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Maldives live aboard Festive Adventures-2

A few months ago, in March 2009, my friend James and I continued what I can only describe as a celebration of life in the Maldives. Over the past 10 years, starting with our first holiday along with the islands of the Gulf of Honduras, where we received the certification of SCUBA divers, we have been fascinating "divers-divers." By this I mean that we only dive once or twice a year, during the holidays. This is a great hobby because it encourages us to travel somewhere different every year. So far we have been to Egypt, Thailand, Florida, Mexico, Australia and Malaysia, and all the trips have been amazing. However, our trip to the Maldives has eclipsed all other holidays in terms of comfort, service and, most importantly, the marine life we ​​saw there.

Traveling to the Maldives is expensive, especially if you stay in one of the many magnificent resorts, some of which are at least $ 500 per night! As diving divers, when we looked at a variety of options, it was wise to choose a holiday to relax. Until we began to study, I did not understand how great the Maldives are. They cover an area of ​​about 300 square kilometers, so if you want to visit a good selection of diving sites, staying at the resort is not possible, because you end up spending so much time diving the boat, going to the dive and back sites and less time immersion. With the liveaboard option, you simply cruise the archipelago on the main live board, and then jump into a smaller Dhoni dive, which travels with the main live swimmer for each dive. This is great because a smaller boat can get to smaller waters — so much closer to the actual dive sites — and all the equipment is kept aboard the Dhoni, so you don't need to haul it. Just go into Doni, put on your gear and jump into the water. Of all the dives we have ever had, we have never had such an easy experience. One thing is certain, the Maldives have definitely spoiled us!

In the Maldives, a wide variety of residential buildings, all of which offer different levels of comfort and convenience depending on their price. While our budget was not enough for us to become one of the most bizarre resorts, we managed to get one of the highest ships on board. So, we chose Island Safari 2 Royal, mainly because it looks like one of those cool private yachts that you see in places like Monaco and Key West. After all, when are we still going to spend a week living like kings for a small part of the cost of renting such a yacht? So, we booked a 7-night Scuba Safari.

Our trip began with a long 14-hour flight from London to Male International Airport, which was connected to Qatar. Long flights - this is what we are accustomed to, since our love affair with scuba gear began. Unfortunately, living in the UK, if you want tropical waters and the best coral reefs in the world, long flights are an integral part. One good thing about London is that flights from here are among the cheapest in the world. Our flight to the Maldives cost a little more than $ 1,000, which, in our opinion, was pretty reasonable. As soon as we arrived in Malé, we were met at the airport by a representative from Island Safari 2 Royal, and they were taken to the boat, which left Malé. We boarded the boat and waited a bit until all the other guests arrived, and then we set off.

The boat was absolutely gorgeous. Even better than the photos! There are 8 rooms and 2 suites on board, and we chose a suite because it has a bath, and James and I love taking a bath after diving a day. I think people underestimate the physical stress of scuba diving; it is not a question of just swimming in the water. I mean, you swim for hours at a scuba diving holiday, so you're really tired. Our suite was magnificent, with a beautiful big window, so we awoke to the beautiful turquoise waters of the Maldives and seemingly constant sunshine and spectacular sunsets. The rest of the boat was also gorgeous, with a good dining room, which was a bit more formal than you would expect, two comfortable seating areas for watching and watching TV and a really large outdoor terrace perfect for sunbathing, my second favorite pastime after scuba scuba diving! There is nothing like returning to gloomy England with an outrageous tan.

When all the guests were on board, we went to the first dive site; it was an early afternoon, so we would have time for an introductory dive on the first day. Before that, they gave us a delicious welcome cocktail (non-alcoholic, as we were going to dive) and met all the other guests. We had a very international group with another couple from the UK, a group of 4 from Italy and a couple from Germany. While the crew spoke German, English and some Italian, English was the dominant language aboard, and since all the guests spoke fluently, there was no language barrier. Needless to say, James, I and other Britons did not have language skills, so we were released! Our first dive was an introductory dive, where everyone traveled to learn about their diving skills and basically prove to the crew that we are all capable of scuba divers. The currents in the Maldives can be strong, so you really need to have some underwater experience to make the most of your diving experience here. Everyone aboard had plenty of opportunities for diving, and we all had at least Advanced Open Water certification, so we had no problems.

We had an intro-immersion at Hanns Reef on the North Male Atoll, and although it was an intro-immersion, we saw great sea life, including Moray Eel, a couple of turtles, a large group of Blue Stripe Snappers and a lot of Glassfish. It was the first day, and everyone was tired of traveling, so we relaxed, talked with the crew and other divers, mainly about previous diving holidays, and refueled a delicious meal of Asian-style shrimp, salads and rice. It was very tasty, and we all crossed our fingers that every meal would be so delicious.

The first two days we spent on cruises in the northern atolls of Male and North Ari, visiting such dive sites as Nassimo Tila, Rasfari, Rasdho Madivaru and Makara Tila. The main of these sites were the amazing rays of Manta in Rasfari. During the dive, we saw how many of the Mantas are cleared, and some reefs play around the reef. Then, after the dive, we went to a short pipe around the site and saw even more Mantas - perhaps the same ones - they are so majestic and peaceful creatures, and so big that it is unbelievable. Another unforgettable spot in the first few days was the Gangetti Pass, where we saw a group of 30 white reef-sharks of different sizes, a huge Mantou Rey, perhaps 5 meters across and a very cool leopard shark, which I had never seen before .

All sites reigned beautiful marine life. If we had not seen one of the “big creatures”, we would have seen many beautiful reef fish, tiny invertebrates, magnificent corals and, as a rule, some large pelagic species. The main star of our trip was, of course, Manta Ray, on some of them there would be only one or two, and on others - 30-50. We have never seen or even thought that there is so much Manta in one place.

Our night dive happened on the fourth day of our trip at the site called Maya Tila. Night diving is always an interesting experience, and I think this is the only time when even experienced scuba divers are a little nervous. This is one thing in the ocean when you can see, but surrounded by such intense darkness is always a little intimidating and gives you extra adrenaline noise. The behavior of the fish is a little different at night, when most of them do their own hunt. We saw the White Tip Reef Sharks team looking for some lunch and Moray Eel, from its hole in the reef and swimming around the Turtle, as well as the beautiful Lionfish and the usual phosphorescent plankton. Very cool!

The next evening we visited a local community on one of the islands. It is very interesting to see how these people live in such a simple life, fully in harmony with the environment. Every source of protein they eat comes from the ocean and is usually served with coconut or other fruits that naturally grow on their island. They made traditional dances for us, and we bought wonderful souvenirs from them. This seems to be their main source of income, besides what they do, selling their catches to the market in Male or resorting to islands.

For the past two days, we conducted safari safaris around Atoli of South Ari and Vaavu, where the highlights were Fotteyo and Cocoa Thila. In Fotteyo, we saw a group of dolphins that are really unusual during scuba diving. We also saw some beautiful eagle rays and some of the best coral reefs that we saw all week. It was a great opportunity for underwater photographers in the group to take some beautiful pictures of coral with reef fish and pelagic views in the foreground. The island of the Sun on the South Ari Atoll was one of the most important places of the entire trip, as it was the only site where we saw whale sharks in the entire trip, which is one of the biggest draws in the Maldives. There were two different whale sharks at this place, and they were HUGE!

Overall, the diving was excellent, we saw a lot more creatures than I could mention here. Since many guests leave the Maldives directly from safaris to safaris, there can be no diving on the last day, because it is not safe to fly so soon after diving, so we spent the day snorkeling in the morning and then made purchases in Male after lunch. A man is a very congested city, and definitely not a place to spend your holidays in the Maldives, but it’s worth spending the whole day to check it out. The fish market is especially interesting, and you see how all fishermen from all over the island come with a catch of the day, and resorts from all over the country buy it and carry it back to feed their hungry guests.

We decided to extend our trip for a couple of days and take advantage of these magnificent resorts and completely relax after our fantastic adventure in a live costume. We chose Coco Palm, Dhuni Kolhu, because it was only 30 minutes from the airport, and we did not want to travel too much. We were more interested in relaxing massages in the spa and water bungalows. When you look at the Maldives in a travel brochure or on the Internet, these are surface rooms that catch the eye, so it was almost wrong to leave without spending at least one night on one. Our last two days at Coco Palm have been quite exciting, so it’s very difficult to find a honeymoon retreat more perfect than this one!

After two nights at Coco Palm, we headed back to Male Airport, ready to board the flight back to gloomy, boring London. James and I loved the Maldives, all about it, and we really hope to return one day, rather than later.




Maldives live aboard Festive Adventures-2


Maldives live aboard Festive Adventures-2

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