great barrier reef liveaboard scuba diving: spirit of freedom

If your looking for that wow factor on a Cairns liveaboard scuba diving adventure with a touch of luxury, civility and great restaurant quality meals and the most awesome of scuba diving locations then read onwards. Spirit of Freedom is a luxury cruise boat suitable for even the most discerning traveller. Spirit of Freedom is one of Australia's largest liveaboard dive boats and travels to the far northern region of Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the remote Coral Seas to areas known by professional divers from all over the world and locations that they have plotted on their own personal bucket lists to visit and dive.

Twenty Six Pampered Guests

Spirit of Freedom caters to 26 guests with its 11 spacious air-conditioned cabins, which include en suite bathrooms, daily housekeeping service and is manned by a highly skilled crew of 10 service staff. Each premium style cabin has its own flatscreen television and DVD/CD players whilst other guests can use the communal lounges for relaxation and entertainment amenitities such as televisions and internet. This Cairns liveaboard scuba diving boat features electronic stabilisers that provide a smooth journey across the seas, a large communal comfortable and spacious lounge and dining area is provided in the forward lounge, the Top Deck is the place for some time out to catch some rays or watch the sunset in the evening and there is no better place to be in the evening than the ships bar so you can swap your Coral Sea underwater scuba diving stories.

Great Barrier Reef Scuba Diving Locations

Spirit of Freedom travels out to the Ribbon Reefs and the infamous Cod Hole where divers have the chance to experience some of the most diverse coral reef ecosystems found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Choose from 3, 4 and 7 day scuba diving excursions to the Ribbon Reefs, Coral Sea and the Cod Hole.

During your 3 and 4 day trips you will get a bonus low level scenic flight from Cairns airport to Lizard Island where you can travel 500 metres above the world's largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, giving you the opportunity to explore this magnificent being from the water and the sky and see turtles, manta rays, sharks whales, Dugongs and many other sea creatures.

Gourmet meals are prepared thruought the day for guests and Australian wines and soft drinks are served nightly with dinner. On Spirit of Freedom you will never go hungry if anything you will be sitting out some of the meals. There are three entertainment areas on the vessel where passengers can kick back and relax; the dining saloon, lounge bar and sundeck where you have the occassional barbeque under the stars. Visit the on board library and have usage of the on-site computer with CD burner where you can download your stunning photos.

The dive crew and service staff aboard Spirit of Freedom consist of 10 trained and enthusiastic professionals. All the crew on Spirit of Freedom work together to ensure that passengers have a safe, educational and entertaining time that exceeds all expectations.

3 Day and 3 Night Cod Hole and Ribbon Reef Scuba Dive Adventure

Dive the world famous Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs of Australia's Great Barrier Reef where you will encounter giant Potato Cods, masses of colourful tropical fish, anemones, Moray eels, giant Napoleon Maori Wrasse, and pristine coral gardens. This scuba dive adventure departs Cairns at 12:00pm on Mondays and returns back to Cairns via a low level scenic reef flight from Lizard Island at 11:30am on Thursdays. During your liveaboard scuba dive tour you will have a chance to do up to 11 day and night dives.

Livaboard Dive Itinerary

On Monday you will be picked up from your Cairns holiday accommodation by a courtesy shuttle and will be taken to Cairns Marlin Marina to board the Spirit of Freedom. Before departure you will meet the crew and undergo a simple orientation of the vessel. Enjoy a gourmet lunch as you cruise to the Great Barrier Reef arriving in the first dive spot for an afternoon orientation dive and a twilight or night dive subject to the weather conditions. After dinner just kick back and relax as you cruise on to the northern Ribbon Reefs where you will wake up to your new surroundings ready for a day of spectacular scuba diving, snorkelling and exploring the amazing underwater attractions of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

After your first exciting day you should be well rested and ready for Tuesday as there are four separate dive adventures to tackle today. At Number 5 Ribbon Reef the first dives will be at Permission Bommie and the Clam Gardens. At these two reefs discover the great size and bounty of unique giant clams. In the afternoon you will do a drift dive at 'High Five' followed by an evening dive at beautiful Gorgie's Wall before cruising onwards to the northern most tip of the Coral Seas Ribbon Reefs that evening.

When you wake be prepared for an adrenaline rush on Wednesday as you finally reach the infamous Cod Hole made famous by the legendary Giant Potato Cod that just love to interact with the scuba divers. The first dive will be at the monolith at Challenger Bay and the unforgettable Cod Hole. This family of Potato Cod find you just as interesting as you find them and they love to receive a pat as they come up to you for a look.

Next it is time to do a drift dive at Dynamite Pass which got its name because of the many species of sharks and other predators who hang around this channel waiting for dinner to pass between the reefs with the strong currents and straight into their mouths. They do not even have to fight for their meal it comes straight to them so not may chances of them even noticing your presence. The last dive of the day is at the Snake Pit where you will see plenty of Olive Sea Snakes squirming through the water if your game enough. At days end the boat will have reached Watson's Bay at Lizard Island where an Aussie barbeque dinner will be held on the top deck for your last evening. A great time to say goodbye to your new found friends and maybe swap contact details so you can meet in another one of the worlds amazing scuba diving locations.

Thursday morning after a satisfying leisurely breakfast explore the brilliant blue beaches and bays at Lizard Island and have a snorkel or join the guided walk around the historical sites on Lizard Island. At 10:30am board the light twin engine aircraft for your low level scenic flight back to Cairns where you will be shuttled back to your holiday accommodation with a camera full of pictures and many amazing memories and stories to share with your friends and family back home.

Spirit of Freedom — Spirit on the Reef Spirit of Freedom — Relax in your cabin Spirit of Freedom — Top deck

4 Day and 4 Night Coral Sea Adventure

This Coral Sea Scuba Diving Adventure with Spirit of Freedom departs Cairns at 8:30am Thursdays and returns at 7:00am on Mondays. This exciting scuba adventure will take you to 16 diverse dive sights and includes a scenic low level flight overtop of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Experience a dive at the world famous Cod Hole and travel out 200km to the remote Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Here you will dive with predatory sharks, manta rays and schools of pelagics against sheer walls laced with Gorgonian fans and visibility of an amazing 30 — 100 metres.

Liveaboard Dive Itinerary

At 7:30am Thursday morning a courtesy shuttle will collect you from your Cairns holiday accommodation and bring you to the Cairns general aviation airport. From there you will board a light twin engine aircraft for a wonderful low level scenic flight to Lizard Island where you can take some great images of the reef and sea creatures below. As you discover Australia's Great Barrier Reef from the sky you will be more excited than ever to venture into the deep blue and discover all the magnificent creatures in the ocean below. After arriving at Lizard Island you will be ferried across to Spirit of Freedom by tender and introduced to the dive crew and service crew and then taken on an orientation of the your home for the next few days. After the short orientation the boat will then begin steaming to your first scuba diving location Ribbon Reef Number Ten where you are able to do four to five dives a day on some of the following sites: Cod Hole, Challenger Bay, Lighthouse Bommie, Pixie Wall and Pixie Pinnacle and a night dive on the Friday evening. After your first days dives, settle in and get comfortable and enjoy some good meals and get to know your new dive buddies because it is now an 8 hour journey overnight to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.

Friday and Saturday are both spent at Osprey Reef (Weather permitting). Osprey Reef is packed with so much action two days hardly does it justice. The waters of the Coral Sea are renowned for their transparency and feature visibility of up to 100 metres that other dive locations dream about. Here at Osprey Reef you will see the likes of Gray Whalers, Silvertips, reef sharks, schooling barracuda, trevally, other pelagics and even the odd Hammerhead Shark. Be amazed at the fantastic coral at Osprey Reef that features sheer walls laced with Gorgonians, sea whips, and bright yellow soft corals rising from the oceans floor thousands of feet below. Saturday night you will be travelling most of the night to reach the Ribbon Reefs so tuck yourself in and enjoy the ride.

The itinerary for Sunday and Monday are weather dependable. You will spend Sunday at Ribbon Reef Number 3 diving the sensational spot at Steve's Bommie, The Temple of Doom and Flare Point. If the weather allows, you will also go out to Bougainville Reef in the Coral Sea and dive an old ship wreck and underwater caverns. Sunday night will be spent cruising back to Cairns whilst you are are peacefully sleeping in your comfortable cabin.

On Monday morning wake up to enjoy your last breakfast on board with your dive buddies as you return back to Cairns at approximately 6:30am and then courtesy trasfers back to your Cairns holiday accommodation.

7 Day and 7 Night Cod Hole/ Ribbon Reef and Coral Sea Adventure

This is the ultimate scuba diving experience in Australia that allows passengers to truly discover the immensity and uniqueness of the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef in Queensland Australia. During your 7 days and nights of diving, experience the two diverse eco systems of the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. Your cruise will include the Ribbon Reefs, the Cod Hole, a chance to explore Lizard Island, Osprey and possibly Bougainville Reef in the Coral Sea. This 7 day and 7 night adventure departs Monday mornings at noon and returns the following Monday at 7:00am. During your trip, you will be able to undergo up to 26 amazing dives!

Late Monday morning a courtesy shuttle will pick you up from your Cairns holiday accommodation and take you to Cairns Marlin Marina where you will be introduced to the crew and given an orientation of Spirit of Freedom, your home for the next seven days and meet you new dive buddies. No time is wasted and soon you will be enjoying your first lunch while cruising out to the Great Barrier Reef coral gardens and your first taste of the scuba diving locactions you are about to explore. During the afternoon you will do an orientation dive and a twilight dive. Then it is time to settle in for some dinner as you cruise northwards to the Ribbon Reefs.

On waking you will see you have arrived at the beautiful Ribbon Reef Numbers Nine and Ten. On Tuesday and Wednesday you will get to experience several sites with up to four to five dives a day including a night dive on the Tuesday. Some o f the spectacular scuba diving sites you will expereience are Permission Bommie, Wonderwall, Pixie Reef Pinnacle, Lighthouse Bommie and the Clam Gardens. Be amazed at the abundance of giant clams and colourful coral. In the afternoon you'll head to High Five where you do your first drift dive and then it is an evening dive at Georgie's Wall. Wednesday morning you will arrive at the Cod Hole, famous for its humongous Potato Cod. You will also get to do a dive at Challenger Bay. If you are game, try a drift dive at Dynamite Pass; a renowned channel the sharks hang around to catch the fish that pass thru with the fast currents that pass between the reefs. In the afternoon you will have a dive in the Snake Pit full of Olive Sea Snakes. All scuba diving locations may vary according to the weather and ocean conditions at the time of the journey. On the Wednesday evening you will arrive at Lizard Island where you will enjoy the much anticipated roof top sunset drinks and Australian barbeque. Thursday morning you will have a great chance to explore the historical locations on exclusive Lizard Island then its back in the tender and onto Spirit of Freedom and back out to the coral reef gardens again before lunch for more scuba diving. You will have a chance during the afternoon to do two or three dives on Ribbon Reef Number Ten, the Cod Hole, Challenger Bay, Lighthouse Bommie, Pixie Wall, and Pixie Pinnacle. Next it is a ten hour journey overnight to Osprey Reef.

You will wake up Friday morning to find yourself at Osprey Reef where the waters are clear, giving you up to 100m of visibility in some dive locations. Both Friday and Saturday are spent diving at Osprey Reef at a multitude of different sites where you will see Grey Whalers, Silvertips, reef sharks, occasional hammerheads, schooling barracuda, trevally, and other pelagics. Saturday night you will then sail to the Ribbon Reefs whilst you are enjoying a well earned rest.

On Sunday you will head to Ribbon Reef Number 3 and do three dives at Steve's Bommie, Temple of Doom, and Flare Point. If weather permits, you will do a fourth dive at Bougainville Reef with its underwater swim thru caverns and submerged wreck. After the final dive of the day it is time to settle in for the final boat cruise back to Cairns. On Monday morning you will enjoy your final breakfast onboard before you reach Cairns at 6:30am. You will have the whole day back at your hotel accommodation ahead of you to rest, recover and reflect on the amazing scuba diving you have just experienced over the last seven days in Queensland Australia on the Great Barrier Reef.

Whether you try the 3 day, 4 day or 7 day excursion with Spirit of Freedom on the Cairns Great Barrier Reef be prepared to encounter a life changing experience, one that you will remember for a long time. For your flight please ensure that baggage weights don't exceed 20 kilos and that only soft sided baggage is taken. If you have other luggage that you need stored then please advise at time of booking.

Liveaboard Accommodation:

Eleven spacious air-conditioned cabins all contain their own private bathroom and are serviced daily. A range of cabin types is available and the three premium cabin types contain TV/DVD and CD player.

The on board chefs provide first class restaurant quality meals and can cater to specific dietary requirements with enough advance notification. Australian wine and soft drinks are complimentary with the evening meal.

As a guest on board Spirit of Freedom you may dive with your buddy to your pace and interests with no set limits on time, depth or style of diving outside of normal safe diving practices. An orientation dive is offered on the first dive upon leaving Cairns, and a safety instructor will be in the water on most dives just in case you need some orientation on the dive location. Guided dives will be offered on one or two dives each day.

The Spirit of Freedom dive crew and service crew are dedicated professionals who work together as a team to ensure your diving experience is spectacular and your time on board is fun, safe, and a first rate memorable experience that surpasses all your expectations.

Enjoy a one way low level flight over the spectacular coral reef systems between Cairns and Lizard Island on your 3 Day Cod Hole or 4 Day Coral Sea cruise. A spectacular way to begin or end your dive trip! The flight will save you travelling time, allowing more dives and more time in the clear waters of the northern end of the Ribbon Reefs.

Entertainment

Wide screen TV Projector unit and DVD movie library. Passengers are also welcome to view their own digital images or videos through the projector. Computer & CD burner for digital image download. Digital cameras (Sony DCS-P9) and housings available for hire.

On Board TSMV Spirit of Freedom

Specifications
Length 37.0 metres
Beam 7.1 metres
Speed 12 knots
Displacement 250 tonnes
Fresh Water Unlimited
Passengers Maximum 26
Crew 8 — 10
Extras Fully Air-conditioned throughout
Electronic Stabilizers

Cabins:

Eleven spacious air-conditioned cabins all contain their own private bathroom and are serviced daily. A range of cabin types is available and the three premium cabin types contain TV/DVD and CD player.

Cabin Type Cabin No Furnishings
Ocean View Deluxe 13 Large cabin, with double bed, wardrobe, writing desk, Bed side tables, TV & DVD player.
Ocean View 12 Contains double bed, wardrobe, TV & DVD player.
Stateroom 1 Spacious cabin with queen bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, bed side tables, TV & DVD player.
Double or Twin 3, 7, 8, 9 Double bed & single over, wardrobe, bedside table.
Double 4 Double bed only, wardrobe, bedside table.
Twin Share 2 Bunk style single beds, wardrobe.
Quad Share 5, 6 Bunk style single beds, wardrobe.
Spirit of Freedom — Diving Platform Spirit of Freedom — Diving on the reef Spirit of Freedom — The Vessel

Dive Equipment

Current Prices
  Sun, 05 Feb Mon, 06 Feb Tue, 07 Feb Wed, 08 Feb Thu, 09 Feb Fri, 10 Feb Sat, 11 Feb Sun, 12 Feb  
3 Day Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs Dive Trip - Stateroom $2000.00 $1500.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00
3 Day Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs Dive Trip - Quad Share $1425.00 $1090.00 $1425.00 $1425.00 $1425.00 $1425.00 $1425.00 $1425.00
3 Day Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs Dive Trip - Ocean View Standard $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00 $2000.00
3 Day Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs Dive Trip - Ocean View Deluxe $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00 $2200.00
3 Day Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs Dive Trip - Double/ Twin $1725.00 $1290.00 $1725.00 $1725.00 $1725.00 $1725.00 $1725.00 $1725.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Stateroom ( Thursday Departure ) $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea Stateroom ( Monday Departure ) $4050.00 $3490.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Quad Share ( Monday Departure ) $2925.00 $2190.00 $2925.00 $2925.00 $2925.00 $2925.00 $2925.00 $2925.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Ocean View Standard ( Thursday Departure ) $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00 $4300.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea Ocean View Standard ( Monday Departure ) $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00 $4050.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Ocean View Deluxe ( Thursday Departure ) $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00 $4700.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea Ocean View Deluxe ( Monday Departure ) $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00 $4450.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Double/ Twin ( Thursday Departure ) $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00 $3775.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea Double/Twin ( Monday Departure ) $3525.00 $2650.00 $3525.00 $3525.00 $3525.00 $3525.00 $3525.00 $3525.00
7 Day Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs & Coral Sea - Quad Share ( Thursday Departure ) $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00 $3175.00
4 Day Coral Sea Dive Trip - Stateroom $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00
4 Day Coral Sea Dive Trip - Quad Share $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00 $1750.00
4 Day Coral Sea Dive Trip - Ocean View Standard $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00 $2300.00
4 Day Coral Sea Dive Trip - Ocean View Deluxe $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00 $2500.00
4 Day Coral Sea Dive Trip - Double/ Twin $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00 $2050.00

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