Underwhelmed in the Maldives (Trip Report)

Date Mar.28 - April 9th, 2005

Safari Boat – Handhufalhi (Broke down on 2nd day) Slept first 3 nights, then last night spent on board upon returning to Male area (Boat repaired by then). Congested, claustrophobic boat. Not much outdoor space with protection from sun either.
24m x 7m

Transferred to Blue Shark Two – Excellent roomy boat! Great food! 3N/4 Days ; 32.8mx11m

Good food on both boats. Blue Shark Two even has a bar!

This was my first liveaboard. I will definitely pay attention to both the length and width of any future boat.

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I recently returned a few days ago from a trip to the Maldives. I did 4 Male based dives and about 20 liveaboard / safari boat dives. I must say – I am unimpressed by the quality of diving I experienced in the Maldives. I was so underwhelmed by my much higher expectations. Can someone sympathize?

Of the 8 other people with me on the safari boat – an Israeli couple also concurred with me. They had been to Palau last year, as I had too. We both made continual references back to Palau. From my readings on the Internet I had expected the Maldives diving experience to exceed Palau. Tis' not to be.

None of the others (5 French, 1 Israeli, 1 Kiwi) had been to Palau. The Israeli couple preferred the Red Sea to the Maldives. My favorite site – Kudarah Thila, the husband (Wife didn't dive it) said it was good, but not as good as what is in the Red Sea.

Here is a list of dive sites:

Male based – Banana Reef (Tricky currents, not the best choice for the 2nd dive), Maa Giri, Kiki Reef, Furana Fushi South

Safari Boat Dives

N. Male – Kurumba Reef check dive, Maldive Victory wreck

S. Male – Kudagiri (An easy but satisfying site – colorful thila and good visibility wreck)
Cocoa Corner (A channel swim/sprint – no hanging around corner. Why not? Saw maybe 2-3 sharks far below), Guraidhoo – Medhu Faru channel crossing (Why swim across the channel?? Didn't see anything!!), Medhu Faru – boring drift, Embudhoo Kandu (1 of only 2 sites that matched my expectations – though I expected better coral coverage. Seeing 20-25 white tip sharks from the accessible bottom (35 meters) is good though. Along with a large Napoleon and good sized turtle while drifting)

Rasdhoo Atoll – 3 dives here including a fruitless early AM hammerhead search (Supposed to be only 1 dive, but safari boat broke down)

Ari Atoll – Rangveli Mandivaru (Manta search – saw 1 giant one)
Maamigili Out, Sun Island Out, Ranveli Thila, Villamendhoo Thila

Whale Shark chase – snorkeling...saw one on 2 different swims, but far too much of a circus. Did this for 2 days in a row!

Kudarah Thila (Excellent site! 1 of only 2 total that matched my expectations)

We missed Maaya Thila and Fish Head due to the safari boat breaking down. We transferred (3.5 hours!!! in a dhoni at 5am) to another, better boat, that had already dived these sites the prior day. My understanding is that these are two of the best Thilas and similar to Kudarah....true??

Skipped a night dive due to fatigue/rest and a repeat of Rangveli Mandivaru.


A few thoughts:

1)While I know there are many other atolls possibly with expectation beating sites in the Maldives, the tricky thing about the Maldives is that all the sites are spread apart as opposed to Palau and other destinations (Red Sea?) where the top sites are more closely grouped.

2)Boats cannot travel at night due to atolls, thus forcing more time at a particular location than what is ideal.

3)Day diving from Male is problematic (At least at the dive operator I used – Sea Explorers) as the morning dive is separated from the afternoon dive by having to return to Male. And often the boat needs to pick up somebody at the airport which necessitates a Northern Male dive – as opposed to a trip to Upper South Male Atoll.

4)Safari boat did not go anywhere the 1st day (1st night anchored by airport) as it had to wait for all passengers to arrive and board. More smoother would have been to have all passengers on board by early AM then head away from Male to do diving.

5)Male itself is quite congested and does not lend itself to being a restful place between diving or non-dive days.

Questions:

If my goal was to always see colorful soft coral with fish life, and pelagics only secondary – which atolls are best?

Is Fiji a better bet for soft coral than the Maldives?

Are some of the sites I listed – better pre 1998?

circusoflife,
i did a liveaboard trip to the maldives in oct '03
i would have to say that it appears that we had opposite experiences.
i dove on this vessel.
http://www.sultansoftheseas.it/en/infoSMadivaru.php
we dove the suvadiva-huvadoo / gaafu atoll.
the entire adventure was very well organized.
the vessel, crew, food and diving exceeded all my expectations.
the maldives comprise of 26 atolls including 1192 islands.
200 of these are inhabited leaving alot of room for exploring.
i'd recommend giving the maldives another try after doing some research.
please let me know if i can help you in any way.
regards,

The coral throughout the Maldives is in very poor condition after the last El Nino. The 2004 tsunami didn't help anything either. Do not go to the Maldives looking for coral in the next decade or so.

Now, if it's sharks, mantas, whale sharks, eagle rays, etc. that you want, Maldives is still a very good place. Of the two places you missed, Maaya Thila and Fish Head, you missed a lot of gray reef, white tip and black tip sharks. At Fish Head, you missed a pretty sad but close up look at a Napolean wrasse. When I was last there in November, there were plentiful small reef fish at both sites too but you didn't miss any coral.

One note: ALWAYS stay on a LOB unless you are travelling with some non-divers or you get sea-sick easily. It's too hard going where the fish are or guessing the right resort if you stay on land. Finally, the Maldives hasn't been in the same league as Pulau since El Nino.

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Now, what did I say that will get censored?

zippsy,
have you dove the suvadiva-huvadoo / gaafu atoll?
regards,

No, the Kohlumadulu (Thaa) Atoll is the furthest south that I have dived.

very informative thread, thank you

Shame to hear you traveled so far and feel you only had a mediocre experience. I haven't been to the Maldives since 99 so can't comment on the condition of any of the sites now. I am sure there are others on the board with more recent experience who will chime in.

A couple of things stand out to me that may or may not help when you plan your next holiday:
- you've already found out you need to do your homework on the boats etc to find something that suits you. Sounds like the first boat didn't suit your needs very well - despite the lost days of diving it sounds like the second boat was a much better fit. So you'll have something to judge from next time.

- IMHO it's a terrible idea to compare ANY dive sites. Even in the same area beyond a general "this was great for turtles, this other site had fewer on the day I dived". Every dive site has good and great days and each dive area is unique. Comparing Fiji or Palau or Cozumel or Great Barrier Reef or Red Sea or wherever to some other area isn't helpful. They are different areas and offer different things. No, they aren't the same - otherwise why would one try something new?

To me it's like comparing Red to Blue - they're both colours, but beyond that their appeal varies with context and my daily attitude Try to go into every dive as a new diver - never been there before, who knows what I'll see! I do this even on dive sites I dive multiple times/week and I always come up having found something - whether it's a fish I haven't seen before or a behaviour that wasn't going on last dive...it's true, some dives are better than others some days. But I can't remember the last time I had a "bad" or even "disappointing" dive and I think it is because the only expectation I try to take with me is that I will get wet!

-Ask in the forums here about areas you are thinking of visiting. I couldn't believe how much info I found on places...and then PM people who have a comment that strikes you (positive or negative) there's almost always more to the story than is posted and lots of times those stories are really helpful.

-forget it. Dump out all the negative & non-positive things from your head. Write down ONLY the positives...every time you think of a negative, say NO and find a positive instead. It sounds silly and it kinda feels like one of those group seminars at first, but I've found that it actually gives me a much better feeling/view of what really happened. Negatives weigh so much more than positives and really overshadow them sometimes - we have to work harder for the good stuff. I am not sure why, but I've found that this tendency is a constant for most people. A little rethink is a bit of work, but should put a much better taste in your mouth. Especially for those "negatives" that are beyond your control

Anyway, I hope your next adventure is fabulous...do you dive at home? I've seen some excellent photos from that neck of the woods and think the diving is awesome...too cold for me!!

BTW - an avid, well-traveled photo/diver friend of mine did a trip to Fiji last year and raves about the corals. He's already planning a return visit.

Well, I have never been to Palau or the Maldives but if soft corals are what floats your boat...I highly reccommend Fiji. I have been twice, both north and south of Vitu Levu. The colors were the most vibrant thing I have seen underwater....well, except the manta shrimp I saw in Lanyakan!!!!!
Fiji was a great bang for your buck. I did land based diving though. No liveaboards.
Hey what is LOB????
Hope this helps
Susie

I just got back from a Maldives LOB which I found wonderful. My own report is embedded in another thread, http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=91288 posting #13, if you're interested.

I think you just had bad luck. As for the coral bleaching problem, it's true that most of the hard corals are still in poor condition, but there are places with abundant soft corals that make for beautiful underwater scenery. My favorite in this regard, I think, was Fotteyo Kandu with arches, swim throughs, caverns, corals, corals, corals; plus animal life ranging from eagle rays to mantis shrimp.

Scuba Susie:

Well, I have never been to Palau or the Maldives but if soft corals are what floats your boat...I highly reccommend Fiji. I have been twice, both north and south of Vitu Levu. The colors were the most vibrant thing I have seen underwater....well, except the manta shrimp I saw in Lanyakan!!!!!
Fiji was a great bang for your buck. I did land based diving though. No liveaboards.
Hey what is LOB????
Hope this helps
Susie

Click to expand...

We want to dive Fiji next December. Would appreciate any further information and suggestions that you can provide. For one thing, I know that this will not be the ideal time, but am hoping that it will still be before really bad weather hits, because this is the only time that we can all go. Also, since there are three of us (middle-aged couple and 15 year old daughter) and it's a long way, we'll have to watch our pennies.

Finally, although we've all dived under some relatively challenging conditions and down to 130 feet or so, none of us is and expert or a daredevil--and we are all dedicated environmentalist-- so we aren't looking for the sort of experience that hanging onto a reef-hook in high current or feeding sharks provides.