Maldives LOB advice

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shmuggy

Contributor
Messages
284
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Location
virginia
# of dives
500 - 999
I want to go to the Maldives in March and am looking real hard at the Aggressor boat. My concerns going to the Maldives are:
I want uncrowded dive sites- have heard some reports of mobs when there are mantas present

I want 4 dives a day offered

One of the premiere sites to see mantas was closed for diving- have the operators found a suitable substitute?

Thanks!
 
Here at the Manta Point of the South Ari Atoll we get mantas from mid December to March, sometimes April. This year in March we had mantas in the first two weeks, then they seemed to disappear for a few weeks, but came back in April. So March is an ok month to come if you want to see mantas, but you might get unlucky.
As for crowds, there are boats on manta point every day, but not all day: you might be alone with them or surrounded by 50+ divers plus a bunch of snorkelers above. There's no good or bad time of the day, it helps if your boat can spend a some time anchored nearby and go in for the dive when there are few boats.
 
Just got off the Agressor boat, a very brief summary is as follows:

Excellent service by the staff and crew
Nice rooms with large baths, plenty of storage
Outstanding cooks! Thanks Didi :wink:, Jenny, Nammie
Best dive briefings ever, very informative
Good dive facilities

Boat has/had several mechanical issues that compromised diving, but the crew did all they could do to make the best of it.....
The A/C in the rooms was poor to not working at all, this was a big downside.

The diving was good given the season, the crew tried hard to insure we were not overcome by hoards of divers. We were alone with the whale sharks and the Mantas, but stories of masses of divers in the high season are real, there is no way to guarantee this for you.

Water temps were consistantaly 85f, visibility was 40-80 feet on average, again this is the monsoon season. We did have just two days of bad weather that kept us off the best sites but we got a good taste of what it was like to venture out to the outer reefs when it was stormy. We had a break in the weather but a storm came up while we were diving, we surfaced in 80 knot winds and waves, very exciting to say the least. Crazy people we are, we actually enjoyed it.....

Enjoy
 
We had a break in the weather but a storm came up while we were diving, we surfaced in 80 knot winds and waves, very exciting to say the least. Crazy people we are, we actually enjoyed it.....
Eighty knot winds! That is hurricane force!
... Force 13 on the Beaufort Scale, 150 km/h, or 92 mph.

Winds of that magnitude would create waves of 10-15 meters in height, large enough that a dinghy would be unable to go pick up divers (those kinds of waves wash over the decks of huge tankers--I can only imagine how a small vessel like Aggressor would be tossed around). The tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 produced waves of 10 meters in height, as a point of reference. How were these wind speeds after your dive determined?
 
Eighty knot winds! That is hurricane force!
... Force 13 on the Beaufort Scale, 150 km/h, or 92 mph.

Winds of that magnitude would create waves of 10-15 meters in height, large enough that a dinghy would be unable to go pick up divers (those kinds of waves wash over the decks of huge tankers--I can only imagine how a small vessel like Aggressor would be tossed around). The tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 produced waves of 10 meters in height, as a point of reference. How were these wind speeds after your dive determined?

Just got back to Bangkok......The wind speeds were quoted by the Captain, he claimed the gusts were the worst he has seen in three years. The aggressor uses a tender for diving, it's about 30 feet or so. When we surfaced, I would estimate the swells were no more than 3-4 meters but the wind was severe, you could tell from the massive amount of water washing over the atolls. I'm sure we were getting some protection from the atoll. The Agressor was moored in safe harbor, behind an island.

Someone from our party shot video from the surface, I'll see if I can get it. And yes, it took an hour to get on the tender due to the pitch and roll. For what it was, it was quite orderly and very well handled by all the divers.

---------- Post Merged at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:07 PM ----------

Eighty knot winds! That is hurricane force!
... Force 13 on the Beaufort Scale, 150 km/h, or 92 mph.

Winds of that magnitude would create waves of 10-15 meters in height, large enough that a dinghy would be unable to go pick up divers (those kinds of waves wash over the decks of huge tankers--I can only imagine how a small vessel like Aggressor would be tossed around). The tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 produced waves of 10 meters in height, as a point of reference. How were these wind speeds after your dive determined?


I would make one more note, that mechanical problem I mentioned.....well that was a blown engine on the tender, I would imagine the maneuvering in that storm took it's toll, there was a lot of over revving when the propeller came clear of the water.
 
Spending a week on the aggressor starting two weeks from this coming Saturday. Hope they get some of those issues resolved. Really looking forward to it. I don't think this will be a vanilla Caribbean vacation!
 
I think everything will be in good shape, not to worry the crew is great. Our final four days had excellent weather. The water is warm, 85 degrees, so keep that in mind. Hope you have a great trip.

Tell Jenny and Nammie hello from John, their great..........
 
Sounds like you still had a good time and we can't hold the boat responsible for the weather. Thanks for all the info.
 
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