Maledives

[Ivan]

Hi all,

Has anybody visited Maledives (I am not sure about right spelling) recently?

I would like to go there at the end of April or beginning of May this year. We would like to stay at an island in Noth Male Atol called Baros.

Does anybody know anything about this island? I would be gratful for any info on Maledives (marine life, recovery of corals after the impact of 1998 El Nino etc.).

Thanks

Ivan

 

[dicgo]

I have been to Maldive in 98, 99, 01 but never been to Baros. I have stayed in Mirihi; Hiltons and Soneva Fushi. They are all nice resorts with friendly service.
Coral condition before the 98 El Nino is 9.9 on a 10 points scale. Coral conditon on my last 2 visit is 4. But you can still expect to see great fish life. (that is soley my opinion)
For resort selection I always prefer to choose samll and remote island with less then 50 rooms and avoid those with 2-300 rooms. If you take the sea plane you will have a chance to see a bare foot pilot.
Try to get yourselves a book "Resorts of the Maldives" by Adrian Neville. It has full list of resort option. (ISBN 99915-3-022-3)

 

[Sue]

Hi

I've just returned from the Maldives. We had a great time, despite the fact that we lost the plane to male and we had to stay 2 days in frankfurt, but we were lucky and the boat returned to get us, so we just lost 2 days of the liveaboard.
the weather was great and fish life is gorgeous - you name it, they're there.
From what i've heard (it was my first time there) corals are recovering fast. We've seen nice soft corals in North Male Atol.
I can't tell you anything about that island, but if you're going there to dive, check about the dive center first, because it worth it to get a bit around, so you should get a center that assures you some different diving destinations, far from the island.
Remember also that the diving season ends on April, so go as soon as you can.

Have fun

Sue

 

[Ivan]

Sue and dicgo,

Thank you both for your comments. I have checked the dive center and they offer not only a hose reef but about 50 sites most of them on outer reefs.

Regarding timing I have read that diving is possible all year around but the monsoon arrives in May. I want to go either for Easter or the week containing May 1 (the reason is that I will save one day of my holiday since we have public holiday on Easter Monday and May 1 - Labor Day). Would still be diving possible the first week of May?

Thanks and HNY.

Ivan

 

[oliviamarine]

Yes, diving in May will still be possible. I was in the Maledives from April 28 until May 13 2002 and started diving May 1st. So diving in May is still possible and should not cause any problem. The weather can be bad sometimes but not enough to cancel the dive.

Enjoy it !

Marine

 

[DocVikingo]

The diving around North Male Atoll is not amongst the best in the cluster. Make sure that you hold the dive op to promises of outer reef sites.

Soft corals are well recovered, hard corals are recovering, and animal life is outrageous.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[Luko]

I was in Fihalhohi - south of South Male Atoll, less than one year ago, though we dived out in different parts of the atoll, it seems that El Nino hit really hard everywhere and that coral recovery is not that fast. Dicgo's 4/10 mark is even an optimistic value to me...

Clearly said, if you want decent corals, avoid Maldives, on the other hand it's litterally raining black triggerfish, billions of 'em ! it's the place to go for eagle rays or reef sharks too : it was the first time I dived the Maldives but apparently the inhouse DMs and other long time divers felt the coral bleaching even increased medium or large fish biomass since 98.

Now, IMHO Maldives is one of the most overrated dive spot for what it has become now (I obviously would not speak for before 98...): i truly dived only one very good spot out of 10 dives which in average were more or less say, Sharm or Hurghada like, but for almost twice the price. I'm glad I made it and experienced -a bit- of Maldives diving but would definitely spare my money for Indonesia or Philippines, far superior underwater and so enjoyable overland.

 

[Ivan]

Dear all,

Thank you for your comments which I found very valuable. According to some comments I am now checking some options on the South Ari Atol.

I have not been to Maldives so that is the reason which motivates me to go there. I was in Egypt two times and want to check other location. I found the corals very nice in Egypt but there were only few pelagics (Sharm and Hurghada). My wife does not want to go on a liveboard so the most remote sites are out of question for me.

I have recently returned from USVI (St. Croix) where corals were really stunning on some sites. But we have not seen any sharks so I hope it will be diferrent at Maldives. My question to corals condition was more focused on the avoiding of a situation where I will be diving around "dead" reefs.

By the way I have recently read a DocVikingo's trip report on Margui archipelago which is really great.

Regards

Ivan

 

[dicgo]

updated coral condition report of the world. see if it help

http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/resear...002/scr-00.html

 

[diverkim]

I was last in the Maledives in 1999 and the hard coral was most impressive then. The fish life was fantastic too. Sharm El Sheikh couldn't compare with the Maledives for the fish life.
Philippines and certain parts of Indonesia are good too but I considered Maledives much better.
I visited Baros Island too. It was nice enough with an okay house reef.
But I hear that diving is better in the other atolls.