Mike Ball Dive Expeditions - Blog and Company News
Soon
Captain Trevor Jackson
You can scroll through a thousand google images and not find its equal. I know this because I’ve just done it. The day after the trip ended, for hours, trying to find the equal of the aptly nicknamed Gigantus Gorgonia … a spectacular soft coral assembly, 42 metres down, way, way out in the Coral Sea. Exactly 5 years ago to this day Trip Director Kerrin Jones and I measured this whopper at an astounding 5.25 metres across. There wasn’t a tape measure on board that could do it in one hit so we had to take two down with us. This week we were expecting a different result, and we got one … but let me start at the beginning. Read the rest of this entry »
Hats Off
Captain Trevor Jackson
You know we all get in a rut…No matter how good life gets, we will occasionally sink into a shallow, muddy pond of self-pity and begin to think we’ve got it tough. Stuck in traffic, kids getting on your nerves, boss being a tyrant? Whatever the reason, it gets to us all, and you know what? We are entitled to the occasional self-indulgent moan…aren’t we? By the same token, we don’t want to let negative thoughts consume us too much. But sometimes the universe does seem overwhelming doesn’t it? Read the rest of this entry »
Return to Gigantus
Captain Trevor Jackson
“If I hadn’t seen it myself I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s been spoken of before, but usually over a few too many drinks. It’s alluring, mythical, a once in a lifetime thing. I don’t know if I ever believed in it, and I definitely didn’t think I’d ever see it. But there it was deadset ….… certifiable ………..70 metre viz. This water wasn’t “gin clear”: it was vacuum clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Pumpin’ Like Crazy
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
“How sweet it is to be loved by you”…Everyone is walking around the boat singing that song today. The crew are at least, they’re all in a real good mood and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It could be the fact that we’ve just completed the first trip of our new Holmes, Bougainville, Osprey Reef itinerary without even the slightest glitch. It could be the glorious weather, it could be the viz…whatever it is…they’re happy about life on the high seas right about now. Read the rest of this entry »
What the Darkness was Hiding
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
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. 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 thoroughly worked over, well it’s not something that happens every day. Sometimes though, when you least expect it, something pops up. Read the rest of this entry »
The mother of all dive sites
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
Consider for a moment all the things that would make one dive destination great. It would have to have spectacular marine life, amazing geography and crystal clear water. It would need to be remote enough so that the volume of visitors was low but, with the right planning, accessible. A wreck or two wouldn’t go astray either, oh and throw in a couple of mind numbing drop offs to round the whole package off. And I’m not talking about sedate little 40 metre drop-offs here, I mean serious ones. There’s nothing like hovering out off a wall in 1500 metres to remind you you’re alive!!! Chuck in a drift dive, some nice swim throughs and an extra dollop of big shark action for good measure. Yep that would just about do it for me. But where would I find it? Well the answer to that is simple: Bougainville Reef. Read the rest of this entry »
As long as you live
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
There are plenty of things we don’t understand about the universe. Physicists try to make a fist of it but the bottom line is, no one really knows how it all works. The same is true of nature. Despite centuries of study, there is so much we simply don’t understand. How do geese find their way home after winter? How do bats ‘see’ in the dark? How do turtles find exactly the same patch of beach year after year? But the baffling question that pops up aboard Spoily this time every year is…How is it that these dwarf minke whales know exactly when and where to show up at the same spot and the same time to give us such a fantastic insight into their lives? Read the rest of this entry »
The Odd Gorilla
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
Our yearly tussle with cyclones usually begins as the summer months begin to ebb…the water temperature in the Coral Sea has reached its critical point and when everything aligns…a cyclone spins up and begins its often erratic dance towards the Qld coast…when that happens we start to watch…in terms of being at sea, not a lot happens fast. Cyclone are far reaching but slow moving…to be in any real danger in this modern technological age you’d pretty much have to have a cyclone form almost on your position in very quick order, and even then, the watchful skipper should be onto it with 24 hours to spare. Read the rest of this entry »
Global Shark Diving operators were major sponsors of the Cairns Underwater Film Festival 2014 The festival combines The Great Barrier Reef Photo and Video competition with a film festival evening showcasing underwater imagery from around the world. The not for profit festival, donated AUD $25,000 to: the Minke Whale Project; the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation and the Tangaroa Blue Foundation
Deep Reefs…..
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain
From the earliest days of known exploration….men set forth to seek out the undiscovered. Some did it for notoriety, some for money, some were driven to advance science, others still simply for the sheer joy of laying eyes on something beautiful. Read the rest of this entry »
