オーストラリア、ケアンズで最も評価の高いワールドクラスのダイブクルーズボート【スポイルスポート号】でグレートバリアリーフとコーラルシーを潜る

Gorgeous dives, safe practices, fun crew, delicious food, good vibes. It was a blast, would dive again

The Gold Standard in Liveaboards In all honesty, even with 80+ dives and a Rescue Diver certification, the idea of 8 days on a liveaboard w/ a significant number of unguided buddy dives seemed overwhelming to say the least. But, from the very first moment I stepped on SpoilSport, Marita and her band of aquatic miscreants (intended in the kindest possible manner) made things seem far more adventurous and infinitely less chaotic. Ultimately, having spent seven days on a single liveaboard, I am by no means an authority, but I would still argue the SpoilSport is the gold standard for what is to come. From the logistics, to the food, to even the most finite of details, absolutely everything was considered and addressed. From the insane and infinitely hearty meals, to the staff who were incredibly attentive and kind, every last detail felt dive boat luxurious. In the end, after eight days, I felt even a small bit like family, and, truthfully, what else could you possibly ask for? Marita, Pablo, Fernanda, Ryan, Augustina, Fujiya, Amber, and absolutely everyone else on board have my lifelong love and thankfulness. I cannot wait to book my next adventure.

Diving the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef on a Mike Ball Liveaboard was an amazing experience. We couldn't have asked for a better boat, crew, food, dive knowledge. Highly recommend it.

The best way to dive the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef Couldn't have asked for a better experience in the Coral Sea and on the Great Barrier Reef. The dive guides were knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and safe. Food was excellent. Rooms comfortable. Sun deck was a great place to relax when we weren't diving, eating, or sleeping. Everything about the trip was top notch. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Poor office reception check-in but fantastic dive boat experience that ticked all the boxes This review is from a 72-YO experienced southern Australia diver with over 3,000 dives to his name.
Without berating the boat, it's wonderful crew and excellent dive procedures and protocol, I found the MIke Ball office check in to be nothing less than obscene. I had just driven from Melbourne to Cairns and had got up at 5.00 am from my last hotel overnight stop in Conjuboy QLD and driven 4-hours to Mike Balls office in Cairns. Upon arrival, I asked to use the toilet but was refused access and was told to hoof it by foot to the local shopping centre and find some rest-rooms in that complex. I was informed that the toilets in the office were only for staff and not the public. I had just forked out close to $8,000 for the dive trip for myself and my daughter and I found the check in staffs attitude most repugnant!
Anyway, the poor service at check in was quickly dispelled once I was on the boat where the crew could not be more helpful. Once comment I must make is about the onboard intro speech that was grossly overdone and anyone with with poor hearing such as me (or anyone with a poor comprehension of English language) would struggle to fully understand the excessive gatling gun style commentary that we all found to be excessive.
The food that was served up was awesome, plentiful and not repetitious but meal call was a little unusual. All the food is laid out at the tables then a gong is rung for people to start eating. The problem was that hot food placed on the tables would go cold before it was released for consumption. A few of us got reprimanded for starting to eat before the gong was struck. I also copped a reprimand for entering the dining room without wearing a shirt at lunch time to get a drink. I didn't know the rule as I couldn't hear all the verbal diarrhea at the intro speech and there was no sign displayed saying "no shirt / no entry" on the dining room door. My daughter also got a reprimand for trying to purchase an alcoholic beverage before 4.30 pm (she's ended her dives for the day) even though the door sign said bar opens at 4.00 pm every day? .. just a couple of quirky rules / policies / contradictions that aggravated us.
As for the diving briefings /procedures and dive quality, absolutely first class! the dive boat anchors up away from the reef edge and two tenders are deployed to place a shotline right at the reef's edge. Two mermaid lines are than run from the dive boat to the shot line marker buoy. Divers are then instructed to leap from the dive boat into the sea and haul themselves along the mermaid line to the shot line marker buoy and commence the dive. Yes, you had to be wary of the tide direction which was fully explained and shown on a whiteboard at the dive briefing and yes you had to be able to use your compass and yes you had to monitor your tank contents so that you knew when to turn-around and come back to the shot line but this is all part of your diver training and if your not up to it, you probably should reassess if the boat is for you but my daughter and I found the procedures really refreshing compared to some gestapo type procedures that we'd come across on other commercial dive boats Luckily, the water was crystal clear for the 7-days we dived so with water visibility of over 30-m, finding our way back to the shot-line was not hit and miss job. Mike Ball also clips a GPS tracker onto every diver and gives excellent instruction on how to use it so if you surface any distance from the boat or find yourself downstream in the current, all you need to do is activate the GPS and a tender will come and collect you. Nobody on our dive trip required the "taxi".
All dives were great, even for a 3,000 + diver but I am still unsure about the shark dive. Yes, it gave great encounter with these magnificent top end predators and it was safely executed BUT I personally have a problem with baiting sharks to get them into close proximity to divers. Back home we have the ever lurking Great Whites and Bronze Whalers in the back of our mind. These fish are not to be messed with and excited with bait and we certainly don't encourage them to come near us. Whilst Mike Ball's crew play around with mostly small reefies and greys, one day a large Tiger Shark, Hammerhead or dangerous Bull Shark will enter the fray and the dive could become lethal.
One comment on the twin share room - absolutely wonderful! - Beds were suitably spaced, ensuite toilet and shower was great and there was adequate storage shelves and cupboard for personal belongings. The daughter (40-YO) and I had no trouble co-existing in the cabin but of course she did complain from time to time such is the nature of females!
Overall rating: Food 10/10, Diving and procedures 10/10, staff assistance and friendliness 10.5/10, on-shore office 0/10.

Most wonderful crew ever The crew of the Mike Ball liveaboard "Spoilsport" are absolutely TERRIFIC! They were sooo helpful and solicitous. I am 71 years old and just barely strong enough to waddle around in full dive gear and tanks. Ryan, Carly, Fernanda, Merlin, Tracey and the rest put my fins on for me, sprayed my mask with anti-fog, advised me how to fix my new mask that wouldn't seal against my face (rub it with toothpaste to remove the coating that gets on the vinyl when the lens is sealed to the frame of the mask), hauled me out of the water at the end of each dive, gave me weights during the dive when they discovered I had forgotten mine, and kindly sent the tender boat when I inadvertently surfaced quite a distance from the ship. The dive briefing routine was well organized and all the other procedures for life on a boat ran smoothly. The food was plentiful and very good. I don't know how June, the chef, cranked out all those yummy desserts from that small kitchen while the boat rocked with the waves. Amber was my friendly bartender and all-round cabin assistant. Pablo took really cool photos. I am looking forward to receiving the link to the collection via Dropbox. In short, they are the best crew ever.

This was our first live aboard experience and won’t be our last!! Especially with MBDE!! The vessel had everything you needed. All members of the Crew and Skipper Pirate Pete very friendly and accommodating, food was amazing thanks to their super chef!! Most importantly reef dives were amazing! Super grateful to visit Osprey reef and swim with the sharks 🦈 New friends, new experiences, new adventures.. thank you.

For anyone thinking of volunteering with them: If you haven’t dived the Great Barrier Reef before/if you’ve never worked on a dive boat before, then this experience might be valuable to you. If, like me, you work on a GBR dive boat, don’t waste your time here. I volunteered because I wanted to dive Osprey, but we couldn’t go as it was over 25 knots. Speaking with the crew, some said we were unlucky and the boat does get to go out there, others said they only go to Osprey maybe 6 times a year because of the unlikely weather. Without Osprey the trip is not worth your time, neither is the diving. Compared with the standard outer reef dive sites, there were a couple of good bommie dives, but the rest were average to below average. The crew go through new volunteers every week, so you get treated as a disposable nobody while working 6am - 9:30pm with little breaks. On the last day during a crew meeting, the skipper Peter said blatantly in front of us, “I don’t see why we have to be nice to the volunteers”. Tip for those going through with the volunteering: it says you have to wear boat shoes/navy crocs - I bought brand new crocs and only wore them for 15 mins to board passengers. The other volunteer wore sneakers and nothing was said to her. So don’t bother buying shoes for the trip, just wear your own.

Great Crew We have just gotten off the boat, we went on the Fly and Dive Coral Sea 4 days trip. Although the weather did not allow us to get to Osprey reef, the staff made sure that we still dived at great sites, whichever was accessible due to the weather conditions. Every staff member is well suited to their role, they were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. The food was plenty and restaurant quality, me as a vegan was looked after very well, I have received a special meal at every sitting, I was not expecting that 🙂 The boat is big, the cabins are good and clean. The rented dive equipment is well looked after.
We will be definitely be back one day!