Around the Bend is Osprey Reef's most challenging drift. Underwater Atlas describes strong currents funnelling nutrients up the wall, attracting barracuda schools and feeding predators, and Spirit of Freedom describes a 1,000 m wall drift with a manta cleaning station at 32 m, hammerheads, tuna and gorgonian fans.

Dive the World gives a slightly different picture: a rising pinnacle that tops out about 1 m below the surface, a coral-rubble 'highway' and a shallow lagoon, with depths of 3–25 m in mild drift conditions and a natural cleaning station where manta rays with wingspans of 3–4 m come in to be cleaned. The two descriptions reflect how much the site changes with current. On a mild day it is a relaxed drift past the pinnacle and cleaning station; when the tide and oceanic flow combine, it becomes a fast ride along the wall.

The current is what makes it productive. Barracuda school along the wall, dogtooth tuna and trevally hunt, grey reef and whitetip sharks patrol, and hammerheads are possible out in the blue. Gorgonian fans grow large where the flow is strongest. On the pinnacle and in the shallows look for soft corals, butterflyfish, nudibranchs and Christmas tree worms. The manta cleaning station is the headline attraction for many divers.

Around the Bend is for experienced divers who are comfortable in strong current, ascending in open water under an SMB and managing depth on a bottomless wall. Crews choose the timing carefully; if they call it off because the current is too strong, there is always another wall at Osprey.

Liveaboard only. Mike Ball's Spoilsport runs 4-night fly-dive trips (depart Cairns Thursday evening, cruise north overnight via the Ribbon Reefs, cross to Osprey, fly back from Lizard Island) and 5–7 night Coral Sea expeditions; Spirit of Freedom visits Osprey on its 4- and 7-night itineraries, with a Cairns–Lizard Island flight connection. The open-ocean crossing from the Ribbon Reefs to Osprey (about 100 km) is made overnight.

Allow 2–3 days at Osprey on a typical trip. Around the Bend is usually dived as a drift from a tender and is scheduled when the current direction suits.

Osprey is an isolated oceanic atoll about 350 km north-east of Cairns and roughly 100 km beyond the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, so every trip involves an overnight open-ocean crossing. Strong south-east trades (over about 25 knots, common June to August) make the crossing rough and can close the exposed eastern and southern walls; liveaboards then work the sheltered western wall and North Horn. Sep–Dec usually brings the lightest winds and visibility of 40 m or more.

Currents on the walls vary with tide and oceanic flow and can run strongly around the horns. Dec–Apr is cyclone season and trips can be cancelled or diverted to the Ribbon Reefs. Around the Bend is where Osprey's currents are most concentrated; it is dived only when the crew judges the flow manageable.

Drop from the tender up-current, descend to the wall and drift with it at 20–25 m, pausing near the manta cleaning station at about 32 m only if within your limits (the rubble 'highway' and pinnacle are shallower). Finish over the pinnacle, which rises to about 1 m, or deploy an SMB for pick-up in the blue.

Spirit of Freedom – 4- and 7-night trips including Osprey; also dived by Mike Ball on Osprey itineraries.