How many good dives % = good trip

[circusoflife]

I recently returned from the Maldives. (Will post a trip report soon). I am extremely underwhelmed and disappointed by what I saw underwater. Of the 20 or so dives (4 from Male and the rest from a liveaboard in Ari, Rasdhoo, and South Male Atolls) only 10-15% of the dives matched my expectations. Combined with a bunch of other comedy of errors during the trip (Including a boat breakdown) has caused me to classify the trip as disappointing.

So my question is...what % of dives do you "require" to classify a dive trip as a good one as opposed to a lousy one. Basically a trip where you come home and say "That was worth it!" I'm thinking closer to 40% for me.

 

[El Orans]

First question: What were your expectations?

Laurens

 

[pilot fish]

I recently returned from the Maldives. (Will post a trip report soon). I am extremely underwhelmed and disappointed by what I saw underwater. Of the 20 or so dives (4 from Male and the rest from a liveaboard in Ari, Rasdhoo, and South Male Atolls) only 10-15% of the dives matched my expectations. Combined with a bunch of other comedy of errors during the trip (Including a boat breakdown) has caused me to classify the trip as disappointing.

So my question is...what % of dives do you "require" to classify a dive trip as a good one as opposed to a lousy one. Basically a trip where you come home and say "That was worth it!" I'm thinking closer to 40% for me.

That's a bummer. Was the poor diving a result of the tsunami? I hear that area is great for diving so this surprises me.

I would say that the majority of dives, 80%, have to be worthwhile for a trip to be considered worthwhile. Not every dive site will wow you but you should feel each site was worth getting wet, especailly if you have traveled a long distance and spent a lot of money.

 

[kent_1848]

I'm just happy to be breathing compressed air and see something besides panfish and rocks!

 

[miketsp]

Quite often on a trip, one particular dive will overshadow all the rest.
As long as there's one that sticks in your mind, the trip was worth it.

 

[Diver0001]

Quite often on a trip, one particular dive will overshadow all the rest.
As long as there's one that sticks in your mind, the trip was worth it.

Unless the one that sticks out is one you'd rather forget.....

Personally I can't connect with the question. To me there's no way to "calculate" if I should have had fun or not. I also don't go into new situations with a lot of preconcieved ideas of how it should be. I just go, see which cards life deals me and play the hand. And I've never been disappointed. Some hands are better than others but I've never had one that made me want to fold.

R..

 

[RP Diver]

Unless the one that sticks out is one you'd rather forget.....

Personally I can't connect with the question. To me there's no way to "calculate" if I should have had fun or not. I also don't go into new situations with a lot of preconcieved ideas of how it should be. I just go, see which cards life deals me and play the hand. And I've never been disappointed. Some hands are better than others but I've never had one that made me want to fold.

R..

This pretty much mirrors my thoughts too. If I'm diving someplace I've been before, then the reason I returned is because I like the place, and if I'm diving in a new location, then part of the fun is discovering new stuff, even if it's not exciting stuff. If conditions are reasonable, and I'm underwater, that's usually enough for me.

 

[Jetwrench]

It seems like a personal thing. No one can tell you if the trip was worth it but you. Personally, my favorite dive is the one I'm on!

Jet

 

[circusoflife]

As for my expectations...well I know the Maldives was bleached good on the first several meters down in 1998 (Especially hard coral?), but my impression is that numerous places have recovered well. Also in my research...I also saw the Maldives ranked highly by Cyberdive - www.cdnn.info. Reputedly by a group of well traveled divers. Less bias too - which I know is rife in the diving advertising industry (And some places on Scubaboard?).

http://www.cyber-diver.com/best.html

I also have a 2001 edition of Lonely Planet's D&S Maldives guide which gives a positive impression (I have many of their D&S guides...so I'm careful to read in between the lines - as some places they certainly aren't as glowing about, but you have to read carefully).

As for CDNN - Maldives is ranked #3. Palau, my last destination was ranked #10. (I didn't know about CDNN when I chose to go to Palau before) So my thinking was the Maldives would surely be good.

I am based in Bangkok right now...so thankfully, it wasn't as far as if I flew directly from the US. I didn't have any specific expectations other than the claim by Lonely Planet that it is among the best for fish watching with a decent amount of pelagic life.

I've posted a trip report in the Asia section - which I have yet to respond to the replies.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=1038499#post1038499

The way I look at the trip is I didn't go all the way to the Maldives for nothing. Some divers are just happy being underwater. Some divers are happy seeing a single moray eel in cold murky water (Like at Sunrise near Seattle!) Some divers are just happy being in warm water. This is all fine and dandy. Not me.

I've traveled alot over the past couple of years (lots of non-diving, mostly non-diving in fact). Comparing and contrasting is always a tricky and sometimes "dangerous" thing to do. Diving is perhaps more problematic because site conditions can vary so much. Anyways...if I am going to make an effort to go to a remote place, at a good time of year for scuba, I expect a certain amount of dives to be "This was really worth coming here for!"

10-15% is just my way of quantifying my satisfaction. The poster who said 80%...that is a high hurdle indeed. But, I guess 40% just sounds like it would do it for me.

In contast to another poster - one great dive site is not enough for the energy and expenditure for a place like the Maldives. As time goes on...the negatives will probably fade more, and the few positives will shine brighter...but in the case the overall impression will remain. Please read the trip report for more....

 

[archman]

I'd rank any dive with relatively clear water as successful, provided it's not in a swimming pool or lifeless quarry.