Liveaboard Profile: Mike Ball Dive Expeditions

Australia's Great Barrier Reef sits high on any list of must-dive destinations. And for 50 years, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions has been showing divers the best the reef has to offer. The company provides acclaimed liveaboard diving cruises that showcase the spectacular biodiversity on the northern Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea.

Mike Ball is one of Australia's most influential diving professionals. He established the first dive school in Australia's northern Queensland province in 1969 and pioneered many of the diving and safety protocols that are now widely practiced. Way back in the day, his school was the first in Australia to use BCDs and tank pressure gages. Years later, he developed the skin suit and introduced the concept of twin-hulled liveaboard dive boats to Papua New Guinea and the Great Barrier Reef. His team at Mike Ball Dive Expeditions established a pioneering solo diving program in the late ‘90s and continues to revise and enhance standards and procedures to adapt to modern developments such as the advent of rebreather diving. Mike was a founding member of the global Shark Diving alliance and has been inducted into the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame.

Spoilsport is a100-foot vessel custom-built for diving the Great Barrier Reef.  Its twin-hull design allows for a 35-foot width, which creates more deck and cabin space and enhances overall stability and greater passenger comfort. All guest cabins are set on the main deck level, providing direct walk-out access to the spacious aft dive station. Accommodation choices range from cost-effective cabins with bunk beds and shared bathrooms, to premium cabins with queen beds, private baths and ocean views. All cabins are air-conditioned and tastefully finished in soothing colors with wood furnishings and accents. The dining salon, bar and ship's lounge are located on the upper deck. These spaces included areas for socialization and presentations and dedicated workstations where photographers can download and process images. A large sundeck spans the top deck.

The nerve center of the Spoilsport is the dive station, which has ample width for two separate rows of dive benches, with personal storage bins below, and shelves above that provide instant access for small items such as masks and computers. There are two large camera tables, dedicated camera rinse tanks, and a separate space for rebreather support. Wide stairs lead to a pair of water-level dive platforms fitted with secure permanent railings and a sturdy boarding ladder. The deck is configured for easy and independent movement by divers, which facilitates Mike Ball's famous “open dive deck” policy that allows divers to plan and repeat dive profiles with no restrictions on bottom time other than the no-deco limits dictated by tables or computer.

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions pioneered many of the safety procedures now widely adopted across the industry. Safety drills are performed on every expedition and training and professional development are undertaken with all crew members. The dive team has developed a set of policies and procedures that provide guidance and security for divers who require or desire more personal in-water attention, while also allowing maximum autonomy for experienced divers wanting to more autonomy and flexibility in their profiles.

Each morning, the Spoilsport will typically stay on station at the day's first site for several hours, allowing divers to take advantage of the open-deck policy to enter and exit the water on their own schedule and perform repeat dives when appropriate. Standard itineraries usually provide 3 sites per day. This allows the more casual diver to make a relaxed dive on each new site, while more avid enthusiasts could log up to 5 dives per day. Most dives are from the Spoilsport while moored over the dive site, and there are also two large inflatables with rear entry ladders that may be used for occasions such a drift dives and night dives.

The allowance of solo diving, combined with the open deck policy, make the Spoilsport a special favorite with underwater photographers, who are able to move at their own pace and maintain their own space. With some of the world's best dive sites just a giant stride away, a trip on the Spoilsport is an ideal time to discover underwater imaging. There are underwater cameras available for rental, and the onboard photo/video team offers complimentary underwater photography workshop and can provide additional PADI photography and video courses. On each cruise, the crew organizes a photo contest and creates a portfolio of trip videos and photos.

Drawing on their decades of experience on the Great Barrier Reef and in the waters of the Coral Sea, the team at Mike Ball Dive Expeditions has created an itinerary that takes in the region's best dive sites and showcases the diversity of the underwater landscape. Each week, the spoilsport departs the port of Cairns to travel to dive sites in the Coral Sea. Here, well beyond the reach of boats offering day or overnight trips, divers aboard the Spoilsport have total access to memorable adventures such as circumnavigating the huge coral bommies, exploring a coral labyrinth of caves and cavers, and swimming with dozens to hundreds of sharks. After several days in the Coral Sea, the boat moves on the Ribbon Reefs area of the Great Barrier Reef. Here, on the edge of the Continental Shelf, rich upwelling’s nurture reefs and attract a bio-diverse range of marine life that includes 1,500 varieties of fish and 400 coral species. Among the attractions are walls covered in soft corals and huge, free-standing coral bommies that shelter a wealth of small finds and attract a variety of fish life, including passing sharks and other pelagics. A highlight of this area is a visit to the famous Cod Hole for interactions with diver-sized potato cod.

The Spoilsport's usual week-long cruise schedule provides three different itineraries. Divers can sign aboard for four days of diving the Coral Sea, racking up as many as 14 dives, and then catching a low-level scenic flight that showcases the reefs from above on the route back to Cairns. Alternately, guests can begin with a flight to Lizard Island and spend three days aboard Spoilsport visiting the sites of the Ribbon Reefs, with the possibility of up to 11 dives. For divers traveling from North America, the most attractive option will likely be to book the full seven-night cruise, departing and arriving back at Cairns on a 450-mile circuit that takes in both the Coral Sea and Ribbon Reefs, and could include up to 26 dives.

During winter months — June to August in Australia — divers on the Spoilsport have the chance for sightings and in-water interactions with pods of minke whales. Mike Ball Dive Expeditions is one of a select few operators licensed for interactions with these mid-sized marine mammals, and have conducted more minke whale encounters than any other dive operator. During the peak months of June and July, sometime each day may be devoted to snorkeling with the whales in lieu of reef dives. Mike Ball Dive Expeditions supports the James Cook University Minke Whale Project. In season, a university researcher is present on all our minke expeditions, and guests are encouraged to assist in data collection.

In addition to weekly trips to the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea, Spoilsport is also used for a select number of special expeditions such as more far-ranging explorations to additional areas of the Coral Sea, dedicated shark photography trips, rebreather and extended range diving weeks, and trips to the Yongala shipwrecks. We work with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions to offers special packages from the States that include flights, transfers, time aboard and a range of optional add-on adventures while in Australia. To learn more, give us a call at 800-330-6611 or send a note to sales@caradonna.com.