After 2 knee operations and a long time out of the water I was anticipating my first expedition back… in the middle of winter... with excitement and a bit of of trepidation. Would my leg be OK and would we see minke whales at the back end of the season?  Well my leg was fine, the minkes turned up and we had a sensational week of diving with a fantastic group of divers from around the world. In addition, warmer ocean temperatures had lingered since a NOAA coral bleaching warning back in March. Thankfully no noticeable coral bleaching was observed on our sites at the top end of the Ribbon Reefs and Coral Sea. The general quality of the diving is further confirmed by our end of expedition guest critique forms. We are receiving more consistent positive reviews than any period in our history in Australia or PNG. The combination of good reef management and caring dive operators has contributed to the healthy coral cover and abundant big fish and shark action.

Note: The special weeklong Minke Whale Coral Sea Exploratory expedition with an experienced Minke Whale Researcher onboard is being repeated 14th-21st July 2011. Let me know if you want to join me

 

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Minke Whale Season Wind-up Comments

Keith Dalleywater - Australia - “Minke interaction was unique and wonderful. This was our first liveaboard  - we are converts!

Anthony Bone - Canada -The best thing about the expedition would have to be the whales,

Andrew Hunter - Australia -“Dive highlights would have to be the minke whales coming in on our safety stop on dive sites, was an absolute dream

Matt Curnock from the Minke Whale Research team summed up the 2010 season as a huge success. "This was the 15th year of study into the biology and behavior of dwarf minke whales in the Great Barrier Reef, and the sustainability of whales interactions with snorkellers and divers.  A key researcher was present on each of the Spoilsport minke expeditions. Valuable data from numerous and often lengthy in-water interactions was collected. In the evenings the reserachers provided animated slideshows, showcasing the latest results of their research.  Guests contributed a great deal to the research data by providing copies of their photos for the underwater photo-ID study, and by filling in behavior logs.  Among the many highlights this season were several sightings of 'Bento', a >6m female that treated divers and snorkellers to many close passes. Bento has returned to the same area each year since 2007 and has appeared in several award winning photographs.  The Minke Whale Project research team are very grateful to Mike Ball Dive Expeditions for their outstanding and long-term support for this important research."

Visit the minke whale photo gallery to view shots taken by crew & passengers.

 

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New Photo Gallery: From Coral Sea Safari Guest, Ty Sawyer.

Ty traveled with us in July 2010 on a special Exploratory Coral Sea Safari which took in the Minke whales and Coral Sea and took some amazing images; a selection of which we have added to our website in a new photo gallery.

Ty Sawyer is well known in the diving industry as current Editor-in-Chief of Sport Diver Magazine and Editorial Director of ISLANDS magazine. In addition to scuba diving related articles, Sawyer's award-winning writing and photography have appeared in a wide variety of publications.

 

 

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Cairns Underwater Film Festival: Inaugural Photo Competition
The Cairns Underwater Film Festival has quickly established itself as the key local dive focused event. Attendance was in excess of 700, including Mayor Val Schier showing her support for the underwater world.  The Cairns Civic Theatre foyer was a bustle of divers catching up with old friends and viewing displays of photo equipment and dive holidays. The festival scene was set with the best short films and images from the 36th World Festival of Underwater Films, direct from Marseille. Followed was a show case of short films by local videographers Chris Sammut and our very own Julia Sumerling.   After intermission, the winners of the inaugural Cairns Underwater Photo Competition were announced.  The judges were inundated with 250 images from 35 competitors, each vying for one of five major prizes.  Mike Ball Dive Expeditions were proud to present Vilimone Baleilevuka (Flora & Fauna category) and Christopher Guglielmo (Man & the Sea category) with a 7 night Coral Sea Safari expedition each. The best of show prize was won by Chris Hamilton, he won a dive holiday and airfare to Walindi Plantation Resort, PNG.

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Hot News:Berths available -Yongala Expedition 18-25 Nov '10

This week long extraordinary expedition departs from Townsville on Thursday 18th November 2010 and disembarks in Cairns on Thursday 25th November.  Start an amazing week with two days spent diving the Yongala Wreck.  The remainder of the week will be spent diving the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.

The wreck of the 115metre SS Yongala must be dived to be believed. In its 90 years of immersion the wreck has attracted a myriad of hard and soft corals of truly amazing colors while super size marine life have made the wreck their home. She now rests in 30 metres of water on her starboard side; the uppermost deck is at 15 metres. Diver size grouper are found under the bow and stern while turtles, bull rays, sea snakes, sharks and wrasse relentlessly roam the wreck. The non-stop action provided by this spectacular concentration of marine life is truly astonishing. Wheeler Reef will see you diving with shimmering silver mackerel, trevally and barracuda amongst a profusion of coral species. Scan spectacular deep walls with superb visibility and descend to yellow and pink soft coral trees and huge golden gorgonian fans at Flinders Reef.

6 Premium berths and 2 Standard berths have become available on this expedition. Email reservations to book this expedition.

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Special Expeditions: 2011 Extraordinary Expeditions announced!
Two extraordinary expeditions are announced for 2011. July 14 - 21 will once again see Mike Ball onboard Spoilsport for a special 7 night Coral Sea Exploratory expedition with a leading Minke Whale Researcher. This expedition will incorporate in-water Minke Whale interactions with the best that the Ribbon Reefs and Coral Sea has to offer.

In September, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions will be holding two photo workshops as fringe events in support of the 2011 Underwater Festival. Guests onboard any 3, 4 or 7 night Expedition from the 1st - 12th September will will have the opportunity to enter the 10 day photo shoot-out with advice and critiquing from a special onboard guest, a professional underwater photographer (tba). For more information on the above expeditions contact us. 

Guest photos:

Grey Reef Shark - Christian Loader	Manta Ray - Cherie Reynolds	Potato Cod - Joe Hughes

Schultz Pipefish - Troy Mayne	Longnose hawkfish -Alison Smith	Potato Cod -Troy Mayne

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Years ago I forged a career out of finding things on the seafloor that no-one had found before. Enough wrecks to write a book about, enough secrets to fund a retirement. But to be fair I’d have to say, it’s a rarity in recent times. Finding an interesting place on the earth that hasn’t already been discovered, well it’s not something that happens every day. Although a life at sea offers some great opportunities to the modern day explorer; the sea itself provides the last resolve for our planet to guard its buried secrets. Sometimes however, like so many pleasant things in life, when you least expect it, something pops up
On the last of the Minke trips last month we got involved in a long drift that saw us interacting with a half dozen whales for several hours. A few cups of coffee into the drift we were well off the beaten track, sliding our away past well marked landmarks a dozen miles to the left and right, when something caught my eye. “There shouldn’t be anything there but deep water and a sandy bottom”. But there it was again, unmistakeable this time. A sliver of shimmering green, flickering against the blue and white of the surroundings.  “What on earth is that?’
I lost sight of it in the sunlight and wasn’t far from just ignoring the prospect that something undiscovered lay afoot. Sailors down through the ages have seen things on the sea that simply didn’t exist; even mermaids had been invented in the minds of weary men, but I had to assuage my curiosity.  I swung Spoilsport round in a slow arc and re-approached the site from another angle. A moment or two later I was blinking disbelievingly; there in plain view was ‘something’ just a metre under the surface. There was nothing on the map and nothing but a 30 metre sandy bottom all around it. It only happens once or twice in a sailors life, but we had accidently stumbled upon something uncharted.
A quick check of the tide book revealed that we had slid past the site at precisely the lowest tide of the year. At any other time the top of this anomaly would be cloaked in deep water and would have remained hidden, now it was ours to discover.
The dive deck was alive with excitement when we went out to give the brief.....‘Right everyone, gear up. We’ve stumbled onto the unknown here and it’s time for some genuine exploration. This is the moment most divers can only dream about. It’s time to find out what on earth that is” 

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