Diving the Great Barrier Reef is high on many lists of must do things before you die. It was also high on my own personal list of must do things. Upon arriving in Cairns, I was quick to scout around all the dive shops to suss out the best trips. There were plenty of trips on offer for all budgets, but one trip in particular caught my eye. It was a 5 day live-aboard trip that took us to the outer edge of the Barrier Reef, including 2 spots that only 2 tour operators are allowed to visit; Osprey Reef & Cod Hole. The only problem was that the price was a touch on the expensive side, costing over $1600, however I could take a chance and go on a reserve list and get a significant discount. Being a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip I decided that the credit card was going to get a bit of a bashing, so I took a chance and got on the reserve list for Taka Dive’s 5 day live-aboard trip, which would take me to both the ‘Cod Hole’ and Osprey Reef (full itinerary here).
The trip was well worth the money, over 5 days I had encounters with turtles, giant Potato Head Cod, White Tip Reef Sharks, Scorpion Fish, Clownfish, Moray Eels and countless other species of fish. I had rented an underwater camera for the trip and took well over 600 photographs, a selection of which can be viewed below. I’ve also included a couple of videos, showing the shark feed and Cod feed. You can view the full set of images in the Photo Gallery.

















You can see the full set of photos from the trip by clicking here.
Awh man awesome photos!!!! I never made it to the Great Barrier reef, the floods hit when I was meant to go 🙁
The Christmas tree worms look so cool! Diving looks awesome. I’m slowly working my way up to that – starting off slowly with snorkeling. 😉