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Cocos Liveaboard. Prime Season - amazing destination. Recommend Undersea Hunter Group.

You are right.... but i have come across LOBs that use different criteria. One Komodo LOB used a 'cultural split' 3 groups 'North Americans', 'Europeans' & 'others'! But my favourite was a Maldives LOB that had 2 groups: Group 1: most experienced divers Group 2: least experienced divers +...

I've been on quite a few Maldives LOBs - they have all had a 60 minute maximum dive time. This is in part a function of the boats need to move on to the next dive site in a timely manner. Compared to many other destinations, Maldives LOBs spend quite a proportion of each day travelling. This...

I smiled when you quoted someone from Nautilus group as saying that Socorro was 'becoming crowded in February'. They are correct. In recent years they have gone from 1 vessel to 3 - themselves being a major contributor to that overcrowding! February is peak time for one of Socorro's major...

February is not good for Cocos - but its prime time for Socorro. Nautilus are an excellent outfit.

Some of the dive sites (such as those you mention) in the main atolls are very good. It's my experience that in the south atolls you will see more sharks, more species of sharks and more often. For example we saw many silkies & a thresher really close - neither of which I've seen further north.

The major difference between the deep south & the main area of Maldives atolls is that in the deep south the focus is on 'channel diving'. In the main Maldives Atolls, a liveaboard will generally do a mix of channel, drift & scenic reef diving. Typically, a channel dive first thing - then more...

I find identifying the right maldives resort quite tricky as they all look equally wonderful at first glance. One feature that i regard as essential is to have a good house reef - not all resorts have a house reef at all. This is especially important for snorkelling & would be a real plus for...

With Fish Head & Maya Thila, you were spolit - they are 2 of the best sites in the Maldives! The snorkelling is good at Filitheyo. My wife does not dive, so we had a nice rhythm of the day with snorkles across the middle of the day between my boat dives. The house reef itself is average, but...

Christian You have some great pix in your gallery. I've been to Filitheyo a few times (though not for a couple of years). Its the best run dive centre I've experienced in the Maldives. Even though the staff change over time, the precisely run dive operation remains of a very high standard...

Socorro! Great destination, in prime season; a couple of really good operators. Book it & enjoy. Simple!

I just dug out my dive logs for March this year. Addu - lots of dead coral but good Mantas Fuvamulah - first dive - 6 sliver tips & a real close thresher!!

Hi Wiggsy In the last year, I've done two liveaboards in the south of the Maldives. I highly recommend the area. Lots of channel diving & pelagics. Not much here for the macro photographers though! One itinerary was '7 southern atolls' the other was 'Deep South'. The only difference was that...

diversteve - thanks for the suggestion re taxi. it might seem strange but it never occurred to me! At London - Heathrow, if you asked for a 1 mile hotel transfer, you would get a very short answer. They are only interested in $100+ fares into central London. I just assumed MIA would be similar

Hi both Many thanks for replying. Hoag - you've nailed my problem. Searching on the hotel booking websites, I'm spoilt for choice andnot knowing the area, its hard to sort them out. I've only stopped over at MIA once and that was at the Crowne Plaza. Hotel was fine, but i had to wait 60 mins...

Hi I will need to overnight in MIA en route from Europe to some eastern pacific diving shortly. I dont know the MIA airport hotels at all and would really appreciate some recommendations. Any Hilton, Holiday Inn or Marriott group hotels would be good, as I have enough points to stay foc at all...

Strongly recommend that you contact Divewise, Malta. Very professional and friendly. John

There's a lot of good info here about seeing mantas, but one point has been not been mentioned. Its a whole different experience depending on who else is there watching them. In Socorro, Maldives & Komodo theres a very good chance that it will just be you & your buddies from the lob. From what...

This is the public ferry to Maamagili. Its 7 hours on open water each way (weather permitting). You may wish to spend more than $2.50 and take a more comfortable route to/from Male. Or maybe you are more adventurous than me!

Take a small 'save a dive' pack. Fin strap, spare mask etc. There's no dive shop nearby on a lob!