411 Dive Log Australasia April 2025

We cruised up to Lizard Island over three days diving the best of the Ribbon Reefs. On the morning of day 4, we did a tour of the Island led by our Master Reef Guide Jamie. He gave us a run down of the history of Lizard and the incredible story of Mrs Watson and her baby in 1881, one of the first settlers that landed there by accident in the very early days of settlement. The diving at Osprey Reef included the shark feed and the drift dive along the North West side of the North Horn of Osprey reef. This is where the hundred Bump Headed Parrot fish were cruising. After the dingy dropped us off a few hundred metres up current, we drifted back towards the Spirit. This was a most memorable dive for the seemingly endless steady passing of Bump Headed Parrotfish. Sadly it became memorable for the wrong reasons for me. All of the other divers had been approached by a small Whale shark. The first dive pair had a good few minutes swimming with the curious shark. I

The shark feed at Osprey Reef is a very important research program where vital data is collected.

comes down to great on board management from the Trip Director, James. I have dived on many liveaboards and met a lot of excellent Trip Directors and even some who fall short. I do not remember being on a dive boat and having such a great, helpful dive crew. As it turned out, my week on board The Spirit was one of the best dive trips I had done for quite a while. The boat has been plying the reef for over thirty five years. Like all dive boats, they have a well developed dive itinerary of great dive spots but they do the occasional exploratory dive in the hope of finding another and possibly better one. It is absolutely essential that divers get to see the best possible dive sites.

could see a flurry of activity and excitement just ten to fifteen metres or so in front of me but I was not able to see what the fuss was all about. My buddy who was ahead of me, was pointing excitedly down into the blue. I saw a small Grey Reef shark and some pelagic fish off in the distance. As she kept gesticulating to me to look down there I still could not make anything out. Back on board, she told me that she was pointing at the Whale shark twenty metres below down in the darker water. I had to be content with seeing some great video footage back on board. We had a few dives where the current was very powerful fifty metres off the reef. As you would expect, the huge boat could not get too close to the vertical coral wall. The dive plan was to jump into the water, grab a safety rope and

71 Dive Log Australasia #411 April 25

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