Maldives
We have been to the Maldives twice. First time was a one week trip in February 2004 to Halaveli Island in the North Ari atoll and the second trip was a 12 day liveaboard trip on the Sea Queen in September/October 2008.
If you go to the Maldives we can recommend a trip on a Seaplane. The view of the atolls from the air is a must see.
Halaveli was a very nice Island with some good diving within easy reach and they also could go a bit further on a day trip to a Manta Point. However, the way to dive the Maldives is definately on a liveaboard. More dives and you can cover a huge area. We highly recommend the Sea Queen. It is a small boat with a maximum of 12 guests. The crew is friendly and Dave and Lisa, our guides, were super. We still enjoy watching the trip DVD that Lisa made for us. She is a very talented artist.
When we went there is quite a lot of plankton in the water so the visibility was not always at its best. However the many encounters with Manta Rays and even Whale Sharks in the Baa atoll more than compensated for the viz. There were so many highlights, that it is impossible to tell them all, but in general uncrowded diving, encounters with sharks, napoleons, turtles, huge schools of fish and also quite a bit of macro stuff.
Save up and go there yourselves. You won't be dissappointed.
We will definately be back sometime in the future.
Our itineary with the Sea Queen
We headed straight off to the Baa Atoll in the hope of finding Whalesharks and Manta Rays. Boy did we succeed. The Hani Faru Lagoon was full of plankton, 5 Whalesharks and uncountable Manta Rays. We snorkled with these magnificent creatures for 2 hours and I think we all had the experience of a lifetime.
Nelivaru Thila and Dhiga Thila were other good sites with Manta cleaning stations.
After some days in the Baa atoll we moved to the Ari atoll. Now it was time for some shark action. Makaru Thila wasthe best with grey reefsharks cruising along the reef and some getting cleaned. We also met a really nice eagle ray coming very close. FIshhead is a favourite. The friendly Napoleon wrasse is a hit. But the sheer fishlife is just overwhelming. A night dive at Maya Thila delivered hunting whitetip sharks. Very interesting to watch this behaviour. Then it was time for the South Male atoll. It as good but couldn't live up to the very good days preceeding.
In general we didn't really have any currents to speak of. It was apparently quite characteristic for the Maldives at this time of the year, where at other times you could have some of a ride.
Even though that e were there at the border of the rainy season we didn't really experience any rain. Well maybe just a matter of luck.
The Seaqueen
The boat has space for 12 divers in fairly small cabins with private bathrooms. The food was good, the crew very friendly so we would definately like to go on this boat again or its sister the Sea Spirit.
All the diving is done from dhoni, so the Seaqueen is dry.