Live-aboard vs guest house on island for diving

[paperbagprincess]

Hi my husband and I are looking to go to the Maldives In January 2017, we don't really have the budget to stay at a fancy resort and dive so are looking at doing a live-aboard trip or staying at a guest house on one of the South Ari atoll or South Male atoll islands. We are both AOW certified and have done a few drift dives which went well, except for once when I got swept away by the current on descent.

My big debate is that I really want to dive 3 times a day and see whale sharks, non-reef sharks, rays etc but I cannot do a negatively buoyant descent. I'm getting better at it but it still takes me a few minutes to get to 100ft. Many of the live-aboards I have contacted have informed me they do not offer a rope to descend on, so I'm afraid of getting stuck on a boat for a week and not being able to do the dives because I keep getting swept away from the dive site.
Does anyone have experience with the same problem? Any suggestions for boats or day trip dive companies which do have ropes for descending? Or is the current not really as strong as it sounds?

Or would it be best to stay on an island and day trips to areas where the water might be calmer?

thank you very much!

 

[Damselfish]

I've done one liveaboard in the Maldives (Manthiri) so don't know how representative my experience is. But there were plenty of crazy currents, and I do think that is pretty much the norm. The boat you are diving from (often a dhoni rather than the liveaboard itself) is probably not anchored most of the time, so a rope isn't much of an option and quick descents are sometimes required. (Which can be a problem for me too.) I think only our first dive was someplace without current, for a checkout. Maybe someone knows of a liveaboard that does more dives with less current - or maybe not, since people want the best dives and those 2 things often go together there. The phase of the moon may have some impact but I'm not sure how critical timing would be as there are many things at play. I do get the sense you're more likely to find mellower dives land-based, but I have no experience with that.

 

[AZNetEng]

Out of curiosity what keeps you from descending quickly through the heavy current?

 

[Damselfish]

Some peoples ears are slower than others. Or slower after some days of diving.

 

[AZNetEng]

Some peoples ears are slower than others. Or slower after some days of diving.

Ok. I wasnt sure if it was an equalization issue or something else.

 

[paperbagprincess]

Thanks for the reply Damselfish , crazy currents sound like something I want to avoid! I will look into staying on an island instead, some of the dive shops I've contacted mentioned they have dives with less currents.

AZNetEng- It's equalizing my ears , sometimes they really give me problems and I need to take longer than the rest of my group to reach the bottom. Not a problem on dives without a big current or ones with a rope for descending but I've lost my group and had to end a dive early because of this problem. A week long trip that goes like that would be a waste.

 

[Diver Roonz]

Hi Paperbag,

We just got back from a trip to the Maldives, where we did a mix of diving from a resort (3 days) and diving from liveaboard (7 days). You can see the video we made and uploaded to youtube here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_AFxOlrKs
There are a few places with strong currents, even some sites accessible from resort, however you just drift dive these and they are actually very enjoyable - as you don't often have to fight against it.

 

[Jean Francois Desfosses]

My girlfriend and I spent 10 days in the Maldives.

We ended up at Shamar guest House in Maamigili. We did 2 dives a Day from a donghi then returned to the guest house. The staff was great, and so was the diving. We were planning on going to Maafushi, to do diving and be closer to Male, but one day of bad weather changed our plans and we had to stay an extra few days on the island to catch the next public ferry. (We could have taken a private boat or plane, but public ferries are 2.50$US VS a few hundred dollar for plane or private boat. We budget since we are travelling for 1.5 years.)

Anyhow, the DM was great and would adapt to people. We had less advanced people a few times and he got another DM to come and take care of them.

Let me know if you want more information!

Cheers

JF

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Hopefully this isn't too much of a side track. I have found that if I wear a light hood when diving in current it reduces my ear issues. It doesn't really effect how you equalize but does protect you from the additional pressure of the current. Keeping the current from hitting my ears throughout the dive means that on multiple dive trips my ears don't get increasingly sensitive. Before I started using the hood I had to sit out dives every few days because of my ears. Haven't had to miss dives for the sore ear problem since.

 

[paperbagprincess]

Thank you all for the replies!
I will look into Maamigili, I like the idea of being able to take the ferry and not have to pay extra for a speedboat or seaplane. Having extra an DM to dive in smaller groups also sounds wonderful.

I will definitely look into a light hood, anything that might help a little seems worth it. I have long hair so was thinking about a hood anyhow.