Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, Australia

Lee

Sunshine Coast QLD, Australia

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433 dives

So good I've already booked my next 2 trips !

This was my 5th different liveaboard on the GBR and another great dive trip. This trip also did not make it to Osprey reef due to weather, so I have booked another trip in Dec 2021 when the weather is more calm and a July 2022 to see Minke whales. The crew were outstanding, the food was delicious and the diving of course was fantastic. Last day of the trip got cut short due to a passenger having health issues, but MBDE provided a discount off my next trip which more than made up for the missed day of diving, especially as I was not expecting it. Only 48 more sleeps until my next trip on Spoilsport !!!

Paullcn

Connecticut, USA

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71 dives

Outstanding Dive Company - Great Service - Great Experience

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions (MBDE) far exceeded my expectations for my first live aboard trip. As of 2015, I am a relatively new diver (less than 20 dives before my trip). I wanted to do a live aboard when visiting The Great Barrier Reef (GBR). I looked at several companies, but my local dive shop owner said he uses MBDE every year in November. He gave me the website, person to speak with and one very encouraging recommendation. Less than one week later, I was on a random dive boat of Key Largo and a complete stranger was talking with me about diving the GBR. He said he had a great time on a live aboard with MBDE. I never asked which dive company. Two independent reviews can only mean a great thing. I spoke with Bre at the MBDE HQ. Very pleasant and helpful. I got prompt e-mail replies to all my questions. The prices were extremely reasonable. I did the four night Fly/Dive Coral Sea trip. The trip was very well organized. I arrived at Cairns and made my way over to the office where I met people, got a map of Cairns, information on where we were meeting, etc. My bag(s) were taken from me and brought to the boat/put in my room before I arrived. We met the boat promptly at 6p and we were off. We met the crew, had the safety briefing, and the Trip Leader Ollie put us through all the necessary information. I will not lie, the traveling by boat was rough. I was seasick day one, but got my sea legs the next day. I certainly can't blame MBDE for the ocean, but you should be aware to either buy the tablets from them, or bring your own seasick tabs. Every one of the staff was very helpful. If you needed anything, at any time, anyone would help you. I probably could have asked the skipper or the guy in the engine room for help, and they would have given me a hand. I was actually embarrassed to be waited on so much. The Spoilsport (100' powered catamaran) was excellent. Ollie explained that Mike Ball (owner/diver/international bon vivant) puts in more than a million dollars’ worth of upgrades/improvements at the boat annually. The boat gets a complete overhaul and possibly a gut to the walls every so many years. If I read the plate correctly, the keel was laid down in 198x. You would not know from walking around, you are looking at a boat that old. What did you need? Wetsuit? got them. Fins? Got them. Booties? Got them. Everything? Got them. You want to take a course? They had at least three staff who could teach. I think they could rent you a camera. They had stuff for sale on the boat. It was a floating dive shop. The boat had its own tank fill system for air AND nitrox. That was great because the tanks were needed just about every two hours... or less each day. You barely sat down and your tank was being filled for your next dive. I rented full foot fins and my feet were screwed up from friction. Hostess Michelle patched me back together (she had medical training) and someone found me two different pairs of open back fins to try out and borrow. I may have been given a crew members fins, but that made all the difference. And I bought some dive socks. WONDERFUL. Buy some. Best $15 I ever spent. At every dive, crew were available to dive with you if need be. Ollie put all the information on the whiteboard for each dive and gave one of the most thorough dive briefings for EACH dive. If you were uninformed, that was your problem. Each of us was issued a Nautilus Lifeline GPS which was put in our BC. This is a rescue radio with GPS. Three buttons: (1) On/Off – PTT, (2) connect to every handheld radio on the spoilsport and (3) the “push this button and the Royal Australian Navy will be following the Australian News helicopters to rescue you. You WILL be on the evening news. I believe every ship within a 100 mile radius will be notified and Mike Ball himself will be teleported to your exact location.” Not that we needed it, but it was nice to know we had one. Look at the website for more information. The diving was excellent. If you didn’t have fun, really, you were doing something wrong. Under water, diving, fish, coral, sharks, etc. They have two zodiacs ready to bring you out to the dive sites as needed. At one point my buddy and I were too far away to swim back to the boat. I inflated my safety sausage and the crew member on watch spotted us and the zodiac picked us up. BTW we were required to have a safety sausage. They ALWAYS have a crew member on watch with radio and binoculars. The food? Excellent. I ate like there was no tomorrow and I could have thirds. Delicious. All of it. Also coffee, tea, hot chocolate, booze, other liquids, solids, gases, plasmas, etc. Fancy biscuits. They had a coffee maker that would shine your shoes and brush your dentures if wanted. I think it also made plain coffee. I am not sure. There were so many buttons and options I had to go lie down for a spell. You got a free water bottle to keep you hydrated. Crew member Julia was a photo expert and taught a class if you wanted, at a cost. She also gave a fauna ecology lecture that was excellent. I fell asleep, but that is par for the course with me and lectures. Also, she explained that you can identify Butterfly fish as they look like they were flattened by a rolling pin. I found that immensely funny and weeks later I am still imagining a baker rolling out fish dough and using a cookie cutter to make Butterfly fish. The staterooms were fantastic. I highly recommend getting a standard stateroom. One wall was a window and one wall of the bathroom was a window. Plenty of room and they had one 110V socket and 2 Australian sockets in the bedroom. They made the bed daily and changed towels a lot. Need anything? They would give it to you. You got a mint on the pillow daily. The last night I was there was a BBQ. The skipper played guitar and Ollie played drums. We had so much good food it was ridiculous. On my last day there was the option to go off to Lizard Island and take a tour. We got an abbreviated tour and then were taken to the airstrip to depart. If all of this hasn’t convinced you go to with MBDE, PM me and I’ll go on and on for an hour solid.