A few years ago I was on an extended vacation (built up a lot of leave days due to working offshore for many months) and travelled in NZ and Oz (plus a week in Thailand) for 18 weeks in total. During that trip I was lucky enough to get onto the Undersea Explorer, a research/pleasure dive combination where the pleasure divers basically pay for the cost, allowing the researchers to to do some 48 weeks a year of research.

Unfortunately this brilliant concept wasn't fully sustainable when the economy took a hit a few years ago but at least that was after I enjoyed a magnificent trip, a 5 day liveaboard with up to 4 dives per day !!

The photo's were taken by another diver on the trip, Wayne Guy. The funny bloke in some of the pics is me
Page 4 and 5 are the underwater pics.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

That link "itsa notsa good" my friend....

so you look like a turtle then Eugene...  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Thanks Gary, have sorted it now

Stan, don't i look good underwater  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Awesome pics ... Looks like you had a very good time!

I need to get me self one of these offshore jobby things ... ! African Bush Junkie ... in London!

Stats:
2006 TD6 Vogue SE
1972-2015 DeRanged Rover
2001 P38 dHSE (SOLD)

The great thing is, if you are working "permanently" offshore (I have always been office based) then you only work half the year and mostly on tax free salaries as well  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

stunning scenery ..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Great Pics I spent 4 Months in Australia/New Zealand and also dived the Reef but only the bits open to the public and they are not in the same league....

While I was looking for dive trips, I got an email from my then partner that my annual bonus came in. Since my then employer had done very well that year, the bonus was quite substantial (they link their bonuses to the annual result for all personnel) so that made the choice between a 3 and 5 day liveaboard very easy Oh and did I say that it was paid leave as it was in fact Time in Lieu ?? And that you get a financial incentive for every day spent offshore (actually that is quite normal in the offshore industry)??

Oz and NZ are absolutely gorgeous and the GBR is stunning, on the same trip I dove to the wreck for the Rainbow Warrior in NZ as well a few weeks earlier. Another one of my favourite dive spots is Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles of the coast of Venezuela. That islands diving is second to none and the spots are so easy to get to with the island all "set-up" for divers. No underwater pics from that trip unfortunately. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

great pics !

Thanks Angel.

I was talking to a friend of mine about diving and then I realized that I never uploaded these photos. So I just quickly did and thought the forum might have some people that appreciate natural beauty as well as the L322  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Fantastic pics, I would be fishing all day .  gone fishin'

I enjoyed looking through those. I'd really like to visit Australia and NZ, but fitting it into a 2 week holiday is difficult/impossible.

I'd like to try diving, but I'm the jaws generation. As soon as I get in the water I hear the theme tune.

Lovely:) barrier reef is a "thing to do before you die..."

We were lucky enough to go on Mike Ball "Spoil sport "

My diving buddy and our wives . 4 days , Cairns to Cod Hole
Stunning 3 or 4 dives a day (1 at night) . About 100 miles off shore ,
Didn't see a single other boat , so just us 20 divers.

Google it, highlight being the school of tame 300kg "potato cod" , no chips required

http://www.mikeball.com/3-nights-fly-dive-cod-hole Alcohol and eBay is never a good mix

2006 4.2 Supercharged, Java Black

The Mike Ball trips looks brilliant MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!