Trip Report Carpe Vita Real Time Review: March 7-18, 2021 Trip to Maldives Deep South

[Dan]

1.) Does the boat have an option for tanks larger than the typical 80-cf tank? If so, what are most divers using?

Most male divers here use AL100 & all EAN32 since they are of no additional charge. AL100 is a bit heavier than AL80 and more capacity than what they need for the female divers. So most of the female divers use AL80.

The 100+ ft dives are all channel dives at the ledge of wall to see sharks cruising by in the blue with incoming current to the reef plateau (Thila).

 

[Dan]

2.) It's one thing to briefly dip down to see something special, another to spend substantial time at depth (e.g.: 'square profile' diving - like on the offshore wrecks out of North Carolina). Are you guys spending much time at those depths? What depths do you tend to use the reef hooks?

During the channel (Kandu) dive, we hook on to the ledge of the reef and hang in there until 0-5 min NDL depending on what kind of actions we see in the blue. So in 100 ft depth, we could hang in there for 15-25 minutes, before heading to the shallow.

 

[Dan]

4.) Is everyone diving nitrox?

Yes. Everyone.

 

[Dan]

5.) Why are they diving that deep (compared to, say, the Cayman Islands, where one could easily do so but doesn't)? Are you looking for something specific to those depth?

Most of the Atolls outside reef ledge facing the Indian Ocean are about 100 ft depth. Gray Reef Sharks & Whitetip Reef like to hang around there. So we just reef hook ourselves at the edge of the reef and watch the parade go by.

 

[Dan]

6.) How does the diving depth of a Maldives trip compare to Raja Ampat, Komodo or Palau? Any idea?

I would say we dive deep more frequent in Deep South route of Maldives due to the underwater profile of the Atolls, the Kandus (channels) and Thilas (underwater mount / plateau formation were around 90-110 ft deep facing the Indian Ocean seem to be the favorite place for the Sharks to cruise around. I see similar places like those sites in Palau (Blue Corner & Peleliu Cut) also in Maratua Atoll in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. I haven’t seen them in Komodo or Raja Ampat.

You’ll see more sharks in Maldives than Raja Ampat or Komodo or Palau, but nothing compare to Cocos, Socorro or Galápagos. Some sites in Raja Ampat have Oceanic Manta, but not as many as Socorro. Indonesia still has the richest in biodiversity in comparison to the above mentioned IMHO.

 

[Dan]

Dive 24 was at Machafushi Wreck, off Machafushi Resort, S. Ari Atoll. We saw a family of Stone Fish (3)next to each other, swimming Stingray, Green Moray, Schooling glass fish, some nudi branches, coral crab.

Bottom depth was at 92 ft in the sand with 55 min dive time. I used AL100 with starting pressure of 3034 psi & ending pressure of 914 psi with SAC of 13.4 psi/min.

 

[Dan]

Day 9
Dive 25 was at Rangali Madivaru, SW of Ari Atoll. A 3rd Manta cleaning station & it’s not disappointing. We saw 4 of them in 100 ft visibility, including Manila Ray & Whitetip Reef Shark.

Bottom depth was 61 ft with 74 min dive time.

 

[Dan]

Dive 26 was at Moofushi Rock, W. Ari Atoll. 4th manta cleaning station of the trip. This time it really delivered the mantas. We saw 8 of them lining up like the manta train in Manta Ridge, Raja Ampat. What an incredible sight to see for the whole 60 minutes.

Other Kodak moments were the Whitetip Reef Shark & baby Eagle Ray cruising by.

What a great dive!

Bottom depth was 50 ft with 69 min dive time.

 

[Dan]

Dive 27 was a repeat of Dive 26. However, the visibility was worse, down to 30’ with cloudy day it made like dusk dive. A couple of Mantas were there did a flyby but they look fuzzy in video. We ended up looking for small stuff and saw a yellow variation of leaf scorpionfish.

 

[Dan]

Day 10 (the last dive day)
Dive 28 was at Fish Head, NE Ari Atoll. Another channel diving, but there was not much current to speak of. Saw a Tuna hunting, Turtle munching & Moray Eel free swimming.

Bottom depth was 98 ft (29 m) with 59 minutes of time.

Dive 29 was at Kan Thila. NE Ari Atoll. The diving is similar to Fish Head. Saw juvenile whitetip reef sharks cruising around on the Thila and some Napoleon Wrasses looking for food. A nice relaxing last dive of the trip.

Bottom depth was 79 ft (24 m) with 62 minutes of dive time.

After the dives, the crew cleaned out our gears, so we could hang on the back deck for drying before having our last lunch.

When we arrived in Male, medical professional came aboard and performed a PCR swab test (for $60) to everyone who was heading home, before disembarking the boat tomorrow morning. The results would be available in 12 hours. I’d be continuing on another liveaboard trip so I don’t need to get the test.

It had been a great trip so far. Everyone on board seemed happy with the diving experience.

The only unpleasant event was one diver dropped a camera to the bottom of the sea at the end of a dive. Not sure about the detail of the event, but I think the leash that held the camera on to BCD D-ring broke while the diver was in safety stop in blue water. I always afraid this could happen to me so I keep 2 point contact (wrist strap & leash) on my camera.