Spoilsport

Diving the GBR was a bucket list item for us and the Spoilsport experience made it everything and more. From the boat, to the crew, the food, and the diving everything was done exceptionally well. From the moment you board the boat until your final step off the gang plank you are the crews number 1 priority. The crew were all very knowledgeable and very helpful. They were friendly and fun.The diving was spectacular. The dive area was well organized with a focus on diver saftey. Dive briefs were very thorough. Divers always had the option to dive with their buddy or with one of the crew. While initially we dove with a crew member, we ended up diving just the two of us as the sites were easy to navigate. The marine life was phenomenal and the corals were spectacular. Each site offered something new and was a bit different. The crew made sure areas of marine life divers should be aware of were well marked. The crew was also aware of each divers skill level and made sure that each dive was a great dive for everyone. Our only disappointment was we were unable to make it out to the Ospry sites and the outer reefs due to weather. We had booked the Coral Seas Safari but ended up diving totally along the continental shelf which resulted in diving a few sites twice.The rooms were comfortable. The food was excellent with a lot of variety in cusine. I would recommend this dive trip to everyone and hopefully we will have the opportunity to return.

It's truly amazing. But given the cost of the trip I do think it is over priced. The accomodation, food and service is very good, but not up to the standard of the price. That being sad, it was a wonderful and amazing trip and experience. On most dive sites the marine life and coral is not as beautiful as on other places, but we saw some amazing things. I would recommend it for sure.

This was my first time in Australia, and first time diving in the Pacific. Overall, it was an excellent experience. The staff was off the charts incredible, from top to bottom. The marine life was also absolutely amazing - I couldn’t have hoped for more. The one thing I didn’t love is that they don’t necessarily have a guide in the water on each dive. As an Assistant Instructor with close to 800 dives at the time I was perfectly comfortable navigating by myself, but having never been diving in the Pacific I had no idea what creatures to look for or where to find them. After the first day there was sometimes, but not always, a guide in the water.I would definitely go back and dive with them again. It was a great experience and some of the best diving I’ve ever done!

We have been on 4 other liveaboards before, and this was clearly the best. The service was always exceptional, from help getting in an out of the water to yummy treats and warm towels on the dive deck after each dive. My wife has problems with her knees and they were always happy to take her tank and BC from her at the ladder so that she didn't have to climb aboard with that extra weight.The rooms are about average for an upper level liveaboard - small, but clean. The beds were comfortable enough, not great, but not a problem. The galley/lounge area was always clean and well lit. There was plenty of space to work on photos on my laptop without feeling like I am blocking someone else, as happens sometimes on other boats.I was a little concerned about the condition of the reef, having read some other reports, but we found it to be in very good condition. All of the dive locations were very healthy. We never had silted out or algaed reefs and always had abundant life. I was a little surprised that there were very few clown fish. Although a few sites had false clownfish, only the last site on the last day had true clownfish, with the bright orange and white stripes. I spent 80 minutes at the top of this bommie photographing the only two true clownfish, just to be sure I got the iconic Great Barrier Reef shot.All in all, I would highly recommend this trip and liveaboard to anyone who hasn't experienced this great dive location. The flight from the USA is very long, but it's worth it at least once in your life. Also, if you are going to come all that way, be sure to do the 7-day cruise, not the 4 or 3-day variants.

Mike Ball Deep Reef liveaboard was fantastic. Mike Ball has a variety of trips available. I ended up on the Deep Reef which to be honest when I booked I didn't exactly know what that meant, the trip just fit my time period so I signed up. In hindsight I'm really glad I ended up on that one as we went far out on the reef to the reefs not accessible on a day trip. As a result we ran into no other dive boats while out on the reef and reefs were in decent shape.There were a number of room options to choose from depending on budget, I chose shared room with bathroom inside it. The room was comfortable and clean. The variety of food served was impressive, there were always snacks available between dives, as well as coffee, tea, and water. The meals had vegetarian and meat options, and we even had a BBQ on the last night. Dive deck was well laid out, and the boat overall had lots of open space, some inside areas you could hang out as well as outside.The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Passenger safety was of the utmost importance. All divers had a GPS unit put in their BCD, there were spotters on the top deck every time divers were in the water, the dingy could be signaled to come and get you if you were too far away to swim back. I tested the dingy service on two occasions and it was perfect. All divers had to check in and out for each dive to ensure all divers were accounted for and if you weren't diving during a non-open deck time you had to tell the Dive Coordinator. I felt completely safe during the trip. We did a shark feed at the beginning of one dive. The Dive Coordinator made the instructions 100% clear as to what the expectations of divers were and if anyone deviated from that they would abort the dive. All dive sites had a dive brief that clearly indicated what was expected in terms of conditions, and potential wildlife to be seen. There was only one occasion that the information was a little off and that was in terms of the strength of a current running through a site. Otherwise information was appropriate.I liked the set up of the diving, two dives in morning, open deck in afternoon where you could do up to two dives and then a night dive. Dive masters were available but not required to go with you. We were allowed to go out with our dive buddies or in groups. They tried to match divers of relatively equal skill for buddies. All the dive sites except one which happened to have a lot of current at the time we were there were very easy dives, nearly no current or very mild.The animal life was varied some sites were really good, and others middle of the road. My favourite site I believe was called Pixie Pinnacle, loads of small animal life, we just went round and round the pinnacle finding more cool stuff every time. Steve's Bommie was also very cool.Some of the animal life I saw was as follows: humphead wrasse, angel fish, gray reef share, white tip reef shark, unicorn fish, trigger fish, eels, grouper, scalloped hammerhead shark, parrot fish, potato grouper, lobster, crab, brittle star fish, tile fish, lion fish, garden eels, pipe fish, butterfly fish, hermit crab, scorpion fish, stone fish, wobbegong, walking fans, anemones, clown fish and leafy scorpion fish.This was my first live-aboard experience but I loved it! I liked the get up gear up and jump in, no lengthy transport getting from land to dive site. I don't think that I could have chosen a better company to go with. The staff couldn't have been better and there was a really great group of divers on board. I've since done one other live-aboard and Mike Ball is still hands down better.