Congratulations to Troy Mayne who is the overall winner of this year’s onboard photography competition. Troy wins a 3 Night Fly Dive Cod Hole with his picture of a Silvertip Shark at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. A big congratulations to all the winner’s throughout the year and to the other finalists: David Tinson, Dominic LeMarchal, Andrew MacLeod, Stephen Blythe, Gary Coulter, Susan Berry and Steve Coutts. To view the gallery of finalists click here or to see the full article announcing the winner (as printed in Dive Log Magazine, Australia) click here.
With the whales known to be in waters from March to October, most sightings occur in June and July when we run dedicated minke whale expeditions with onboard whale researchers from James Cook University. The two weeks before and after these dedicated expeditions can also provide great inwater encounters with these beautiful animals. This year there are also two very special weeklong expeditions: the Australian In 2010 we celebrate 15 years of assisting James Cook Univerity researchers and we are looking forward to having them onboard again this year. For more information please follow these links:
Just sighted! This pink variation of a leaf scorpionfish was spotted at Osprey Reef in the last week of May; which goes to show that if you can pull your eyes away from the big and the blue at Osprey Reef there are some amazing macro finds to be had. 
New Photo Gallery: A Showcase of Guest, Damien Siviero's, Trip Photos from a Coral Sea Safari. Damien Siviero joined us in May 2010 for a 7-night Coral Sea Safari and took some amazing images; a selection of which we have added to our website in a new photo gallery. Damien was also kind enough to write an article for us on 'Shooting Sharks' (in the photographic way). The article is featured below. We hope you enjoy both the article and the photos.
Australian Geographic Minke Whale Expedtion: Only a Few Spaces Left! Snorkel and dive the remote northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef and experience educational and awe-inspiring encounters with these inquisitive animals. Interpretive lectures on whale biology, behaviour and identification by Minke Whale Project researchers will enhance your experience and allow you to connect with nature as never before…
You come back from a dive on one of the fantastic Ribbon Reef pinnacles. From the stern of the vessel a line is run out on the surface for divers to hold on to. You lay there in the water in your snorkelling gear and wait for a bit. In they come, tentative at first, within a few passes the distance they keep between themselves and you seems markedly reduced. They disappear again for a few moments and you think ‘wow that was cool, hope they come back”. You lay there for a second before being suddenly cast into shadow by another diver. You turn to see who it is and hey presto, there’s an 8 metre dwarf Minke Whale come right in to check YOU out. Literally an arm’s length away. The gentle giant spies you with his thoughtful dark eyes, pivots almost imperceptively from side to side, swims away, then comes back even closer. You could reach out and touch him, but you don’t, not wanting to upset the pure tranquillity of this extraordinary experience. Every year like clockwork during June and July the Ribbon Reefs are blessed with these mighty creatures, and you could easily be blessed with several encounters like the one I’ve just described. Spoilsport is the only ‘Minke Licensed’ offshore liveaboard in Australia that runs specific Minke Interaction Trips. Our itinerary is changed especially to give you the longest and closest interactions; and you could be doing it this weekend! You won’t forget it for as long as you live.
For great shark shots you need: lots of sharks, clear water, a respectable camera setup and an operator that puts you right into the action. Some also say you need luck, but I think it’s overrated. Our 7 night Spoilsport trip took us to Osprey Reef (365 km from Cairns) in the Coral Sea. Choose a camera with fast and accurate autofocus, high speed burst mode and strobes that cycle just as fast (Tip: use a low power setting for faster recycle). Second, choose a fast wide to normal focal length lens ( approximately 28mm on crop sensor bodies); this allows you to fill the frame from a reasonably close distance. At the dive site, my preference is to set the camera to shutter priority mode, as shooting in ‘full manual’ in such a fast pace scenario will result in missed opportunities. I saw many sharks throughout my dives at Osprey, though a ‘point-blank’photographic experience is achieved on the well managed shark attraction run on the trip. It was on this dive that we were able to get face to face with upwards of 30-40 silvertip, grey and whitetip reef sharks all swarming in close proximity. Next just hold on and do your best to capture the action! The shark attraction dive is run on both the 4 Night Fly Dive Coral Sea and 7 Night Coral Sea Safari expeditions.
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Geographic Minke Whale Expedition (17th-24th June 2010) and a Weeklong Exploratory Expedition with Mike Ball and Barry Andewartha onboard (15th-22nd July 2010).
