Bumphead parrotfish

Sources disagree. ZuBlu lists schooling bumpheads on the Liberty as a current feature; a later field account states the resident school disappeared during the COVID period and has not reliably returned. Encoded conservatively as unreliable in all months pending verification. Historically a dawn sighting on the wreck, and one of the two real reasons to stay locally rather than day-trip.

Open year-round. Shore diving in a sheltered bay with resident operators, so there is no season closure and no fleet to reposition. Wet season (Dec-Feb) costs visibility, not access.

Trips run year-round but the crossing is the constraint: Osprey Reef is about 350km from Cairns and around 20 hours of cruising in total, there and back, so the Coral Sea leg is dropped or rerouted in weather far more often than the sheltered Ribbon Reefs are. Dec-Feb is cyclone season in the region, hence 'limited'. Low operating