Trip Report Carpe Vita Real Time Review: March 7-18, 2021 Trip to Maldives Deep South

[Dan]

Dive 17 at Gaahura Kandu, N. Meemu Atoll. Another channel dive. Saw Whitetip Reef Sharks & Gray Reef Sharks, Schooling Red Snappers. After reaching NDL, we went to Thila (the underwater shallow plateau) and saw Day Octopus, Mask Eel, Lionfish & usual suspects.

Bottom depth was 97 ft (30 m) with 58 min dive time.

 

[Dan]

Day 7
Sailing north to Vaavu Atoll in the morning and stop at south tip of the atoll at Rakeedhoo.

Dive 18 at Rakeedhoo Corner. An easy drift diving ~ 80 ft depth. Saw a nice soft coral on the overhang.

Bottom depth was 109 ft (33 m) with 59 min dive time.

 

[Dan]

Dive 19 at Golden Wall, E. Vaavu.
The site is name after yellow soft coral on wall. A nice drift dive with variety of schooling sweetlips, anthias, etc.

Bottom depth was 103 ft (31 m) with 58 min dive time.

 

[AngryMoth]

Enjoying living this trip vicariously through your report, Dan! I was booked on this trip but had to reschedule to next year since we are still locked down in the UK

 

[Dan]

Enjoying living this trip vicariously through your report, Dan! I was booked on this trip but had to reschedule to next year since we are still locked down in the UK

Sorry to hear that you are still locked down & had to reschedule the trip to next year. By then you should be cleared to go and at least be more prepared than me & know what to expect from the trip.

 

[Dan]

Dive 20 was at Miyaru Kandu, E. Vaavu, north of Alimathaa. It’s another channel diving. Saw the usual suspects (Whitetip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, Dogtooth Tuna, etc.)

Bottom depth was 106 ft (32 m) with 52 min dive time.

 

[Dan]

Dive 21 was at Alimathaa Jetty. The 4th dive of the day was a dusk diving with Nurse Sharks & Stingray off Alimathaa Resort’s house reef jetty.

 

[Dan]

Day 8
Dive 22 at Dhevana Kandu, E. Vaavu Atoll . Another channel dive. Saw the usual suspects. Bottom depth 113 ft. Dive time 55 min.

After the dive we sailed north for 4 hours to S. Ari Atoll.

 

[Dan]

Dive 23 at Kudarah Thila , S. Ari Atoll
Nice Thila & overhang corals. Saw Green Moray on ceiling, lots of schooling snappers, a sleeping Marbled Ray.

Bottom depth was 94 ft with 57 min dive time.

 

[drrich2]

Looking over your report, and judging mainly against Caribbean diving, I see a glaring difference. Live-aboard diving Belize, the Caymans and Turks & Caicos (one trip each)...diving 90+ feet, and especially 100+, as a max. depth was unusual. The one dive > 100 feet on my Galapagos trip was where I got task loaded and let my buoyancy control lapse. The one trip where I had a number of deliberate dives with max. depths 100+ feet was North Carolina, because the offshore deep wrecks were...well, deep.

But you are in the Maldives, known for beautiful coral reef (and associated tropical fish) diving, I believe...and you're hitting the 90 - 100+ foot max. depth level quite often. So, my questions...

1.) Does the boat have an option for tanks larger than the typical 80-cf tank? If so, what are most divers using?

2.) It's one thing to briefly dip down to see something special, another to spend substantial time at depth (e.g.: 'square profile' diving - like on the offshore wrecks out of North Carolina). Are you guys spending much time at those depths? What depths do you tend to use the reef hooks?

3.) Does having a good SAC rate/gas consumption rate seem especially important for Maldives diving? Is that something that people who aren't good at it might consider grounds to pick another destination?

4.) Is everyone diving nitrox?

5.) Why are they diving that deep (compared to, say, the Cayman Islands, where one could easily do so but doesn't)? Are you looking for something specific to those depth?

6.) How does the diving depth of a Maldives trip compare to Raja Ampat, Komodo or Palau? Any idea?

A number of Scuba Boarders seems to have gills, but not all of us are like that. The best way to bring a smile to my face at a dive shop is to say 'Why yes, we rent 120-cf steel tanks!'