mantajohn
Contributor
Ive recently returned from a great holiday on Maldives Siren. Im fortunate in having dived the Maldives many times - this liveaboard was the best overall combination of high quality accommodation/food plus serious diving that Ive experienced so I thought Id share the details in case they are helpful to anyone planning their trip.
Flights
Qatar Airways via Doha. Everything fine on all 4 segments. In flight entertainment is pretty ordinary; I suggest loading a tablet with your entertainment of choice. My tour operator (Blue O2) have a 40kg weight allowance on Qatar so no problems in that regard.
Be aware: Qatar Airways default offering is for a very tight connection in Doha (55 mins). Instead I chose a 6 hour layover. I paid £25 to use the Oryx lounge for these 6 hours. Good decision: food, alcohol on request, flat beds, immaculate toilets/showers, wifi.
My caution paid off. Upon arrival in Male, I was the only passenger ex London who had luggage. All of the people opting for the 1 hour connection arrived but their bags did not.
Itinerary
I definitely like 10 day lobs esp. for long haul. Chose this boat as its itinerary was an internal flight to Laamu (a southern Atoll) then spend 10 days on a one-way trip back to Male. I am well acquainted with the central atolls. Hence, booking this trip to see some new southerly less dived sites. Alas, on the day before departure, we received an em to say that due to mechanical problems the prior week, the boat was not in position to do the one-way itinerary but instead would be doing the standard Male to Male central atolls route instead bother.
A bit disappointed, but as SWMBO pointed out, I was still going to the Maldives for great diving & if the problem had occurred during our week, it could have been much worse impact.
Siren dealt with this fine. Lovely, happy welcome in Male; put us in a (nice) lounge for 4 hours. Comp drinks/breakfast, shower facilities. Free wifi. We had pre paid for the internal flight. Siren netted this off against bed tax/fuel surcharge. Roughly balanced slightly in guests favour. Everyone seemed fine with this.
Diving Set Up
Very spacious dive deck with personal lockers. Non-slip matting everywhere. Crew rinse wetsuits for you & hang up after every dive. Cold fruit juices after every dive.
12 & 15s available. Note they are currently using Dhoni not zodiacs. Unlike most other Maldives lobs the compressor is on the Siren not the Dhoni. This works fine but requires de-kitting up to 3 times a day, which some of my buddies would definitely find annoying. Good selection of weights inc. v small ones to help get weighting spot on. Free Nitrox.
4 dives offered every day plus check dive plus 2 dives on penultimate morning. A cracking 34 dives offered in 9 full days on board. Some fantastic sites/dives. Old favourites e.g. Fish Head Maaya Thila, Rasdhoo Madivaru plus I really enjoyed Vaavu Atoll & South Ari. Highlights were diving (not snorkelling) with whale sharks. Leaf fish every day. Lots of stone fish. Plenty of UMS. Many grey reefs. Alas despite spending 3 full hours at cleaning stations no Mantas.
I really liked the mix of channel (high energy) & scenic dives. A couple of the night dives were a bit rubbish it is v difficult to find good current-free night dive sites in the Maldives.
A real plus was Thomas the Cruise Director. He did a great job varying sites/dive times to minimise impact of other lobs. There are a lot around nowadays. Also, he showed much flexibility adding extra night dives to compensate for small glitches e.g. no beach bbq or missed dive site on am dive. Ive done a couple of Maldives lobs without Cruise Directors & the difference is really noticeable.
Missing the beach bbq was a good call. 9 lobs were attempting to use the same speck of beach for their sunset bbq!
There were 12 guests divided into 2 dive groups. I was in a group with 5 German/Swiss divers. They were excellent divers & really nice people to spend 10 days with. They kindly spoke English on board to include me in conversations.
Boat Facilities
7 cabins for max 14 divers. All cabins wood panelled with good individual air con. Rooms are not spacious, but big enough & noticeably larger than e.g. standard Aggressor sizes. Endless hot water for showers all day & proper loos.
Very comfy lounge. Outdoor shaded seating in dining area.
Food/drink
3 hot buffets per day plus afternoon sweet & savoury snacks. Multiple fish & meat choices at lunch & dinner. Generous quantities. Free soft drinks & beers. Wine was Euro 25 but was not that popular. Double whiskies/brandies at Euros 5 was a bargain nightcap.
Any negatives
Booking/Tour Op
This was my 3rd trip in last 2 years with Georgina at Blue O2. Excellent, well informed, friendly service; good prices. Very happy to recommend.
Hope there's some useful info in here?
Cheers
John
Flights
Qatar Airways via Doha. Everything fine on all 4 segments. In flight entertainment is pretty ordinary; I suggest loading a tablet with your entertainment of choice. My tour operator (Blue O2) have a 40kg weight allowance on Qatar so no problems in that regard.
Be aware: Qatar Airways default offering is for a very tight connection in Doha (55 mins). Instead I chose a 6 hour layover. I paid £25 to use the Oryx lounge for these 6 hours. Good decision: food, alcohol on request, flat beds, immaculate toilets/showers, wifi.
My caution paid off. Upon arrival in Male, I was the only passenger ex London who had luggage. All of the people opting for the 1 hour connection arrived but their bags did not.
Itinerary
I definitely like 10 day lobs esp. for long haul. Chose this boat as its itinerary was an internal flight to Laamu (a southern Atoll) then spend 10 days on a one-way trip back to Male. I am well acquainted with the central atolls. Hence, booking this trip to see some new southerly less dived sites. Alas, on the day before departure, we received an em to say that due to mechanical problems the prior week, the boat was not in position to do the one-way itinerary but instead would be doing the standard Male to Male central atolls route instead bother.
A bit disappointed, but as SWMBO pointed out, I was still going to the Maldives for great diving & if the problem had occurred during our week, it could have been much worse impact.
Siren dealt with this fine. Lovely, happy welcome in Male; put us in a (nice) lounge for 4 hours. Comp drinks/breakfast, shower facilities. Free wifi. We had pre paid for the internal flight. Siren netted this off against bed tax/fuel surcharge. Roughly balanced slightly in guests favour. Everyone seemed fine with this.
Diving Set Up
Very spacious dive deck with personal lockers. Non-slip matting everywhere. Crew rinse wetsuits for you & hang up after every dive. Cold fruit juices after every dive.
12 & 15s available. Note they are currently using Dhoni not zodiacs. Unlike most other Maldives lobs the compressor is on the Siren not the Dhoni. This works fine but requires de-kitting up to 3 times a day, which some of my buddies would definitely find annoying. Good selection of weights inc. v small ones to help get weighting spot on. Free Nitrox.
4 dives offered every day plus check dive plus 2 dives on penultimate morning. A cracking 34 dives offered in 9 full days on board. Some fantastic sites/dives. Old favourites e.g. Fish Head Maaya Thila, Rasdhoo Madivaru plus I really enjoyed Vaavu Atoll & South Ari. Highlights were diving (not snorkelling) with whale sharks. Leaf fish every day. Lots of stone fish. Plenty of UMS. Many grey reefs. Alas despite spending 3 full hours at cleaning stations no Mantas.
I really liked the mix of channel (high energy) & scenic dives. A couple of the night dives were a bit rubbish it is v difficult to find good current-free night dive sites in the Maldives.
A real plus was Thomas the Cruise Director. He did a great job varying sites/dive times to minimise impact of other lobs. There are a lot around nowadays. Also, he showed much flexibility adding extra night dives to compensate for small glitches e.g. no beach bbq or missed dive site on am dive. Ive done a couple of Maldives lobs without Cruise Directors & the difference is really noticeable.
Missing the beach bbq was a good call. 9 lobs were attempting to use the same speck of beach for their sunset bbq!
There were 12 guests divided into 2 dive groups. I was in a group with 5 German/Swiss divers. They were excellent divers & really nice people to spend 10 days with. They kindly spoke English on board to include me in conversations.
Boat Facilities
7 cabins for max 14 divers. All cabins wood panelled with good individual air con. Rooms are not spacious, but big enough & noticeably larger than e.g. standard Aggressor sizes. Endless hot water for showers all day & proper loos.
Very comfy lounge. Outdoor shaded seating in dining area.
Food/drink
3 hot buffets per day plus afternoon sweet & savoury snacks. Multiple fish & meat choices at lunch & dinner. Generous quantities. Free soft drinks & beers. Wine was Euro 25 but was not that popular. Double whiskies/brandies at Euros 5 was a bargain nightcap.
Any negatives
- Their maximum Nitrox mix was 28%. Often 26/27%. For repetitive diving in Maldives, I would prefer the usual 32%.
- There was only 1 guide with expert local dive site knowledge. This meant that after 2 days they abandoned the 2 groups of 6 approach & we dived in a single group of 12. A quality lob should have 2 guides who have expert knowledge of the dive sites.
- I would really have liked to dive the itinerary that I booked. But stuff happens. Ill try the Southern itinerary again before long and Ill choose Maldives Siren for that trip.
Booking/Tour Op
This was my 3rd trip in last 2 years with Georgina at Blue O2. Excellent, well informed, friendly service; good prices. Very happy to recommend.
Hope there's some useful info in here?
Cheers
John
