Which Liveaboard for August?

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rudybier

Registered
Scuba Instructor
Messages
43
Reaction score
2
Location
United Arab Emirates
# of dives
500 - 999
My girlfriend and I are thinking about a dive trip to the Maldives during August! Which Liveaboard would you recommend?

We are looking for a trip of around 7 days. We are frequent divers in the UAE and have heard of the Mantas in Hanifaru bay, which obviously we are keen on experiencing.

Can anyone recommend a good trip. We don't want to pay over the odds! Would it be better to wait last minute to try to get deals like Carpe Vista are doing at the moment or are the boats fully booked for August during holidays/Ramadan?

Looking forward to some help on this

Many thanks
 
Hi Rudybier
I've been going to the Maldives for the last 11yrs and for the past 5yrs have gone with a company called: Maldives Scuba Tours (MST) they have a wealth of experience in the in the Maldives and really do know their stuff. If you check out their website you can look at the boats/previous trip reports/guest comments.

Here in the UK they have a strong following with many divers returning year after year much like me and my partner and you soon get to understand why. The cruise directors and 2 married couples: Dave & Lisa and Tracy & David and they really do go the extra mile to ensure guests have a memorible Maldivian experience and some fantastic dives.

The boats are not big and flashy and you don't get TV's and DYD players in your cabins; for MST it's not about whistles and bells it's all about the diving which is why your there in the first place. The boats take a max of 12 guests and in the past we've never had a full boat and it does end up feeling like your on a holiday with a bunch of mates rather than a number of divers all on the same boat. All diving is done off a Dohni whilst you live on either Sea Spirit or Sea Queen so the main boats are for kicking back and chilling.

The safaris don't stick to a set route; they go where it's happening and all the action is which again is why you're there in the first place but Baa Atoll and Hani Faru is a must see; we will be heading there later in the year for another Manta/Whale Shark fix - can't wait.

We've dived at Hani Faru with MST in 3 different years and it really is a fantastic site. Each time we've had high numbers of those flappy things....Mantas! As well as those big spotty sharks....Whale Sharks! On one trip we went directly up to Baa Atoll and on our 1st days diving we went to Hani Faru in the afternoon where on arival we noticed some activing so a quick change into wetsuits and straight into the water were straight away we had a 5m Whale Shark who was just making the most of plankton rich water and just kept feeding without a care of the people in the water and we were just blown away but then along came another WS at the same time there were Mantas putting on a performace so all in all it was totally awesome but as the time went on (2.5hrs) there were a total of 5 Whale Shark's and all of this on the 1st day of the safari - you can guess how the conversations went over the course of the night.

The last time we dived there there must have been 50+ Mantas and you guessed it Whale Sharks; my husband didnt know which direction to point the camera and our daughter and son-in-law on their honeymoon were totally blown away - as I said truly memorible!

Last year we did their Far South Trio which was fantastic and very different to what we've done in the past that said I was sitting at the back of the boat reading and enjoying a glass of wine when all of a sudden there was a rather large (8m) Whale Shark so I quicky woke the entire boat and everyone came out of their cabins to see this magnificiant beauty it stayed off the back of the boat for just over an hour dropping down to depth and then coming back up - what a great way to round off an fab day in the Maldives.

Anyway I've proably gone on for far to long and if you havent guessed I'm a big fan of the Maldives/Hani Faru and all I can say is book it!
Happy Diving
Kasha
 
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