5-day Ribbon Reefs Dive/Minke Whale Expedition
Explorer Ventures |
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This trip is aboard Nimrod Explorer, a 72 foot Catamaran with a maximum of 18 divers and a Dive Staff of 6. It is for 5 days, 4 nights, and allows 12 dives, plus 4 night dives.
Departure Information
Departure is from Explorer Ventures offices, 206 Draper St., Cairns at 4:00 PM, return time 11:00 AM.
Trips depart 6/10/2008, 6/24/2008, 7/8/2008 and 7/22/2008.
The Dive
The migration of Dwarf Minke Whales onto parts of the Great Barrier Reef in June and July makes outstanding expeditions like this possible. Over the past five years, dive operators have come to recognize what a truly amazing experience this is, and have developed specialized trips to provide for maximum contact with these amazing animals.
Maximum contact is a good description of what usually happens with these animals.
 They are extremely curious, and will approach snorkelers that are on the surface very closely. (Think of it from their viewpoint, if you noticed a bunch of people hanging onto a rope behind a boat wouldn’t you wonder what the heck they were doing?) Whatever the reasons, the whales are extremely interested, and can hover around for hours. Contact is most often broken off by the humans, as it gets too dark to see anything clearly.
On this trip only one day will be spent on the Ribbon Reefs, where Minke Whales are encountered. That day will be spent diving on the outstanding dive sites on this section of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as hopefully with an encounter with the Minke Whales.
The other two dive days will be spent out on Osprey Reef in the Coral; great diving, but no encounters with Dwarf Minke Whales. If you are focusing on encountering Minke Whales you’d be better served by taking one of the other trips where more days are spent on the Ribbon Reefs. If you want to combine Coral Sea diving with encountering the whales this trip would be an excellent choice.
For a detailed trip itinerary, click here.
The Boat
The Nimrod Explorer is a large stable twin-hulled boat, built in 1984, and just coming out of a major refitting and refurbishing. It's length and beam provide plenty of space for the 18 divers it carries. The air-conditioned cabins are spacious and well-furnished, each having it's own private bath and shower. When we visited we couldn't help but notice how nice and comfortable the boat's cabins were. The dining and lounge areas are equally spacious and comfortable, and come equipped with a music and movie library.
Diving takes place off the rear deck, which has just been greatly expanded to provide even more dive deck area. The deck comes complete with all a diver needs. Gear bins, a camera table, charging station, camera and gear rinse tanks, and freshwater showers are all available right on the dive deck. The Nimrod also carries a dive tender, allowing for drift dives and more distant dives from the anchorage.
If the boat has a weak point, it is that it's top speed is only 9 knots. On some of the trips you may be moving at night to the next days' dive sites. However, by including flights in each itinerary Explorer Ventures has minimized the distance you will travel on board the boat.
Trip Prices
Included
 Tanks, weights (with Dive price only)
Connecting air flight from Cooktown to Cairns
Non-alcoholic beverages
All meals
All linen
Transfers to/from Cairns lodging
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All prices are in
US Dollars. |
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10 Dec 07 -
onwards
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| Snorkeler, quad-share cabin |
$1,005 |
| Certified Diver, quad-share cabin |
$1,117 |
| Snorkeler, double, private bath |
$1,467 |
| Certified Diver, double, private bath |
$1,631 |
| Extras: | |
| Alcoholic beverages (for sale at bar) |
- | | DAN Insurance per trip |
$15 | | Environmental management charge (pay on board) per trip |
$21 | | Fuel levy (pay on board) per trip |
$47 | | Nitrox dive package per trip |
$103 | | PADI advanced course |
$103 | | Refresher course |
$103 | | Full dive gear hire (inc. computer) per trip |
$107 | | Nitrox certification course |
$140 |
About Explorer Ventures
Explorer Ventures has been operating in Cairns since 2004, but they have 16 years in the dive business, and are well known in the Caribbean for operating the Caribbean Explorer. Their Cairns boat, the Nimrod Explorer, has been a fixture on the Cairns liveaboard dive scene for 10 years. This American company operates an office and other support facilities in Cairns, staffed with locals from the industry. With a recent major refurbishing of this boat, the company has made a commitment to provide a luxury liveaboard dive experience, emphasizing great diving and small group sizes of just 18 people.
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