General Information:
DEPARTS: Cairns
FINISH: Cairns
NO OF DAYS: 6 days
AGE: Open
DEPARTS: Saturdays

Itinerary:
This expedition will include 3 days (weather depending) at remote Osprey Reef which offers incredible visibility and 1000 metre deep coral walls. Undersea Explorer has the most experience of visiting Osprey Reef, compared to other North Queensland liveaboard operators. At North Horn, Osprey Reef, where the currents meet, we'll see large schools of tuna, barracuda and plenty of sharks - white tips, grey and silver tip whalers, leopard sharks, thresher sharks and schooling hammerheads. You'll dive with one to seven Manta Rays, the gentle giants of the deep. This is exhilarating diving with the shark experts.

You'll also enjoy the contrast of 3 days diving the Ribbon Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. There's many varied dive sites featuring the diversity of coral gardens, the overwhelming fish life of the pinnacles, and diving the world famous Cod Hole.

Undersea Explorer has been studying sharks at Osprey Reef since 1995. We have taken shark diving to new, unusual and exciting levels through our researchers capturing the sharks underwater during a shark attraction dive (with guests observing), and bringing them to the surface for measurement and tagging. Guests love this experience as it creates a non-frenzied "grey ballet", with great close-up photo opportunities, and they can observe up to 25 sharks whilst diving, without being inside a cage. We take this experience to the next level, by the on-deck research after the dive. We believe we are the only tourism boat in the world doing this, not to mention the long term conservation objectives of this project.

Undersea Explorer's frequent access to an easily monitored population of Reef sharks at Osprey Reef, gives us a unique opportunity for long term comprehensive study which investigates growth rates, breeding times and locations as well as behavioural patterns and movements. A key element is the identification of individual animals, consistent monitoring of the population at monthly intervals, and recording of growth characteristics on an annual basis.

During this expedition there will be much more than just sharks. You'll experience the excitement of 3-4 superb dives per day in remote areas, drift dives and deep dives. Onboard activities range from informative presentations in the biologist room, mid-week barbecues under the stars, Nautilus capture and 'creature feature' talks on the top deck, and our 'fancy dress quiz night'!