7-night Ribbon Reefs - Coral Sea Dive 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 8 days, 7 nights, and allows 23 dives, plus 5 night dives.
Departure Information
Departure is from Explorer Ventures offices, 206 Draper St., Cairns at 4:00 PM Tuesdays, return time 8:00 AM.
The Dive
This 7-night trip visits some of the more remote and outstanding dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef, and 2 days diving at Osprey Reef, a remote Coral See reef lying outside of the Great Barrier Reef. All of these sites are out of the range of day dive operators, and can only be visited on live aboard boats. On this trip you will make up to 23 dives during the 6 diving days.
Following a day of diving along the northern Ribbon Reefs, an overnight steam delivers you to the idyllic Osprey Reef for 2 days of diving at sites such as ‘North Horn’, with its big shark action, abundant reef inhabitants, and spectacular soft corals often exceeding 2 metres in height. Here you will find dynamic wall diving with sharks, beautiful soft corals and shoals of pelagic fishes
Following the adventures at Osprey Reef you return for a half day stop to explore Lizard Island, than back out to further explore Ribbon Reefs for 3 more days of diving such outstanding dive sites as Steve’s Bommie and Escape Reef. Eventually the boat returns you to Cairns with a log book filled with descriptions of amazing diving. All told, you will make up to 23 dives on this boat.
This not an inexpesive trip, but it offers amazing diving. We like the fact, especially that dive gear and alcholic beverages are included in the trip price, which are extra cost items on most other dive boat that visits this region.
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
 Connecting flight to Lizard Island
Mask, Snorkel, Fins (with Snorkel price only)
All dive gear (inc. computer) (with Dive price only)
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
All linen
All meals
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All prices are in
US Dollars. |
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16 Jan 08 -
onwards
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| Snorkeler, quad-share cabin |
$1,795 |
| Certified Diver, quad-share cabin |
$1,895 |
| Snorkeler, double, private bath |
$2,795 |
| Certified Diver, double, private bath |
$2,895 |
| Extras: | |
| DAN Insurance per trip |
$16 | | Environmental management charge (pay on board) per trip |
$22 | | Fuel levy (pay on board) per trip |
$40 | | Nitrox dive package |
$85 | | PADI advanced course |
$110 | | Refresher course |
$110 | | Nitrox certification course |
$150 |
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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