Baani Adventurer & Princess Haleema - Maldives

[smartecosse]

Well I am just back from diving in the Maldives for the first time time and all I can say is the diving is awesome. Being a full time inst you can tend to get a bit blase about the underwater experience but the Maldives made it all good again

Whalesharks, hammerheads, loads of little stuff, excellent boats and great crews really made it a fantastic trip.

The Baani Adventurer is at the lower end of the budget as far as liveaboards in the Maldives go so I wasn't actually expecting too much. However the boat had excellent facilities, fantastic food and the crew were top notch.

Princess Haleema is simply stunning, 40 meters of pure luxury. However if you dont like Italian food and fish then take plenty of snacks with you. As 80% of their customers are Italian the food that is offered reflects this.

Anyone interested in pics there are two links below

Maldives I
Maldives II

 

[NTSilver]

Thanks for the report. We are trying to plan a trip to Maldives in the near future. Logistically how was it getting there (and where were you leaving from). What was the price difference for the two boats on each end of the spectrum?

 

[Rickg]

smartecosse,

Thanks for the report and pictures. Our LOB trip on the M/V Eagle Ray starts on 25 May for 9 days. Have never been there and can't wait to get there. Whale sharks and hammerheads would be nice too

 

[smartecosse]

I live in Thailand so I flew from Phuket to KL ( 1 hour or so) and then from there to Male, Maldives which took 4 and a half hours

Coming back there flight went via Colombo to Kl which meant a longer time and one hour on the runway in Colombo when we were not allowed to get off the plane.

In the Maldives itself I ended up getting seaplanes twice as I wasnt joning / leaving the liveaboards on the days that they were in the harbour. All very easy to organise.

The prices for the boats themselves were US$1300 or so for the Baani Adventurer and US$2100 for the Princess Haleema (both based on 7 nights)

The Baani offers three dives per day but the Haleema only two - which is actually quite common with maldivian liveaboards as they tend to offer quality over quantity - dive one - manta's, dive two - school of twelve hammerheads

If (when ) I go back again I think i would stick with the Baani, i liked the extra dive a day and although the Haleema was super luxurious to be honest I was there for the diving not to be pampered.

 

[leeaf]

Hi smartecosse

Nice pics. I am on the Adventurer this month from the 18th. There has been a lot of negative comment on this operation so I'm pleased that you found it to be good. Hopefully we'll be just as lucky and get whalesharks/hammers etc as well. That would be awesome.

Lee

 

[smartecosse]

Hi smartecosse

Nice pics. I am on the Adventurer this month from the 18th. There has been a lot of negative comment on this operation so I'm pleased that you found it to be good. Hopefully we'll be just as lucky and get whalesharks/hammers etc as well. That would be awesome.

Lee

yeah i had read stuff about it as well.

to be honest though a lot of the "negative" reports for any of the liveaboards in the Maldives seem to stem from inexperienced divers that either have no idea what a liveaboard in general entails or had no idea that there are heavy currents in the Maldives.

personally i thought the boat was great, crew were awesome and the diving simply outstanding. currently having done just shy of 3000 dives in all ( i work full time in the industry) i can say that my best ever dive has taken place in the Maldives. a night dive at maayafushi that was simply incredible - and i actually hate night dives and wasn't going to bother doing it the only reason that i did so was that the tour leader cajoled me into going (thanks walter )

 

[smartecosse]

can't seem to work out how to edit the first post so have added them here

whaleshark
eagle ray & turtle
white tip on night dive

 

[leeaf]

Smartecosse, I'm with you when it comes to night dives, I almost always skip them (prefer to be having a beer) but I will take a note of maayafushi and do that one if I get the chance. Did you do that with Baani or Haleema? Any other 'best of' sites?

How were they with camera gear? Any other tips?

Lee

 

[smartecosse]

maayafushi was with haleema, not a night dive to be missed, it was one hour of ridiculous action, i genuinely have never been on a dive like it

camera gear on both boats is no problem, they both have rinse tanks on the dhoni's and haleema has an actual camera / charging room although most use the enormous saloon for "fiddling"

Baani has no actual camera room but agian has a huge saloon that has plenty of space for charging camera's etc

edited to add that the boat boys on both dhonis are excellent at gear handling but remember with the currents some time (a lot) you need to do negative entries and if you are swimming back to the dhoni to get your camera gear then you may as well get back on the dhoni as the dive site will have been missed

 

[farsidefan1]

Spectacular! Thanks for the photos and report. Maldives just made my bucketlist of must dive sites. What is the best time of yr to dive there for clarity and temps?