"Spirit of Freedom" Liveaboard - Great Barrier Reef???

Can anyone tell me anything (good or bad) about the SOF Liveaboard Boat on the
GBR. I am thinking of going there with my Girlfriend in October!!! Any
recommendations for the GBR. All Advice is MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 12:56:51 +0000, StevenDownUnda wrote:

> Can anyone tell me anything (good or bad) about the SOF Liveaboard Boat on the
> GBR. I am thinking of going there with my Girlfriend in October!!! Any
> recommendations for the GBR. All Advice is MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

Not been on it myself, but have heard good things about it on the DiveOz
forums. You don't want to go to the GBR though, you want to go out to the
Coral Sea, which is much better.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
the wrecks of the SS Yongala, Lady Bowen and the HMAS Swan

"StevenDownUnda" <stevendownunda@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030825085651.06619.00000764@mb-m28.aol.com...
> Can anyone tell me anything (good or bad) about the SOF Liveaboard Boat on
the
> GBR. I am thinking of going there with my Girlfriend in October!!! Any
> recommendations for the GBR. All Advice is MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

We were on it in March and survived 2 cyclones. Didn't make it out to the
coral sea, but the facilities on board were great. 32% Nitrox from a
membrane was good value as a pre pay package - but beware of the Dive
Manager making you have (not wear though) a snorkel!!!! Food was good except
for early breakfast and lounge was comfy. Kitting up area fairly spacious
and could pretty much do what you wanted - except having to do the deepest
dive first (even if it means descending a sandy bank).

Would go again, but not in rainy season

HTH
Kevin
www.fishinthecity.co.uk

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 14:04:09 +0000, FISHinthecity wrote:

> membrane was good value as a pre pay package - but beware of the Dive
> Manager making you have (not wear though) a snorkel!!!! Food was good

Par for the course I'm afraid. It's part of the Queensland Industry Code
of Practice that all "certificated (sic) divers should wear a snorkel".

> and could pretty much do what you wanted - except having to do the deepest
> dive first (even if it means descending a sandy bank).

This is also pretty common and even more ludicrous. It isn't in the ICP
though, something I might just have to point out next time now that I have
a copy.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Caribbean trip reports
including Cuba, Grand Bahama, Barbados, St Lucia and Mexico

StevenDownUnda <stevendownunda@aol.com> wrote:

> Can anyone tell me anything (good or bad) about the SOF Liveaboard Boat on the
> GBR. I am thinking of going there with my Girlfriend in October!!! Any
> recommendations for the GBR. All Advice is MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

I was on one of the first trips just after Christmas.
The food was really great.
The staff helpful.
The service good.
They cruse at night and the electronic stabilisers make it really stable
(better than Mike Ball's Spoil Sport cat!!)

As you will be there in October you will probably want a 5mm or greater
full WS as the water temp is likely to be under 27 C
FWIW I used a 0.5 full with a 2.5 shortie and some times a lycra anti
jelly fish hood.

I had the "trip nitrox" and used twin 10l tanks filled for the same
price as others using 12l singles. The reason for that was to get used
to, and fine tune, a new setup that I needed for soloing on the Spoil
Sport

There are some pictures from the trip at
http://meekings.net/Diving/selected%20pics/Page1.html
They start with the cabin pics and finish on
http://meekings.net/Diving/selected%20pics/Page2.html
with the bat cave pics.

--
>replace spamblock with my family name to e-mail me