Soleil 2 live report

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Well, also at the MARHE research center a coral restoration program is ongoing. I have seen their coral nurseries, where heat-resistant coral is being cultivated, and later implanted on dead reefs for restarting life...
Coral Restoration Project - MaRHE Center
I was told that permanent results will require at least 20 years, so i doubt I will be able to see them.
 
Yeah, also I was taken back, thanks to your excellent report...
In 1986 I and my wife spent 3 months in the diving staff at Alimatha, and of course Alimatha Kandu and Miaru Kandu were two of the more frequent dives At that time the coral was all alive and very coloured, and in both sites it was common to see a number of large sharks and eagles, sometimes an hammerhead.
I would be really curious to come back 33 years later and see how it is now.
Any chance that you share some of your video clips on Youtube?

Thank you for the kind words. I think you would be very, very disappointed in the corals, if you came back. I will try to post a video, but might be in January as I’m “home” in Denmark for family time and Christmas:)

I think you would be very, very disappointed with the corals though- most of it is dead:-(
 
Have very much enjoyed your live report. Some of it took me right back!
I've looked for your updates every day and been gratified every time.

Thanks! We’re looking to go back to Maldives, possibly in February or April - I want to go to Fuvahmulah and Gan, after I read a trip report here:)

Seems a bit expensive though compared to the LOB...
 
Final day and thoughts:

On the final evening we settled our bills for extra dives, nitrox and alcohol. We did manage to consume most of 2 bottles of Bombay Safire. At 45 us$ each that was way cheaper than the 35 us$ bottle of wine, but I’m not drinking any more gin this year!
Tonic was 2 us$ pr can, so if you like gin/tonic try to bring some tonic if you have room in your luggage.

The crew found out husband did his dive no 600, and made a cake to celebrate- Nice touch:)

They also were so kind to call our hotel in Male (Airport Beach Hotel) about picking us up the next day.

We had breakfast, packed our things and checked out at 11 am the next morning. We could stay till 2 pm and have lunch, but really I wanted to get some hot food.

Transfer was easy: at the harbour the van was waiting for us, and it was less than 10 min drive to the hotel. Our room was ready - it was new, nice and clean, but small. The worst part was the “air fresheners” in both our room and the “lounge”, it was awfully strong. Both SIL and I are allergic to perfume so took antihistamine straight away, still got a bad headache. The internet was good and there’s a lovely roof top area with a small pool.

We decided to take a walk along the beach front, the beach itself was nice and some of the small cafes looked cute as well, but there was trash lying around and not just small pieces of ice cream wrap etc, no: old plastic chairs, broken microwave ovens and office chairs. A real reminder, this is a 3rd world country with big garbage handling problems.

After our walk we decided to have lunch on the roof top terrace. Pizza was nice and hot, we had brought some “tonic” from the boat, so we shared that and had a short nap, before our 4 pm transfer to the airport.

All of us had a great time in Maldives and would love to return:)
 
About Soleil:

Soleil is a big boat, well layed out for diving and relaxing. Our master cabin was huge and even had room for a sofa. Ac worked perfectly. The bed was very comfortable, husband commented on how well we slept (rare for him). The cabin also had a small fridge to keep water etc cold (balcony cabins also have a fridge - handy for SIL supplies of insulin).

The boat never felt crowded and there was plenty of space and lines/pegs for drying wet swim suits etc.

Every morning we got a clean towel for the dhoni- towels in room was changed once during the week.

Dhoni was big and had a good setup for tanks, gear and camera storage. Crew handled cameras etc with care, they also rolled up SMB if they had the time.
In terms of help with gear like zippers, finns, getting suits off and so on I’ve had (much) better, but it’s things I can easily do myself (I’m just one of those divers, who love it, when the crew help me and put on my finns;-))

Dive guide was excellent. One of the best we ever had.

Food was a let down, it would not take much to improve here: the trays etc for food are the type you can put heat or hot water under, and just utilising that would have helped. Most of the food tasted good, but served cold let it down. Also as I’ve mentioned: “pre dive” breakfast and afternoon snack was “missing”, and ALL other LOB’s we’ve been on they would serve something warm after the dive (would have been easy to have coffee or tea on the dhoni)
 
Final day and thoughts:

On the final evening we settled our bills for extra dives, nitrox and alcohol. We did manage to consume most of 2 bottles of Bombay Safire. At 45 us$ each that was way cheaper than the 35 us$ bottle of wine, but I’m not drinking any more gin this year!
Tonic was 2 us$ pr can, so if you like gin/tonic try to bring some tonic if you have room in your luggage.

The crew found out husband did his dive no 600, and made a cake to celebrate- Nice touch:)

They also were so kind to call our hotel in Male (Airport Beach Hotel) about picking us up the next day.

We had breakfast, packed our things and checked out at 11 am the next morning. We could stay till 2 pm and have lunch, but really I wanted to get some hot food.

Transfer was easy: at the harbour the van was waiting for us, and it was less than 10 min drive to the hotel. Our room was ready - it was new, nice and clean, but small. The worst part was the “air fresheners” in both our room and the “lounge”, it was awfully strong. Both SIL and I are allergic to perfume so took antihistamine straight away, still got a bad headache. The internet was good and there’s a lovely roof top area with a small pool.

We decided to take a walk along the beach front, the beach itself was nice and some of the small cafes looked cute as well, but there was trash lying around and not just small pieces of ice cream wrap etc, no: old plastic chairs, broken microwave ovens and office chairs. A real reminder, this is a 3rd world country with big garbage handling problems.

After our walk we decided to have lunch on the roof top terrace. Pizza was nice and hot, we had brought some “tonic” from the boat, so we shared that and had a short nap, before our 4 pm transfer to the airport.

All of us had a great time in Maldives and would love to return:)

So sorry to read about the trash on the beach. Such a shame.
 
Final day and thoughts:

On the final evening we settled our bills for extra dives, nitrox and alcohol. We did manage to consume most of 2 bottles of Bombay Safire. At 45 us$ each that was way cheaper than the 35 us$ bottle of wine, but I’m not drinking any more gin this year!
Tonic was 2 us$ pr can, so if you like gin/tonic try to bring some tonic if you have room in your luggage.

The crew found out husband did his dive no 600, and made a cake to celebrate- Nice touch:)

They also were so kind to call our hotel in Male (Airport Beach Hotel) about picking us up the next day.

We had breakfast, packed our things and checked out at 11 am the next morning. We could stay till 2 pm and have lunch, but really I wanted to get some hot food.

Transfer was easy: at the harbour the van was waiting for us, and it was less than 10 min drive to the hotel. Our room was ready - it was new, nice and clean, but small. The worst part was the “air fresheners” in both our room and the “lounge”, it was awfully strong. Both SIL and I are allergic to perfume so took antihistamine straight away, still got a bad headache. The internet was good and there’s a lovely roof top area with a small pool.

We decided to take a walk along the beach front, the beach itself was nice and some of the small cafes looked cute as well, but there was trash lying around and not just small pieces of ice cream wrap etc, no: old plastic chairs, broken microwave ovens and office chairs. A real reminder, this is a 3rd world country with big garbage handling problems.

After our walk we decided to have lunch on the roof top terrace. Pizza was nice and hot, we had brought some “tonic” from the boat, so we shared that and had a short nap, before our 4 pm transfer to the airport.

All of us had a great time in Maldives and would love to return:)

Also, I have no recollection of a room freshener scent. I'm not allergic but that would still be a turn off for me.

Yes, the bedrooms themselves are small (unless you get the more expensive one. I had them let me peek into one and though it looked a lot better, I thought the extra $$ weren't worth it.)

The common area for the rooms was quite comfortable and roomy enough, I thought. Though when I was there, no AC in that area and so uncomfortable for me, regardless.
 
Day 3:

... sail to South Ari Atol
... search for whale sharks ... FINALLY see the WHALE SHARK following the eagle rays.
...
Last briefing is 4.15 pm and most of the Spanish group decides not to dive, but go to the local island to shop?!
...
so decision is made to dive “Five rocks”. Beautiful corals ...

Thanks for the report.
I guess that local isalnd is Dhigurah. We will be there after easter, so we are very curious about the island.

And i remember some of the spots from the early 90s... Kandooma Thila,Vilamendhoo Thila, Maaya Thila,...
 
We have stayed twice on Dhigurah Island at Boutique Beach and love it there. On both visits we saw whalesharks. There are a number of local islands that have shops selling beach gear etc. The island has regular , daily or twice daily, patrols to clean the beach. This has made a huge difference, as the beach is stunningly beautiful. People on the islands will say that safari boats dump rubbish, but regardless they have done a great job on cleaning the beach.
 

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