EricW
Registered
We have been traveling a lot for diving lately and wanted to share some of our experiences with others. By way of background, we live in California and dive locally in Monterey, but have been exploring some more locations off the beaten path.
In September 2025, we planned a month diving around eastern African and Maldives.
We just finished the first week in Maldives where we stayed at Equator Village on the (very southern) Addu Atoll and dove with Aquaventure Dive Center. This is our first time in Maldives and we are doing land based the first week and a liveaboard (Emperor) the second week.
First impressions are wow, wow. We had heard that Maldives "isn't what it was" ... but it's still quite good!
Aquaventures was the most professional dive operation we have ever worked with. Their attention to safety, dive briefings, choice of dive sites, boat and dive equipment are all excellent. Marc, the owner, will talk diving forever - it's clearly his total passion and his attention to every detail comes through. He seems to have recruited some of the best on the island (even the boat captain had worked his entire career as an international seaman).
Though we are (again) here in the off season, we had some excellent visibility. Manta Point in the channel is one of the most active manta cleaning stations I have ever seen (including Socorro) with a dozen mantas showing at a time. We saw six different types of sharks (white tip reef, silver tip reef, tiger, nurse, black tip reef and gray reef) over the week and many green and hawksbill turtles along with tuna and barracuda. During surface intervals we saw many dolphins including a juvenile who couldn't stop jumping and spinning.
Equator Village was ... passable. It's the old barracks for the RAF who built the airstrip and the rooms are functional without much else. After a few days the food becomes a bit boring - there are some decent restaurant options on the island that are worth seeking out. I don't think there is a better place to stay right now and the all inclusive is not pricey, but it's not glamorous either!
Overall loved the dive shop and the diving - maybe worth a detour when in Maldives!
In September 2025, we planned a month diving around eastern African and Maldives.
We just finished the first week in Maldives where we stayed at Equator Village on the (very southern) Addu Atoll and dove with Aquaventure Dive Center. This is our first time in Maldives and we are doing land based the first week and a liveaboard (Emperor) the second week.
First impressions are wow, wow. We had heard that Maldives "isn't what it was" ... but it's still quite good!
Aquaventures was the most professional dive operation we have ever worked with. Their attention to safety, dive briefings, choice of dive sites, boat and dive equipment are all excellent. Marc, the owner, will talk diving forever - it's clearly his total passion and his attention to every detail comes through. He seems to have recruited some of the best on the island (even the boat captain had worked his entire career as an international seaman).
Though we are (again) here in the off season, we had some excellent visibility. Manta Point in the channel is one of the most active manta cleaning stations I have ever seen (including Socorro) with a dozen mantas showing at a time. We saw six different types of sharks (white tip reef, silver tip reef, tiger, nurse, black tip reef and gray reef) over the week and many green and hawksbill turtles along with tuna and barracuda. During surface intervals we saw many dolphins including a juvenile who couldn't stop jumping and spinning.
Equator Village was ... passable. It's the old barracks for the RAF who built the airstrip and the rooms are functional without much else. After a few days the food becomes a bit boring - there are some decent restaurant options on the island that are worth seeking out. I don't think there is a better place to stay right now and the all inclusive is not pricey, but it's not glamorous either!
Overall loved the dive shop and the diving - maybe worth a detour when in Maldives!
