited Safe-Table Diving
This Coral Sea experience is ideal for all levels of divers seeking to participate in Australia's best live-aboard expedition Spoilsport is Australia's most prestigious & comfortable live-aboard. Your Expedition cruises around 130 miles offshore to some of the most diverse sites available. Enjoy the best diving available on the great barrier Reef, Flinders Reef, & the world famous Yongala Wreck. (Dive sites listed are illustrative of the diving provided throughout this inspiring ocean voyage. You WILL get to see these & many other colorful Australia scuba diving sites.)
Tuesday: Check in & Departure --
Wednesday: China Wall & Trigger Happy --
Thursday: Pelagic Lookout, Arizona & Anenome City --
Friday: Watanabe, Grey Beards & Midnight --
Saturday: The Castle, Fantastic & Flinders Coral Cay --
Sunday: Cod Wall, & Scuba Zoo & Geronimo's + Berlin Wall --
Monday: Yongala Wreck & Return --
Day 1: Normally on Tuesday, check in before 4 p.m. at the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions office on 252 Walker Street in Townsville. Board the Spoilsport, flagship of the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions fleet, by 8 p.m. Start the 130-mile Spoilsport cruise to Flinder's Reef, Australia's renowned Coral Sea diving destination to the north.
Day 2: The Spoilsport visits Rock Arch & Anemone City. Here "viz" often reaches 150 feet on a good day & the wall diving is just spectacular. The Rock Arch is laden with large golden gorgonia (sea fans). But there's so much more on these Mike Ball Dive Expeditions scuba vacations.
Day 3: Visit Next the Spoilsport visits Herald Surprise & Lonely Eel dive sites. These coral reefs are very seldom ever dived & are wonderfully virgin marine sanctuaries. There's one long deep wall that's loaded with colorful soft corals, many of them gigantic formations. Pelagic sharks & turtles abound, as do billowing schools of fusilliers. Some sea fans reach 10 feet in height! This is like the Beatles' Octopus' Garden -- to the 7th Power!
Day 4: Visit Then the Spoilsport heads over to Soft Spot, Tawriffic, Eel Field & Flinders Sand Cay. You will see a dazzling aggregate of soft corals & sea fans at the Soft Spot + big fish cruising the Tawriffic Pinnacle + rare garden eels at Eel Field + you can amble amongst nesting ocean birds & sea turtles during the Nov. - Feb. season. On Flinders Cay you'll get a refreshing drink at sundown plus a dandy barbecue. Throw another shrimp on the...yep, you've got it, mate.
Day 5: Spoilsport also visits Watanabe, Dart Reef & Coral Gardens, among other Australia scuba diving classics. Here schools of barracuda, tuna, trevally & sharks will encircle & enchant you with their sheer numbers & diversity of color. The Watanabe pinnacle juts more than 140 feet above the ocean floor. There's an old Coral Sea diving classic wreck near Dart Reef's South Wall that's fun to explore.
Day 6: You'll also visit China Wall, Cod Wall & Scuba Zoo, Australia scuba diving classics. The China Wall drops off from your reef position to nearly 1000 feet into the inky abyss! You'll see the weird & intriguing Auger Cave, which spirals upwards like a rocky corkscrew tunnel & exits into a placid lagoon that's bristling with marine life. Scuba Zoo, another venerable classic of Australia diving, features graceful sharks that your dive guides will feed for maximum adrenaline & critter cruising action. But there's still more on these Mike Ball Dive Expeditions dive vacations.
Day 7: You'll visit the world-famous Yongala Wreck, one of the most fish-laden sites on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Some days gentle stingrays will float placidlly with you above the wreck. The numbers of different species here at Yongala Wreck, & the health of these Yongala Wreck fish will amaze you. You return to Townsville by 5 p.m., bidding adieu to one of the finest packages in Australia diving -- Yongala Wreck.
ANOTHER TYPICAL ITINERARY for this COLORFUL CORAL SEA EXPEDITION on SPOILSPORT
7 Days, 6 Dive Days & Unlimited Safe-Table Diving
This Coral Sea experience is ideal for all levels of divers seeking to participate in Australia's best live-aboard expedition Spoilsport is Australia's most prestigious & comfortable live-aboard. Your Expedition cruises around 130 miles offshore to some of the most diverse sites available. Enjoy the best diving available on the great barrier Reef, Flinders Reef, & the world famous Yongala Wreck. (Dive sites listed are illustrative of the diving provided throughout this inspiring ocean voyage. You WILL get to see these & many other colorful Australia scuba diving sites.)
Tuesday: Check in & Departure --
- Check in between 9 am & 4 pm, 252 Walker Street, Townsville. (Board Spoilsport 8 pm).
- Cruise 130 miles to Flinders Reef Australia's premier Coral Sea Location.
Wednesday: China Wall & Trigger Happy --
- Experience 150 ft viz at the China Wall that plummets to 3,000 ft.
- Circumnavigate "Trigger Happy", a group of bommies rising from 150 ft.
- Find sleeping sharks & pipefish under overhangs laced with gorgonian fans on this Australia diving mega-site.
Thursday: Pelagic Lookout, Arizona & Anenome City --
- Visit Anenome City, coral heads carpeted with anenomes & a superb overhang
- surrounded by sea fans. Swim amongst a fish food chain at Pelagic Lookout.
- Appreciate a superb variety of hard corals to 30 meters at a site dubbed Arizona.
Friday: Watanabe, Grey Beards & Midnight --
- Dive the towering Watenabe Pinnacle that thrusts a 170 ft.
- Become engulfed in schools of barracuda, tuna, trevally & sharks.
- Swim through a forest of diver size soft coral trees at midnight.
- Find exotic marine animals like cuttlefish, sea hares & starry morays.
Saturday: The Castle, Fantastic & Flinders Coral Cay --
- Search for nudibranchs & leopard sharks at The Castle, rising from 150 ft.
- Stroll with seabirds & turtles during nesting season (Oct - March).
- Celebrate the end of a fantastic day with a sunset drink & Aussie BBQ.
Sunday: Cod Wall, & Scuba Zoo & Geronimo's + Berlin Wall --
- Scan this spectacular wall which drops to 1,000 ft.
- Descend onto gorgonian fans up to 15 ft wide (The Gigantus Gorgonus).
- Mingle with patrolling sharks, tuna & barracuda at this Australia scuba diving classic.
- Come within arms reach of a 30 plus shark feed frenzy at Scuba Zoo.
Monday: Yongala Wreck & Return --
- Explore one of the world's best wreck dives - the Yongala.
- Inspect the many remaining artifacts.
- Hover with huge stingrays over the wreck.
- Witness more marine life here than on a whole trip elsewhere.
- Arrive in Townsville at 5pm.
All Spoilsport photos © Copyright Mike Ball Dive Expiditions.