Dan and Justy Down Under

January:
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February:
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March:
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Itinerary

February 24, 2005

Dan or Justy

Twelve hours of steaming and we'd arrived at Osprey. The reef is miles long and thin in the middle. There are numerous dive sites with names like Raging Horn, False Entrance and tomorrow's treat: North Horn.

It's all walls here. They start at 3 meters and continue down to 1000s of meters. Good buoyancy control is a must as the super-clear water tempts you deeper. There's tons of hard coral. The softer stuff is normally a bit deeper than we frequented. The fish life is lush, but not concentrated. It's a big wall: no need to crowd anyone else.

Nights passage tougher than I thought. Though not a terrible crossing, the sea had a tumultous look in the night, and our V-birth cabin bounced ceaselessly. I spent a few hours on the deck in fresh air, and fell asleep on the couch in the saloon.

Osprey is known for the viz. Being so far out and North, the visibility can reach a hundred feet or more. With tons of true blue surrounding you, its way too easy to think the reef is closer than it is. It is very easy to go deeper than you thought. The sites are all nicely 'limiting' and have the mass of interesting life and coral near the 50 foot and above range. I cant help but laugh as Dan and I planned on not going deeper than 60, and how quickly I'd been swimming up from 80 feet. I kept a closer look on my gauges after that one!

Itinerary Highlights
January 20: Winery Tour
21-23: Moreton Bay Diving
25: Australia Zoo
26-30: Lady Elliot Island
February 13: Diving the Yongala
15-17: Cape Tribulation + Daintree Rain Forest
17-20: Atherton Tablelands
22-28: Coral Sea Diving Liveaboard
March 11-13: OzTek Dive Conference: Sydney
14: Fly to New Zealand
20: Poor Knights Islands Diving
31: Mt. Cook
April 2-4: Queenstown
TBD: To Be Dreamed

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