alexmaclennan
02-10-06, 07:13
This trip report is also posted on the YD forum
12 of us had a fantastic time for a week on the ‘MV Sea Spirit’ liveaboard, booked through Maldives Scuba Tours. I’ll post some photos later.
The company are a delight to deal with – answer questions by email quickly and spent a good 60 mins exploring options for also visiting a resort island for a couple of our guys(eventually didn’t happen). They also arranged a PADI AOW and Nitrox course for our least experienced guest (<10 OW dives prior to trip) and her doing this was seamlessly integrated into our diving. We got one free place for filling the boat. Flights were with Emirates Air, so there were scheduled flights from Glasgow, Manchester, Gatwick, and Dusseldorf for the guests.
The Sea Spirit is a lovely boat with room for 12 guests, a big saloon, table in front of saloon for meals and a big sundeck above. All diving is done from a dhoni which is about 35 feet long and has both air and nitrox ($10 a fill). The saloon has a good library of paperbacks and reference books, Hi Fi and TV, camera charging table. There was mobile phone reception everywhere we went.
Nick & Demelza the Cruise directors/dive instructors/ guides ensured everything ran smoothly.They are clearly very experienced and generally laid back in attitude The 7 crew seemed quiet and invisible but have got reasonably good understanding of English and good sense of fun and timing (when music is played to them)
Breakfast was OK (no bacon) but lunch and evening meals were always delicious. Tilak the cook is Sri Lankan. Lots of mild fish, vegetable and meat curries. Tilak also did a vegetarian option for one of the guests every night. Food is perfect with Tiger beer. There is an honesty bar for beer, wine and spirits.
We did 16 dives in 6 days. Generally briefing at 0650 then on dhoni for pre breakfast dive, breakfast, briefing about 1115 then on dhoni for pre lunch dive, lunch, briefing about 1530 then on dhoni for late afternoon dive. We did one night dive but, because of currents, night dives are infrequently done. Nick & Demelza tend to vary the itinerary according to guests preferences and weather. We cruised both South and North Male atolls.
Dives included:
Back Faru - as check dive. Drift along sloping wall. 28.6m for 54 mins.
Maldives Victory – as wreck dive. 28.3m for 33 mins. Lots of narrow swimthroughs in superstructure.
Kuda Giri – Lovely drift round part of a giri and onto a small wreck. 30,4m for 50 mins
Heart Giri – as a night dive. Fantastic undercuts/shallow caves vibrant with color. 23.8m for 51 mins.
Cocoa Thila – Fabulous drift with loads of big fish at point of thila. 31.4m for 44 mins
Then we went snorkelling with seven feeding mantas and a baitball of fusiliers.
Velessaru Caves – high powered drift along a wall with undercuts/caves. 30.8m for 45 mins.
Nassimo Thila – Again lovely overhangs/shallow caves. Like a twilight dive inside them. 28.4m for 45 mins
Lankan Finolhu (or Manta Point). We did this dive twice on consecutive mornings. Both times stayed for 45 mins by the cleaning station and there were between two and nine mantas constantly flying over and around us. An outstanding pair of dives. Both dives 28.4m for 65 mins (the cleaning station is at 13m).
HP Reef another lovely drift on a wall with overhangs/pinnacles. 28.8m for 54 mins
Okobe Thila – the other outstanding site which we dived twice. Two adjacent reefs with gorgeous fans and loads of reef fish. 28.6m for 46/55 mins.
Fairytale reef – high powered wall drift. Lots of up and down currents to contend with. 28.6m for 54 mins.
Trixies Caves – another wall/slope drift with some small caves. 30.4m for 48 mins.
Helengeli Thila – another fast drift along a wall with pinnacles and some undercuts. Half the group drifted off the reef and into the blue and ended their dive at 25 mins. Two others drifted off the Thila and onto the house reef of Helengeli resort island. We stayed with it although current was so strong that you could not fin to the top of thila. 31m for 45 mins
Rasfari – fastest drift dive with swooping currents that flew you along a sloping wall and sand. 30.6m for 45 mins.
The weather topside was mixed with mostly sun but occasional overcast and rain. There were a couple of lightening storms during the trip. The viz was noticeably poorer than Red Sea usually only 15m because of the plankton. The temp was 26 to 27 degrees in water. The coral in some places was still obviously bleached. The amount and variety of reef fish was stunning on every single dive. We also saw black tip, grey and white tip sharks, turtles, octopus, marbled stingrays and eagle rays, and of course the mantas. Derek who has dived for 26 years reckons this was his best trip since Ras Mohammed in 1982 on the Jenny because of the fish life, the open ocean topside, and there being no other boats/ divers.
The final day was spent on board sunbathing, lazily packing, lunch then a couple of hours in Male shopping (one of the outer circles of hell), sundowner drinks and delicious nibbles on sundeck, evening meal, DVD of trip (Nick is a great video photographer) settling up bills and farewell to crew and Nick & Demelza with tips for them all. Alan gave the crew our thanks – to each personally and then a final sing song accompanied by flute music. It was so good not to be dumped on shore for the last 24 hours.
A great trip and we would all go again (Fred is thinking going again in March). I suggest if you go take a DSMB as most safety stops were in open water, full length suit as those in shorties were stung/scratched while kneeling watching mantas at Manta point, and gloves for Manta Point.
Overall 10/10 holiday. It’s difficult to think how this could have been bettered.
12 of us had a fantastic time for a week on the ‘MV Sea Spirit’ liveaboard, booked through Maldives Scuba Tours. I’ll post some photos later.
The company are a delight to deal with – answer questions by email quickly and spent a good 60 mins exploring options for also visiting a resort island for a couple of our guys(eventually didn’t happen). They also arranged a PADI AOW and Nitrox course for our least experienced guest (<10 OW dives prior to trip) and her doing this was seamlessly integrated into our diving. We got one free place for filling the boat. Flights were with Emirates Air, so there were scheduled flights from Glasgow, Manchester, Gatwick, and Dusseldorf for the guests.
The Sea Spirit is a lovely boat with room for 12 guests, a big saloon, table in front of saloon for meals and a big sundeck above. All diving is done from a dhoni which is about 35 feet long and has both air and nitrox ($10 a fill). The saloon has a good library of paperbacks and reference books, Hi Fi and TV, camera charging table. There was mobile phone reception everywhere we went.
Nick & Demelza the Cruise directors/dive instructors/ guides ensured everything ran smoothly.They are clearly very experienced and generally laid back in attitude The 7 crew seemed quiet and invisible but have got reasonably good understanding of English and good sense of fun and timing (when music is played to them)
Breakfast was OK (no bacon) but lunch and evening meals were always delicious. Tilak the cook is Sri Lankan. Lots of mild fish, vegetable and meat curries. Tilak also did a vegetarian option for one of the guests every night. Food is perfect with Tiger beer. There is an honesty bar for beer, wine and spirits.
We did 16 dives in 6 days. Generally briefing at 0650 then on dhoni for pre breakfast dive, breakfast, briefing about 1115 then on dhoni for pre lunch dive, lunch, briefing about 1530 then on dhoni for late afternoon dive. We did one night dive but, because of currents, night dives are infrequently done. Nick & Demelza tend to vary the itinerary according to guests preferences and weather. We cruised both South and North Male atolls.
Dives included:
Back Faru - as check dive. Drift along sloping wall. 28.6m for 54 mins.
Maldives Victory – as wreck dive. 28.3m for 33 mins. Lots of narrow swimthroughs in superstructure.
Kuda Giri – Lovely drift round part of a giri and onto a small wreck. 30,4m for 50 mins
Heart Giri – as a night dive. Fantastic undercuts/shallow caves vibrant with color. 23.8m for 51 mins.
Cocoa Thila – Fabulous drift with loads of big fish at point of thila. 31.4m for 44 mins
Then we went snorkelling with seven feeding mantas and a baitball of fusiliers.
Velessaru Caves – high powered drift along a wall with undercuts/caves. 30.8m for 45 mins.
Nassimo Thila – Again lovely overhangs/shallow caves. Like a twilight dive inside them. 28.4m for 45 mins
Lankan Finolhu (or Manta Point). We did this dive twice on consecutive mornings. Both times stayed for 45 mins by the cleaning station and there were between two and nine mantas constantly flying over and around us. An outstanding pair of dives. Both dives 28.4m for 65 mins (the cleaning station is at 13m).
HP Reef another lovely drift on a wall with overhangs/pinnacles. 28.8m for 54 mins
Okobe Thila – the other outstanding site which we dived twice. Two adjacent reefs with gorgeous fans and loads of reef fish. 28.6m for 46/55 mins.
Fairytale reef – high powered wall drift. Lots of up and down currents to contend with. 28.6m for 54 mins.
Trixies Caves – another wall/slope drift with some small caves. 30.4m for 48 mins.
Helengeli Thila – another fast drift along a wall with pinnacles and some undercuts. Half the group drifted off the reef and into the blue and ended their dive at 25 mins. Two others drifted off the Thila and onto the house reef of Helengeli resort island. We stayed with it although current was so strong that you could not fin to the top of thila. 31m for 45 mins
Rasfari – fastest drift dive with swooping currents that flew you along a sloping wall and sand. 30.6m for 45 mins.
The weather topside was mixed with mostly sun but occasional overcast and rain. There were a couple of lightening storms during the trip. The viz was noticeably poorer than Red Sea usually only 15m because of the plankton. The temp was 26 to 27 degrees in water. The coral in some places was still obviously bleached. The amount and variety of reef fish was stunning on every single dive. We also saw black tip, grey and white tip sharks, turtles, octopus, marbled stingrays and eagle rays, and of course the mantas. Derek who has dived for 26 years reckons this was his best trip since Ras Mohammed in 1982 on the Jenny because of the fish life, the open ocean topside, and there being no other boats/ divers.
The final day was spent on board sunbathing, lazily packing, lunch then a couple of hours in Male shopping (one of the outer circles of hell), sundowner drinks and delicious nibbles on sundeck, evening meal, DVD of trip (Nick is a great video photographer) settling up bills and farewell to crew and Nick & Demelza with tips for them all. Alan gave the crew our thanks – to each personally and then a final sing song accompanied by flute music. It was so good not to be dumped on shore for the last 24 hours.
A great trip and we would all go again (Fred is thinking going again in March). I suggest if you go take a DSMB as most safety stops were in open water, full length suit as those in shorties were stung/scratched while kneeling watching mantas at Manta point, and gloves for Manta Point.
Overall 10/10 holiday. It’s difficult to think how this could have been bettered.