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Maldives Trip Report May 2009
This is an account of a diving safari in the Maldives with UK Company "Maldives Scuba Tours" who as their name suggests, are specialists in diving in the Maldives. Most of their clients are from the UK but quite a few Americans use them too.
We landed at 8.00 am local time, the weather in Male was bright and sunny and it was already hot. We were met at the airport by Lisa one of our dive guides and we transferred our luggage on to waiting dhoni (our dive support vessel). After a short ride in the dhoni we arrived at MV Sea Queen at anchor in the airport lagoon.
After a brief welcome briefing by Dave the other dive guide and a welcome cocktail we were assigned to our cabins and then took our luggage downstairs to unpack. All the cabins were air conditioned and had en suite toilets and showers.
The diving equipment stayed on the dhoni where it was to remain for the duration of the trip. We were each assigned a basket to stow our gear and a cylinder so we could assemble our scuba gear. Plenty of lead weights were available for the weightbelts too.
Very soon we were underway and heading south across the channel that divides North Male Atoll from South Male Atoll. This was the start of a long journey south through the atolls to the far south and Huvadhoo Atoll which is just one degree north of the equator.
On the first day we did one shakedown dive in the afternoon but for the rest of the trip we did three dives a day, every day except one day when we had a long ocean crossing and we only did two. I did thirty dives in total. The first dive of the day was before breakfast at around 7.30 to 8.00am. The second dive was around 11.30 am before lunch and the third dive was around 3.00 pm.
Although the diving offered was theoretically unlimited, we decided as a group to limit ourselves to three dives per day. Three really good dives a day is the perfect number and it means you get the best of the diving and the boat has time to relocate to the best sites. The emphasis here was on quality rather than quantity. Night dives were also on offer for anyone who wanted to do one.
The diving in the Maldives is world class diving. The coral reefs there are stunning with so much diversity of marine life present. You can see everything from the big stuff like mantas and whalesharks down to the tiny critters that inhabit the reef and all in one dive!
Our dive guides Dave and Lisa were superb and their knowledge of the Maldivian atolls and reefs is vast. If they take you on a manta dive, you will see mantas. If they take you on a shark dive, you will see sharks. Before every dive, Lisa gave us an in depth briefing aboard Sea Queen before transferring to the dhoni which would then take us to the dive site. On arriving at the chosen site Dave would always enter the water first to do a "current check" so we all knew exactly what to expect.
Throughout the trip we were taken to a variety of dive sites ranging from channel dives where the currents were strong but were good places to see the big pelagics like sharks and barracuda. Then there were thila dives which are deep reefs often located within or near to the channels and are usually home to many species of fish and critters including huge shoals of Snapper, Big Eye, Sweetlips, Surgeon fish and many others. We also did giri dives which are shallow reefs located inside the atolls where the currents less than in the channels and on the thilas but the corals were in pristine condition especially in the far south.
Every dive we did was superb. In the channels, on the outer edge of the atolls we encountered large numbers of grey reef sharks, tuna, jacks, barracuda and eagle rays. Further inside the channels we saw giant mantas and leopard sharks. On the thilas we saw a huge diversity of fish life especially on the current point of the thila. Most thilas are covered in colourful soft corals and gorgonians and are home to numerous reef critters including octopus, pipe fish, anemones full of clown fish and many others. Turtles were in abundance and we saw them on just about every dive. Some of the group were underwater photographers and they brought back some superb images from their dives.
MV Sea Queen is a very comfortable boat and has the best liveaboard chef in the world. I've dived in locations all around the world and I must say that the food on this boat is the best. It's worth going on a trip aboard the Sea Queen just for the food.
I've already booked my next trip aboard Sea Queen in 2011 and I'm really looking forward to it. I've started saving up for it already. It's worth every penny.
Maldives Scuba Tours are based in England
Their phone number is +44 (0)1284 748 010
Their web site is www dot scubascuba dot com
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