sb.sbalt
Guest
Hi All. I recently returned from a beautiful trip to the Maldives (late August 2010). I stayed at Dhoni Island, which is exclusive, but highly recommended. I'll stick to reviewing the dives though.
All dives are in the North Ari Atoll, which is where many of the resorts seem to be. Water temp was a consistent 29C.
Fish Head: This is a small pinnacle thila. Depth reached about 23 meters, and there were strong currents both times I dived (different days), vis was 10-15 meters. There's quite a lot of sea life, with several circa 2-3 meter sharks the first day. On both days there where several smaller white tip sharks, two turtles, a napoleon wrasse and a large school of jacks.
Ellaidhoo Reef: This is a house reef for one of the nearby resorts with no current and very good visibility. They sunk a small dhoni, but unfortunately it overturned on it's way down, and sits at 30m, although it has a nice mermaid figurehead. However, the reef is an easy dive, and it is beautiful and teaming with fish. Several large groupers, a large school of medium jacks, and I swam for some time surrounded by a beautiful school of yellow snapper.
Beru Khandu Thila: Shallow reef at about 16m, strong current, low vis. The highlight was a ton of white tips, with about 4 resting under a fan coral, and one inquisitive white tip following us around on the dive.
Halaveli Wreck: Don't know much about the background of this 30m wreck, but it was teaming with fish. Deepest point was about 27 meters, with no current and decent visibility. Saw my first electric ray. The reef wasn't tha interesting, with a lot of it bleached.
Gangehi Beru: This is actually on the other side of the atoll, it took us about 2.5 hours to get there on the dhoni, but it was worth it to snorkel with the whale sharks that had been sighted, about six of them. The reef dive was a change, with some interesting fan coral, some growing out almost like a tree, and you can safely (for the corral) swim under it. Lots of sea life, with at least 3 lion fish that I saw, a white tip, an eagle ray and a manta. Depth was 21 meters, no current, visibility was good.
Attached some photos taken by the instructor (still haven't invested myself). They're all from Fish Head, except the whale shark, which was at Gangehi Beru.
Overall, quite enjoyable, and Hassan, the instructor, was great.
SB
All dives are in the North Ari Atoll, which is where many of the resorts seem to be. Water temp was a consistent 29C.
Fish Head: This is a small pinnacle thila. Depth reached about 23 meters, and there were strong currents both times I dived (different days), vis was 10-15 meters. There's quite a lot of sea life, with several circa 2-3 meter sharks the first day. On both days there where several smaller white tip sharks, two turtles, a napoleon wrasse and a large school of jacks.
Ellaidhoo Reef: This is a house reef for one of the nearby resorts with no current and very good visibility. They sunk a small dhoni, but unfortunately it overturned on it's way down, and sits at 30m, although it has a nice mermaid figurehead. However, the reef is an easy dive, and it is beautiful and teaming with fish. Several large groupers, a large school of medium jacks, and I swam for some time surrounded by a beautiful school of yellow snapper.
Beru Khandu Thila: Shallow reef at about 16m, strong current, low vis. The highlight was a ton of white tips, with about 4 resting under a fan coral, and one inquisitive white tip following us around on the dive.
Halaveli Wreck: Don't know much about the background of this 30m wreck, but it was teaming with fish. Deepest point was about 27 meters, with no current and decent visibility. Saw my first electric ray. The reef wasn't tha interesting, with a lot of it bleached.
Gangehi Beru: This is actually on the other side of the atoll, it took us about 2.5 hours to get there on the dhoni, but it was worth it to snorkel with the whale sharks that had been sighted, about six of them. The reef dive was a change, with some interesting fan coral, some growing out almost like a tree, and you can safely (for the corral) swim under it. Lots of sea life, with at least 3 lion fish that I saw, a white tip, an eagle ray and a manta. Depth was 21 meters, no current, visibility was good.
Attached some photos taken by the instructor (still haven't invested myself). They're all from Fish Head, except the whale shark, which was at Gangehi Beru.
Overall, quite enjoyable, and Hassan, the instructor, was great.
SB
