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DIVING OSPREY REEF in the CORAL SEA
Travelling as far as Australia - if you live in Europe or America - can be a tough decision to make. Weighing up the draw of the world’s biggest Barrier Reef versus a travel plan that covers 24 hours and a bout of jet lag, takes some serious contemplation. But if you make the most of your time by doing several things, and go with a sense of style, it's well worth it.
We spent part of our last trip there on the new luxury liveaboard, Spirit of Freedom. Sleek and perfectly white on the outside, her entire 37 metres is laid out for diver comfort. She was taking us to Osprey Reef... a far flung point in the ocean actually in the Coral Sea and outside the Great Barrier Reef. Separated from Australia's continental shelf by a deep water trough, the reef was first discovered in 1803. The only inhabitants are a large population of sea birds and what lies beneath the sea. Osprey is notorious as one of the planet’s best locations for shark sightings.
And there are certainly plenty of them: white tips, grey whalers and grey reef sharks are common. At different times of year there are hammerheads and tiger sharks. We saw plenty of schooling pelagics - tuna, mackeral and jacks - a manta ray and several turtles.
The hard corals are all pristine and some of the soft corals are the largest we have ever seen. Dives at Osprey Reef tend to be deep but visibilty is excellent so making the trek is well worth it.
Complete reports on this area are in Diving the World
TRAVELOGUE:
Flights: Singapore Airlines to Brisbane
Transfers: Virgin Blue to Cairns
Liveaboard: Spirit of Freedom
Information: Tourism Queensland
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