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Dive Review of Mike Ball Spoilsport in
Australia/Cairns

Mike Ball Spoilsport: "Great diving and awesome crew!", Sep, 2015,

by Steve Parker, FL, US ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 8365 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments My daughter and I signed up for the 4 night Coral Sea trip starting on September 10, 2015. We met the rest of the guests at happy hour at a restaurant near the boat before getting onboard. Mike Ball met us and I enjoyed talking with him. The trip was Awesome! I dove 11 dives. Most were on ribbon reef #10. The accommodations were excellent. The food was excellent - great selection of food and good vegetarian options. The staff was very safety conscious and had a written log for logging everyone in and out and required each individual to sign the log after the dive. And they also did a muster before leaving each dive location. Nitrox was consistently 32% and all of the fills were 3,000 psi plus. We did a couple of drift dives where the dinghy was used to drop us off. Wore 5 mm wet suits that kept us warm but by the 4th dive felt a little chilly. Some dives my daughter and I went off by ourselves and others we chose to follow one of the two Mike Ball dive masters that went. Saw all kinds of interesting fish including a cattle fish. Also saw an octopus during a day dive. Swam with a huge school of Sweetlip fish. Cod fish were fun. We were supposed to go to Coral Sea and dive Osprey reef, but the conditions were too rough to safely go - 30kt + winds and 6ft plus waves. Apparently this happens less than 9% of the time and we just happened to pick a time that had some less than ideal weather. Mike Ball kindly offered a discount for a later trip since we were not able to dive Osprey reef. Overall a great experience!
Websites Mike Ball Spoilsport   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk, Florida Keys, Gulf of Mexico.
Closest Airport Cairns Getting There LAX, Sydney, Cairns or Quantas from Dallas to Sydney to Cairns.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, cloudy Seas choppy
Water Temp -°F / -°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 65-90 Ft/ 20-27 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Don't remember exact depth limit - but was not an issue - just dove computer.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Dedicated table for equipment. Dedicated rinse tank. Also rents cameras. And has a professional photographer on board who will give advice on taking pictures. And a fun end of cruise photo competition.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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