Maldives Aggressor Captain's Logs

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report August 19 – 26, 2012

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 20 knots
Seas: Calm
Current: Morning - East to west. Afternoon- West to east
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 50 to 100 feet

Sunday
We met our guests at Male International Airport around 4pm and right after escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. Once aboard they were welcomed with refreshing tropical drinks and shown to their cabins. After settling in our dive team assisted our guests with setting up their dive gear on the dhoni and selecting their weights. We then started the Captain’s briefing with a bubbly glass of champagne. Around 5.30pm our chef presented his special welcome dinner that included a special celebration for Vipavi’s birthday!

Monday
We started the diving with an orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive site. Here everyone was able to check his or her weights and equipment. This was a drift dive along the long reef and during this dive we saw an eagle ray, moray eels and lots of colorful fish.
After the dive, we came back for morning snacks before heading to Lankan Reef for the second dive. This is a great dive site, which is famous for spotting manta rays, and our guests were not disappointed!! Along with the large spotted manta ray we also saw oriental sweetlips, moray eels and also jack fish. The third dive of the day was at Dhahburi Giri. During the dive we spotted lots of colorful reef fish including clownfish, triggerfish and parrotfish. It was a nice easy dive to end the day and the night ended with a fresh a la carte dinner served by our chef.

Tuesday
We started the day with a dive at Kandooma Corner. There were lots to be seen with white tip sharks, fusilier, jack fish and Napoleon wrasse. After the dive, we came back and enjoyed a hot breakfast before getting ready for the next dive.The second dive was at Kandooma Thila. This was a drift dive along the reef with a fairly strong current. During the dive we saw eagle rays, grey reef sharks, jack fish and fusiliers.

Our third dive was at Madi Gaa, which is a nice easy dive where manta rays can sometimes be spotted. Although we did not see any mantas on this dive, there was an abundance of colorful reef fish, along with large moray eels and we did spot an eagle ray instead! After the third dive we enjoyed a fresh buffet lunch while we began to travel across the channel to South Ari Atoll. The final dive of the day was a night dive at Mal Mal Reef. This was nice easy dive with the main highlights being flatworms, lobsters and shrimps.

Wednesday
The day began with a wonderful dive at Kudimaa Wreck. This wreck is a ship that is home to a lot of different species of marine life. A large moray eel, mantas shrimp and a nudibranch were some of the highlights, however inquisitive batfish, pufferfish, scorpion fish, lionfish, groupers, fusiliers and lots of other colorful fish added to a pleasant dive for all.
We then moved further south to Maamigili and started our whale shark search! Within 10 minutes we found one, which everyone got to snorkel with! After the exciting whale shark snorkel we jumped in for the second dive of the day at Maamigili Out. Along with the whale shark we spotted white tip sharks, Napoleon wrasse, turtles, lionfish, an eagle ray and schools of blue striped snapper. After the dive we came back and enjoyed a fresh lunch followed by more whale shark searching. We were not able to find another whale shark so instead we jumped in to do our third dive at Holiday Out where we swam around the beautiful table coral and colorful reef fish.

For the last dive of the day we did a dusk dive at Mary’s, which was a drift dive along a reef wall with a nice medium current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels along with schools of oriental sweetlips (including a juvenile), Napoleon wrasse, jack fish, fusilier and unicorn fish. We finished off our day was with a fresh buffet style dinner for all of the guests.

Thursday
The day started with a dive at Dhihdhoo Corner. This was a nice easy dive along the reef wall where there was lots to be seen. During the dive we spotted plenty of moray eels along with white tips, Napoleon wrasse, octopus, schools of oriental sweetlips, batfish, fusilier and blue striped snapper. An enjoyable dive for everyone! The second dive of the day was at Hollywood. There was a lot to see from start to finish! As soon as we started the dive we spotted grey reef sharks and white tips! Octopus, schools of barracuda, fusilier along with beautiful table corals and reef fish were also seen making for a beautiful dive.

For the third dive, we went to Fish Head, which is a small Thila with lots of different marine life. Moray eels, colorful reef fish, schools of jack fish, fusilier, snapper and unicorn fish playing in the bubbles were the main highlights. The last dive of the day was a dusk to night dive at Maaya Thila – a popular site for spotting lots of marine life. The dive was exciting and there was lots to be seen from start to finish!! We swam across the pinnacle to the edge where we hooked in to watch a number of grey reef sharks and white tips swimming around. Other highlights were marble stingrays, turtle, crabs, groupers, lionfish, and schools of fusilier and jack fish!

Friday
We began the day with a dive at Hafsa Thila, which is a good site to spot sharks. We spotted white tips along with mantas shrimps, moray eel and various colorful reef fish. The second dive was back at Mayya Thila where we got to see the real difference between night and day. There was again lots of marine life to be seen. White tips, lots of octopus, mantas shrimp were some of the highlights, along with schools of fusilier, beautiful corals and colorful reef fish.

After the dive we crossed the channel back to North Male Atoll for the third dive at Velassaru Reef. This was a great dive for all and we saw a Thresher Shark! Also spotted were turtles, oriental sweetlips and shrimps! The final dive of the day was a night dive at Vihamanna, which was a nice easy dive to finish off the day! Against the reef wall during the dive we saw a sleeping turtle along with sleeping triggerfish and parrotfish.

The evening was finished off perfectly with a Maldivian style buffet prepared by our on board chef that had a little input from Hazel as well!

Saturday
The last day of diving had our guests waking up early and ready to make the most of the last few dives! The first dive of the day was at Lankan Reef and although no mantas were spotted, there was an abundance of reef fish including different species of triggerfish, anemone fish, butterfly fish, sweetlips and nudibranchs.Our final dive of the trip was at Banana Reef – the first dive site known to the Maldives. During the dive we spotted moray eels and a nice amount of table corals with different reef fish around. An enjoyable dive to end the trip with!

The night ended with a farewell party start on the bow of the ship with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. Everyone was in good spirits and enjoyed the party. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Eric and George with 100 and Hazel with 50 dives! A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of the Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Carl, George, Hazel, Bryan, Hope, Joe, Eric, Sue, Vipavi, Jimmy, Margaret and Brad for coming to see us this week.

Written by Mary
Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captains Report September 2 – 9, 2012

Weather: very good.
Wind: 15- 25mph NE
Sea: Slight moderate
Current: Morning - East to west (Medium to Strong)
Air temp: 72f min – 87f Max
Water temp: 84F / 28C
Visibility: 100 to 200 feet

Sunday.
At Male International Airport around 16:00, we met our guests and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor where they were welcomed aboard with refreshing tropical drinks. After showing our new guests to their cabins for the week our dive team helped them assemble their gear and get their weights. Our Captain’s briefing started with a sparkly glass of champagne and around 17:30 our chef presented his special welcome dinner.

Monday.
Our check dive was at Vihamanaa where everyone got to check out and adjust his or her weights. The current was very slight and out going so we jumped in quite close to the reef. It was a simple, easy and relaxing drift dive with our visibility about 50 ft. During the dive we saw different types of nudibranchs, octopus, a black tip shark and many small shrimps. We stayed in North Male’ for our 2^nd dive, which was at Banana Reef. The dive was very exciting because we had a small to medium current and lot of fish. We saw a school of blue stripe snapper, honeycomb moray eels, small mantis shrimp and colourful corals attached on the wall. This site is one of the best places to see live hard corals. We went to the Kudagiri Wreck for our third dive. This is a 65 ft long Japanese fishing boat that was sunk purposely close to a mountain shape thila making it a good combination of 2 in 1 dive – wreck and reef. For the last dive of the day we did a night dive at Mal Falo Reef. Here we encounter stingrays, squid, a sea snake and lots of different types of crabs. We ended our beautiful day with a beautifully prepared dinner by our chef.

Tuesday.
By around 6am, everyone was up. Our 1^st dive was at Kandooma Corner where the current was medium and incoming. It was a nice start to our day. Everyone was very happy here as we spotted a different kind of moray eel, leopard shark, turtle, white tip sharks and napoleon wrasse. Our 2^nd dive was at Kandoma Thila and close to the site known as Cocoa Corner. These two dive sites are very close to each other and it gives our guests an opportunity to select their own style of dives. Kandooma Thila is a very well known dive site in South Male’ Atoll and people who love to see pelagic life definitely say this is a place to dive. After our second dive we travel further south towards Ari Atoll arriving to do a dive at the MV Kudhimaa Wreck, which is surrounded by abundant marine life. We were treated to a beautiful sunset from the most southern part of South Ari Atoll.

Wednesday.
Our day began very early because it is a big day for all of our guests who are all very excited to hopefully see a whale shark. Our 1^st dive was at Kudarah Thila, which is a marine protected area. This small mountain-shaped reef is one of the best dives in the Maldives. It is famous for its vibrant marine life and coral growth with overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on the west that are covered with soft corals. During this dive we encounter some big pelagic fishes - red snappers jack fish, dogtooth tunas, and big napoleon wrasse. Before the second dive, we went in search of a whale shark, but we did not find any sign yet. So we decided to do a dive and continue our search for a whale shark afterwards. The 2^nd dive of the day was relaxing dive at Bodu Finolu Beyru. During the dive we saw a huge white tip reef shark lying on the sand, a turtle, napoleon wrasse and another leopard shark. Then off we went again in search of a whale shark – and we were blessed with finding a 15 foot long one that was one of the breath holding moments of the trip. Our guests were able to stay very close to the biggest fish in the world for over an hour. The 3^rd dive today was an easy drift dive at Ari Beyru. The current was medium and incoming. Visibility was about 70ft. During this dive we saw a napoleon wrasses, white tip reef sharks, a moray eel and an eagle ray. Our 4^th dive of the day was a night dive at Mal Mal Farum, which is an easy drift dive with overhangs and soft coral. After the dive we came back to the mother ship to ready for a BBQ dinner on the white sandy beach at Eriyadhoo, complete with a whale shark sand sculpture made by the crew.

Thursday.
Our day began with a dive at Dhidhoo Beyru. Another nice and easy drift dive that was a relaxing start to the day for our guests. We encounter lots of white tip reef sharks, eagle rays and lots of napoleon wrasse. For the second dive we did a nice pinnacle called Broken Rock. This amazing coral formation is located in the mouth of the biggest channel in South Ari Atoll and is filled with diverse marine life. We next travelled to Vaavu Atoll, taking approximately 3 hours to reach there. So as soon as we got there we dived in at Eco Thila, which is a small pinnacle dive of about 4o foot long. The top of the reef was covered with very healthy hard corals and along the slope are lots of gorgonian fans, black coral and small overhangs. We then travelled more to the east side of the atoll to do best night dive site found in the Maldives - Alimatha. We encounter more than 50 nurse sharks, giant trevally and lots of stingrays. What a brilliant day – and we ended it with another fine dinner.

Friday.
Our day began with a big bright sun from the east side of Vaavu Atoll. We did our fist dive at Miyaru Kandu. Again this choice gives us the opportunity to plan one dive in 2 different ways - easy drift dive and another with some current. Here we encounter grey reef sharks, white tip sharks, eagle rays and napoleon wrasse. We then did our 2^nd dive at Madi Gaa hoping to see some manta rays. We were blessed with 6 giant Manta Rays on this dive! After the dive we travel north towards South Male Atoll and did Lhosfushi Kandu as a 3^rd dive. This site is a nice narrow channel that gives us an opportunity to dive with lots of different marine life. Black Coral Reef was our next, and last, dive of the day. With a steep wall it was an amazing dive giving us a chance to see some of the rare fish species found in the Maldives. Frogfish, ghost pipefish, and a green turtle were just some of the highlights of the dive. Dinner tonight was a special Maldivian buffet style dinner where everyone had a chance to try many different local foods.

Saturday.
On the last day morning all our guests woke up with a bright smile and welcomed by big, orange sun. We planned our last two dives sites in North Male’ Atoll. Our 1^st dive of the day was at Black Coral Reef, a repeat dive request by our guests. For our second, and final dive we planned to end up again with some manta rays, but the current was not in our favor. So knowing that the mantas would not appear we decide to do nice and shallow dive at Maagiri Rock. This is an isolated coral block situated away from the main reef and is something very special. Everywhere we were surrounded by thousands of different reef fish. It was an amazing moment for our guests. Around 15:30 that evening we hosted a farewell party on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor. Toasting with glass of champagne and enjoying our chef’s special snacks our guests this week were very happy and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. We also celebrated Judi’s diving milestone during the party.

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Richard, Judi, Sheryl, Michael, Eugene, Natalie, Sharon, Richard, David, Eugene, Linda and Sharon for coming to see us this week.

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report September 16 – 23, 2012

Weather: Moderate with some rain shower
Wind: 7 to 10 knots
Sea: Moderate
Current: Morning - West to East. Afternoon- East to West
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 50 to 100 feet

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4pm, we received our guests and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. Our crew welcomed them aboard with refreshing tropical drinks and we showed them to their cabins. Afterwards our dive team helped them to assemble their dive gear and weights. The Captain’s Briefing started with a glass of champagne and then around 5:30 we were treated to our chef’s specials welcome dinner.

Monday
We started the diving with an orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive site. Here, everyone was able to check their weights and equipment. This was a drift dive along the long reef. During this dive we saw an eagle ray, moray eels and lots of colorful fish. After the dive, we came back for morning snacks before heading to Lankan Reef for the second dive. This is a great dive site, which is famous for spotting manta rays and the guests were not disappointed!! Along with two large manta rays that were spotted, we also saw oriental sweetlips, moray eels and also jack fish.

The third dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck that is alongside a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive there were lots of reef fish to be seen along with turtle, lionfish and also a leaf fish. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Mal Mal Reef. The main highlights of the dive were different types of shrimps, large moray eel, sleeping triggerfish and squid. After the night dive, we came back and experienced a fresh a la carte dinner from our chef.

Tuesday
We started the day with a dive at Kandooma Corner. There were lots to be seen with white tips, fusilier, jack fish, eagle ray and napoleon wrasse being the main highlights. After the dive, we came back and enjoyed a hot breakfast before getting ready for the next dive! Our next dives were at Kandooma Thila and Cocoa Corner. This gives the opportunity to our guest to choose pelagic life or simple drift dive. Kandooma Thila is a strong current dive along with gray reef shark, white tip, eagle ray, dogtooth tuna and lots of different types of reef fish. Cocoa Corner was an easy drift dive with some healthy corals & rich marine diversity.

The last dive of the day was at Kudimaa Wreck. This ship is home to a lot of different species of marine life. A large moray eel, mantis shrimp and a nudibranch were some of the highlights, however inquisitive batfish, puffer fish, scorpion fish, lionfish, groupers, fusiliers and lots of other colorful fish added to a pleasant dive for all.

Wednesday
We were greeted by a beautiful pink sunrise to start off the day. The first dive was at Kuda Rah Thila. On this dive there were lots of schools of fusilier, schools of snapper, moray eels and sweetlips were also seen.

We then moved further south to Maamigili and started our whale shark search! Within 20 minutes we found 3 whale sharks, which the guests got to snorkel with! After the exciting whale shark snorkel we jumped in for the second dive of the day at Holiday Beyru. As well as the whale shark, white tips, napoleon wrasse, turtle, lionfish, eagle ray and schools of blue striped snapper were amongst the highlights.

After the dive we came back and enjoyed a fresh lunch followed by more whale shark searching. Again we spot 20-foot big whale shark so we geared up and jumped in to do our third dive at Sun Out where we swam amongst the beautiful table coral and colorful reef fish.
For the last dive of the day we did a dusk dive at Ari Faru. This was a drift dive along a reef wall with a medium current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels along with schools of oriental sweetlips (including a juvenile), napoleon wrasse, jack fish, fusilier and unicorn fish.

Thursday
The day started with a dive at Dhihdhoo Corner. This was a nice easy dive along the reef wall where there was lots to be seen. During the dive we spotted lots of moray eels along with white tips, napoleon wrasse, octopus, schools of oriental sweetlips, batfish, fusilier and blue striped snapper. An enjoyable dive for everyone!

Kuda Rah Thila was our next site and we had to do it twice at the request of our guests. There were quite a few schools of fusilier and snapper, moray eels and sweetlips.

Friday
To start off the day we did a dive at Aquarium in Vaavu Atoll. This was an ideal place to start off the day. A small pinnacle surrounded by lots of bush corals and hard corals that attract the small reef fish that were just everywhere on the pinnacle.

The second dive was at Miyaru Kadu, which is a protected marine area. This was an amazing dive with lots of pelagic schools of fish. We encounter eagle rays, gray reef sharks, white tips, napoleon wrasses, and manta rays along everywhere on this dive. As it was so good, our guest wanted to do it over and over. We did 3 dives at the same place!!!

As a last dive of the day we did Alimatha. This was probably the best night dive you could ever imagine. We encounter over 50 giant nurse sharks, different types of stingrays, giant trevally, and black tip reef sharks were along everywhere. All our guests were extremely happy to have such a dive once in a lifetime.

After dinner we celebrate Stephen & Trecia 10^th anniversary with a special chocolate cake baked by our chef.

Saturday
The last day of diving everyone woke up early in anticipation of seeing some hammerhead sharks at Devana Kandu. Luck was not with us today because even though we stayed in the blue for several minutes we did not encounter any hammerheads.

After this dive we headed back toward South Male’. We stopped at Lhosfushi Kandu, which is a narrow channel located close to Guraidhoo. The dive starts with a shallow and narrow entrance just 30ft wide and deepens inside to a sandy bottom to 90ft. From start to finish there were a lot of things to see with white tips, a green turtle and octopus being the main highlights. Our guests were also thrilled to see large schools of blue striped snapper and a honeycomb moray eel. The last dive of the trip we made at Dhahburi Giri. Another turtle made an appearance along with large schools of batfish, plenty of clownfish and even a napoleon wrasse. It was a relaxing way to finish off a great journey.

Our farewell party started on the bow of the ship with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Fung and Greg - each with 300 dives! Also Petra and David W did their Nitrox course with us. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank David, Robert, Maria, Christoph, Petra, Trecia, Stephan, Charles, Patricia, Clare, Greg, David, Fung, Wing, Gary & Lisa for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 - 15mph NE
Sea: Moderate / Calm
Current: Morning – West to East- Afternoon-East to West
Air temp: 72 – 87 F
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 30 - 80ft

Sunday
We met our charter guests at Male International Airport around 4 pm and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. They were welcomed aboard by the crew and offered some refreshing tropical drinks. After showing them to their cabins and getting their gear setup on the dhoni we had the Captain’s Briefing around 5:30 pm that started with a glass of champagne followed with our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start off with. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with a slight current along a long reef. During this dive the main highlights were white tip and black tip sharks, turtles, electric ray, octopus and a moray eel. After the dive, we came back for a hot breakfast before heading further north for the second dive at Lankan Reef. This dive site is famous for mantas and we were blessed with seeing three giant mantas on just the second dive of the trip! Everyone came up to the surface with bright smiles on their faces.

The next dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck. This is a wreck dive along with a pinnacle covered with soft corals. Here we saw a turtle, lionfish, leaf fish, giant clams and napoleon wrasse along with lots of soft corals. The last dive of the day was a dusk dive at Dhah Buri Giri, which is a small pinnacle located inside the atoll. This area attracts lots of macro life including the Maldivian sponge snail, flat worms, Spanish dancers and sleeping turtles. After the night dive we came back and experienced a fresh a la carte dinner from our chef.

Tuesday
The day started with a dive at Kandooma Corner. On this dive we saw lots of marine life including white tip and gray reef sharks, turtles, Napoleon wrasse, jack fish, along with schools of fusilier and blue striped snapper. Our second dive was at Kandooma Thila where there was lots to be seen! Schools of jack fish, schools of unicorn fish, a turtle and a lobster were seen along with lots of colorful reef fish. The main highlight of the dive was the gray reef shark cleaning station where we encountered more than 30 different sharks of all sizes. This was an amazing experience for our guests.

After the second dive we start sailing towards to South Ari Atoll, which is known as the “Capital for Whale Sharks”. Our final dive of the day was at Kudimaa Wreck. The wreck is home to a lot of different species of marine life including a large moray eel, mantis shrimp, stonefish, nurse shark, stingrays and lots of different types of nudibranchs. However the inquisitive batfish, pufferfish, scorpionfish, lionfish, groupers, fusiliers and lots of other colorful fish added to a pleasant dive for all.

Wednesday
Our day begin with a dive at the popular site of Kuda Rah Thila, which is in a protected marine area. This site is a small pinnacle, only 150 foot in diameter that is home for thousands of different marine species. There is also a huge overhang on both the ease and west sides. It seemed that every spot on the pinnacle was covered with thousands of blue stripe snappers. They were completely amazing to see. After the dive we came back for hot breakfast before going to search whale sharks!

Before the second dive, we started whale shark searching and managed to find one to snorkel with!!! After an amazing snorkeling we got our dive equipment on and jumped in at Sun Out. This was a nice easy dive with numerous turtles, schools of fusilier, beautiful corals with surrounding reef fish. Coming back to the surface after the dive we spotted another whale shark on the surface so everyone had a chance to snorkel with it for almost an hour. We did our third dive at Ari Beyru. This is a beautiful drift dive where we encountered a turtle, Napoleon wrasse and an oceanic giant manta. The last dive of the day was a dusk dive at Mal Mal Reef. Another drift wall dive with small overhangs allocated at different depths. During the dive we saw white tips, moray eels, crabs and Napoleon wrasse.

We ended the day with a candlelit BBQ on a nearby white sandy beach. The main attraction was not only the food, but also the whale shark sculpture made by the crew. Our guests were both relaxed and happy and really enjoyed the ambience of the evening complete with a FULL MOON.

Thursday
We started our day with a dive at Kudadhoo Kanmathi and there was a lot to be seen here! We encountered turtles, Spanish dancer, scorpionfish, white tips, fusilier and schools of blue stripe snapper throughout the dive. For the second dive we moved south east of South Ari Atoll but before heading to Vaavu Atoll we did a dive at the popular site known as Arches. Here we saw moray eels, a turtle, blue striped snappers, fusiliers, groupers and beautiful sea fans!! The third dive was at Bolike kandu in Vaavu Atoll. We saw Napoleon wrasse, turtles, honeycomb moray eel and lots of reef fishes.

The final dive was a night dive at Alimatha. This is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. We were surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tips and giant morays eels. There were many breath-holding moments that lasted until the last minute of dive and many of our guests came back to the mother ship saying it was their best night dive ever!

Friday
This beautiful day begin with calm flat seas at Vaavu Atoll. Miyaru Kadun is not only a popular dive spot, but it’s also listed as one of the best dive spots in the Maldives. With a small narrow channel the water flows in and out making it a likely home for every kind of pelagic. We encountered eagle rays, Napoleon wrasse, gray reef and white tips sharks were seen during the dive. After this dive we moved further inside to Vaavu Atoll to conduct our second dive at Deco Gaa. The dive was very enjoyable and there was a great amount of marine life with leopard sharks and healthy hard corals being the main highlights!

Once we finish our second dive we start our sail to South Male Atoll. On the way our guests enjoy watching big schools of blue whales in between the two atolls. Our next dive was at a site called Lhosfushi Kandu where from the beginning to the end we spotted a multitude of marine life including Napoleon wrasse, stingrays, honeycomb moray eels and white tips. We even had a giant manta ray pass by during the dive.

The last dive of the day was a night dive at Black Coral Reef. This was a very exciting night dive where our guests spotted a giant frogfish, turtles, a mantis shrimp, lionfish plus large schools of fusilier. It was a beautiful day of diving.

Saturday
To start off the day we did our first dive at Maagiri Rock. This was a perfect start to the day with Napoleon wrasse, garden eels, octopus, moray eel, turtles, big school of blue striped snappers all being spotted amongst the healthy reef. The final dive of the trip was at Black Coral Reef. We had a nice dive along the reef wall where seven turtles were spotted! There was also lots of nice macro life around including finding a rare fish from the Maldives!!! Yes, it’s a black frogfish.

The day ended with a farewell party with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone 500 dives for Reg & Brenda and 250 dives for Nils! It was a brilliant way to finish off the week! The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Louise, Nils, Reg, Brenda, Michael, Ludmilla & Marie for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Weather: Windy with overcast skies
Wind: 30 - 45mph NE & SW
Sea: Rough
Current: West to East
Air temp: 72 – 87 F
Water temp: 83 F / 28 C
Visibility: 50 - 80ft

Sunday
We met our guests this week at Male International Airport around 4 pm and boarded the dhoni to take them to the Maldives Aggressor. It was a short ride and on the way our guests were helped to put their equipment together so they had more time to relax once onboard! The rest of the crew welcomed them aboard with refreshing tropical drinks and after showing everyone to their cabins we had the Captain’s briefing that we toasted with a glass of champagne around 5.30pm. We ended the day with our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start off and everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with small current along the long reef. During this dive main highlights were white tips, turtle, octopus, batfish and a moray eel. Second dive of the trip was at Banana Reef – the first dive site known to the Maldives. During the dive we spotted moray eels, napoleon wrasse, turtles, honeycomb moray eel and a nice amount of table corals with different reef fishes around.

Third dive was at Maagiri Rock. We encounter napoleon wrasse, garden eels, octopus, moray eel, turtles, leopard shark and a big school of blue striped snappers all being spotted amongst the healthy reef. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Vihamana. Our guests encounter lots of macro life including different types of nudibranchs, crabs, hermit crabs, sea slugs and lots of free-swimming octopus. After the night dive we came back and experienced a fresh a la carte dinner from our chef.

Tuesday
We started the day at Lankan Reef. The site is famous for many mantas. Today did not disappoint and our guests were blessed with 16 Giant Mantas on their second dive of the trip! Everyone came up to the surface with a bright smile. Second dive today was at Black Coral Reef, which has a different style of reef wall where we spotted several turtles, lobster, hermit crabs and lionfish. After the dive we travel down to Male’ South. Last dive was a night dive at Biyaadhoo Reef. On this dive we saw lots of marine life including white tips, stingray, turtle, sleeping napoleon wrasse, giant moray eels and more free-swimming octopus. Our guests were very happy to witness a moray eel feeding.

Wednesday
Today began at the famous dive site known as Kandooma Thila. This was a drift dive along the reef with a strong current. We encounter eagle rays, white tip, jack fish, giant tuna and the main high light of the dive was the gray reef shark cleaning station right at the end of the dive. All together we spotted over 30 gray reef sharks getting clean by the cleaner wrasse. Some of our guests wanted to repeat Kandooma Thila again so we split into two groups and some went back to Kandooma Thila and the rest went to Cocoa Corner, which is a nice and east drift dive along with lots of reef fishes including blue stripe snappers, napoleon and turtles. Third dive of the day was at Lhosfushi Kandu. This narrow channel is located close to Guraidhoo filled with a lot of things to see with white tips, a green turtle and octopus being the main highlights. Guests were also thrilled to see large schools of blue striped snapper and a honeycomb moray eel. Last dive of the day we went at Dhahburi Giri. There was a lot of marine life to be seen. Another turtle made an appearance along with large schools of batfish, plenty of clownfish and even a napoleon wrasse. It was a relaxing way to finish off a beautiful day of great journey.

Thursday
The day started with a dive at Guraidhoo Kandu. This protected marine area gives us the opportunity to encounter countless pelagic life including… gray reef sharks, stingray, barracuda, tuna and napoleon wrasse. The best part of the dive was the gray reef shark cleaning station at the depth of 75 feet. Second dive we went to Madi Gaa. This sight is home to a famous manta cleaning station (when there is an outgoing current) that is a round, about 10 feet in diameter, rock located in a sandy bottom depth of 60 feet. We stayed at the cleaning station for 60 minutes with 3 giant manta rays. Great place for photographers!!!

Third dive was at Medu Faru. This is an easy nice drift dive located in Guraidhoo Kandu that is a gateway for lots of pelagic life. During the dive we encounter white tips, turtles, octopus, napoleon and big schools giant jacks. Last dive of the day was at dusk-into a night dive-at Biyaadhoo South. This drift dive let us see many different types of reef fishes including oriental sweet lips, humpback snapper, fire goby, garden eel and rudderfish. After the dive our guest enjoyed a Halloween special buffet style diner prepared by our chef!!!

Friday
Our first dive we went Guraidhoo Kandu. Again this was a request from our guest to repeat the same dive which they did Thursday morning. We encounter lots of gray reef sharks, barracuda, stingrays and napoleon wrasse. We next travel towards Vaavu Atoll to conduct our second dive at Coral Giri. This is a small pinnacle surrounded with lots of reef fishes. The top of the is reef covered with lots of different types of live hard corals and was an amazing place to do our safety stop. We encounter giant lobsters, octopus, job fish and different types of emperor fish.

Third dive of the day was at Miyaru Kandu. This dive is in a protected marine area. We were blessed with sightings of manta, honeycomb eel, tuna and napoleon wrasse. Our last dive today was a night dive at Alimatha and is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. Surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tips and giant morays eels we had many breath-holding moments until the last minute of dive. Our guests were extremely happy!!!

Saturday
To start off the day, we did our first dive at Deco Giri. This is a nice and easy dive with no current that gives us the opportunity to explore the round shaped pinnacle in an hour. Everywhere on the reef was covered with live hard corals and millions of anthias. The final dive of the trip was at Madi Gaa and as fitting as a last dive of the trip it was one of the most outstanding dives we had during the charter. We were blessed with manta rays and our guests enjoyed watching the show for an hour!!!

Our day ended with a farewell party where we enjoyed snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. It was a brilliant way to finish off the week! The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Ric, John, Alan, and Jonathan and Koichi for coming to see us this week.

Written by
Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captains Report December 2 – 9, 2012

Weather: Very good
Wind: 3 to 5mph NE & E
Sea: Calm
Current: East to west, medium to strong
Air temp: 72 F – 87 F
Water temp: 85 F / 30 C
Visibility: 150ft to 200ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00pm, we received our guests and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. On the way, we helped everyone put their equipment together so they had more time to relax once onboard! We then welcomed them aboard with refreshing tropical drinks. We then showed them their cabins and explained the layout of the yacht. We started our captain briefing toasting with a glass of champagne around 5.30pm and then we enjoyed our chef’s special welcome dinner before everyone retired for the night.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Maagiri Rock, which is an easy dive to start off. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with small current along the sandy slope. During the dive we encounter lots of different types of reef fish including blue stripe snapper, garden eel, napoleon wrasse and a green turtle. Second dive of the trip was at Lankan Reef. This site is famous for manta encounters and today our guests were blessed with 5 giant Mantas on their second dive of the trip. Everyone came up to the surface with bright smiles.

Third dive was at Embudhoo Express. This site is in the Maldives very first protected marine area. Today we had an amazing drift dive with napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, octopus, moray eel, turtles, gray reef shark and big schools of banner fishes that where all over. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Kuda Giri. This is a small round-shaped pinnacle that is covered with lots of different types of sea slugs, hermit crabs and flat worms.

Tuesday
Start of the day was at Miyaru Faru. This outside long reef gives us the opportunity to discover a very big area of the reef and today we had 200 ft + visibility. We encounter white tip reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, turtle and dogtooth tuna. Second dive of the trip was at Guraidhoo Kandu, which is again another protected marine area that is full of pelagic life, including gray reef sharks, eagle rays, napoleon and even white tip reef sharks are seen up until our last minute underwater.

After doing our second dive, we travel towards to Vaavu Atoll. Our third dive was at Enderi Thila. This dive site is a round shaped, 40 ft diameter pinnacle that is an ideal place to discover many types of hard corals, soft corals and even more different types of reef fishes. Last dive was a night dive at Alimatha. This is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. We were surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tips and giant morays eels. We encountered many breath-holding moments right up until the last minute of dive. All of our guests were extremely happy!!!

Wednesday
Our day began with one of the Maldives most famous dive site known as Miyaru Kandu (North Kandu) in Vaavu Atoll. Today we had a medium current going from east to west so began our dive from the north corner. We encounter lots of white tip reef sharks, eagle ray, napoleon wrasse and juvenile gray reef sharks. Second dive of the day was at Eco Giri. This is another beautiful round shape pinnacle that is an amazing place to discover nursery reef fishes. The top of the reef was covered with lots of live table and mushroom corals. This area provided us with an ideal place to do our safety stop before heading to surface.

After the second dive we move further down south east of Vaavu Atoll to discover one of the most famous dive in the world. Yes!!! It is Fotteyo. Here the outer wall is covered with lots of different colors of fluorescent soft corals. We encountered gray reef sharks, eagle ray, napoleon wrasse and big schools of giant trevally. This evening we hosted a BBQ on a sand bank of the atoll and our guests very happy as they relaxed ashore and enjoyed the outstanding menu.

Thursday
Our day started with a dive at Fotteyo Corner where we ventured for an early morning dive in the hopes of seeing some hammerheads. Unfortunately today we were not able to spot any. Nonetheless our guests request to repeat Fotteyo again and everyone had an outstanding dive!!!

Third dive was at Golden Wall. This is an easy nice drift dive along a wall that gives a completely different view of the beautiful soft corals that are attached everywhere from 15 ft down to 80 ft. We encountered napoleon wrasse, lobster, tuna and a hawksbill turtle. For our last dive today we did a night dive at Maadhu Faru. This gently sloped drift dive gives our guests a golden opportunity to discover lots of different types of flat worms, filefish, hermit crab and even a sleeping turtle.

Friday
The first dive was at Kandooma Thila. Today we had a mild current on this drift dive and some of our guests saw eagle rays, while others saw grey reef sharks, jack fish and fusiliers. The next dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck, which is a wreck dive along with a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive there was lots of reef fish to be seen, along with turtles, lionfish and also a camouflaged leaf fish.

Third dive of the day was at Banana Reef. This site is known as first dive spot discovered in the Maldives. Today we had another beautiful dive with lots of different types of reef fishes includes fusilier, oriental sweetlips, blue stripe snappers and napoleon wrasse. Our last dive today was a night dive at Black Coral Reef. The formation of this reef is very unique as from the top to deep down at 100 ft it’s a wall. On the wall close to the bottom there are overhangs. Top of the reef is covered with live hard corals. During the dive we saw stingrays and lots of turtles resting inside the caves. Nudibranch, lionfish and some scorpion fish were spotted on the wall.

Saturday
The day started off with an early dive at Lankan Reef, which is famous for spotting manta rays. This was a drift dive and today we were blessed with 3 mantas. We next decided to do another dive at Lankan Reef for the final dive of the trip. The current was not going either way. Unfortunately his time we did not spot any mantas, but we did see spotted white tips, turtles, napoleon wrasse, and another eagle ray.

The night ended with a farewell party start on the bow of the ship with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week and our guests happily enjoyed the party. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Patrick - 450 dives, Lix 400 - dives, Kate - 250 dives and Michael G - 100 dives. A brilliant way to finish off the week! The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank our guests for coming to see us this week.

Written by
Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captains Report December 9 – 16, 2012

Weather: Good with some rain showers
Wind: 15 to 25mph, NE & E
Seas: Moderate
Current: Morning - West to East. Afternoon - East to West
Air temp: 72 F – 87 F
Water temp: 85 F / 30 C
Visibility: 100 - 130ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00pm we met our guests and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. On the way they were helped to put their equipment together so they would have more time to relax once onboard! We welcomed them aboard offering refreshing tropical drinks. We then helped them to their cabins where they could settle in. Our captain’s briefing started with a glass of champagne around 5.30pm and then it was time for our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start off. Here everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with little current along the long reef. During this dive the main highlights were white tip and black tip sharks, turtles, an electric ray, octopus and a moray eel. Second dive of the trip was at Maldives Victory. This is a wreck that lies upright, tilted slightly to port in 130 feet of water on the sandy bottom. This 3500 ton, 260 foot long freighter stuck the reef at almost full speed and is now home for many different specious of marine life along with lots of live corals.
Our third dive was at Kan Thila where we were greeted by a pod of dolphins at the surface. The site was an easy spot where we saw many white tip and gray reef sharks, turtle, moray eels and napoleon wrasse. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Maaya Thila. This is a popular spot for night diving due to the large amount of marine life that lives around the pinnacle. This dive was exciting from start to finish with many white tips feeding, moray eels free-swimming and also feeding on small reef fish. Marble stingrays were also spotted feeding and our guests also saw a turtle, lionfish and lots of colorful reef fish.

Tuesday
Our start of the day was at Hafsa Thila, which is a great site to spot reef sharks. During the dive we spotted lots of white tips, grey reef sharks, manta shrimps, a free-swimming octopus and different types of reef fishes. Second dive of the day was again at Maaya Thila (night dive last night) and it was a great opportunity for our guests to see the difference between night and day!! The dive was again full of things to see with white tips, turtle, napoleon wrasse, shrimp, lionfish and plenty more!
Third dive was at a site called Fish Head, which is a small Thila with lots of different types of marine life. Moray eels, colorful reef fish, schools of jack fish, fusilier, snapper and unicorn fish playing in the bubbles were the main highlights. Our last dive was a dusk into a night dive at Dega Thila. This dive was very enjoyable and there was a great amount of colorful reef fish. During the dive we also spotted a lobster, lionfish and enjoyed the large fan corals all around.

Wednesday
The day began with a dive at Embudhoo Thila. This was a nice and easy dive with a slight current that allowed us to explore the magical shape pinnacle surrounded with lots of different types of reef fish. We saw stonefish, long nose hawk fish, lobster, and oriental sweetlips. Second dive of the day was at Hollywood where again there was a lot to see from start to finish! As soon as we started the dive we spotted grey reef sharks and white tips! Octopus, schools of barracuda, fusilier, along with beautiful table corals and reef fish were also seen, which made for a beautiful dive.

After our second dive we moved further down southwest of Ari Atoll in hopes of seeing some manta rays. We ventured to Madivaru, which is a protected marine area is a very famous site to spot giant manta rays. We were not blessed with any manta rays during the dive, but we spotted napoleon wrasse, white tips, turtles and black saddle grouper. The last dive of the day our guests decided they’d like to repeat the same dive at Madivaru and we struck out again and we did not spot any mantas, but they really enjoyed the dive with lots of different types of reef fish including white tips, octopus, napoleon wrasse, turtle and marbled sting rays.

Thursday
Today started with a dive at Bodu Finolhu. This is an outstanding outer reef drift dive that is filled with marine life including a devil ray, silver tip shark, white tip sharks, free-swimming octopus and big schools of fusiliers. Like always, in this area our second dive we all concentrated to spot the biggest fish in the world and we were blessed with a 15-foot long whale shark. After snorkeling with her, we all went on a dive at Holiday Out. During the dive we spotted another whale shark that made the day extra special.

Our third dive was at Dhigu Rah Corner. This was a nice easy dive along the reef wall where there was lots to be seen. During the dive we spotted lots of moray eels along with white tips, napoleon wrasse, an octopus, schools of oriental sweetlips, fusilier and blue striped snapper. As a last dive we did a dusk into a night dive at Bul Bul Reef. This was a drift dive along a reef wall with a medium current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, along with schools of oriental sweetlips (including a juvenile), napoleon wrasse, jack fish, fusilier and a unicorn fish.

Friday
The day started with a dive Kudarah Thila, which is also in a marine protected area. This small mountain shaped reef is one of the best dives in the Maldives. It’s famous for vibrant marine life and coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on west are covered with soft corals. Large schools of blue striped snappers were all around the reef and there were a large number of anemones across the top of the reef. Second dive of the day we did at Laguna Caves. This was a great drift dive for everyone with lots of overhangs attached all over the reef. Our guests also spotted turtles, oriental sweetlips, napoleon wrasse and shrimps!

Third dive of the day was at Vihaman, which was a nice easy night dive to finish off the day! During the dive against the reef wall we saw a sleeping turtle along with sleeping triggerfish, squid and parrotfish.

Saturday
The day started off with an early dive at Sunlight Thila, which is another area famous for spotting manta rays. And we found one beautiful manta ray! The last dive of the week was at Maagiri Rock and it was a brilliant way to finish an awesome week of diving. Napoleon wrasse, garden eels octopus, moray eels, and blue striped snappers were the main highlight of the dive.
The night ended with a farewell party we hosted on the bow of the yacht with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. Everyone was really happy and enjoyed the party during which we celebrated the milestone dives for Paul - 350 dives and Kally - 100 dives.

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Patrick, Lix, Kally, Michael, Dale, Kate and Michael for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report December 23 – 30, 2012

Weather: Good with some rain shower
Wind: 10 to 15mph NE, N & West
Sea: Moderate
Current: Morning- West to East. Afternoon- East to West
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 85 F / 30 C
Visibility: 100 to 200ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4 pm we greeted all our guests and escorted them to our dhoni to ferry them to the Maldives Aggressor, which is anchored in the harbor. On the way, we helped them put their equipment together, so they would have more time to relax once onboard! They were welcomed aboard with refreshing tropical drinks and then shown to their cabins. Later our captain’s briefing started with a champagne toast followed by our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start off. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with small current along the long reef. During this dive the main highlights were white tips, black tips, batfish and many moray eels. Second dive was at Banana Reef. This is another nice easy dive to get everyone started off. On this dive we saw lots of moray eels, a nice amount of table corals with different reef fish around and napoleon wrasse. Third dive was at Coral Garden. This outstanding healthy hard coral drift style dive was an awesome way to explore the small nursery reef fishes attached onto the reef. Our guests enjoyed spotting different types of hard corals and colorful reef fishes. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Mal Mal Reef. Again this was another nice and easy style of drift dive and during the dive we saw lots of different types of crabs, flat worms, scorpion fish and giant moray eel.

Tuesday
Start of the day was at Miyaru Kandu, which is a great site to spot reef sharks. During the dive our guests spotted lots of white tips, devil ray, napoleon wrasse, honeycomb moray eel, eagle ray and different types of reef fishes. Second dive of the day was at Cocoa Corner. During the northeast monsoon, when the current flows from east to west, this dive site is an east spot to see lots of pelagic marine life. During the dive we saw marbled stingray, white tip reef sharks, turtle and spinner dolphin. After doing second dive we start our journey towards South Ari Atoll. As a last dive of the day we did a dive on the wreck of the MV Kudhimaa. This ship is home to a lot of different species of marine life. We saw stonefish and a black color frogfish that was the main highlight of the dive. Tuesday ended with a special Christmas dinner from our chef. Our guests were delighted to see some snow, which is on our Christmas tree!

Wednesday
The day started with a dive at Kuda Rah Thila that is a marine protected area. This small mountain-shaped reef is one of the best dives in the Maldives. It’s famous for vibrant marine life and coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on west side were covered with soft corals. Large schools of blue-striped snappers were all around the reef and there were a large number of anemones across the top of the reef. We then started our whale shark search. We were blessed with 3 different whale sharks and everyone went snorkeling with the whale shark. Our second dive was at Holiday Out where there was lots of colorful reef fish and beautiful table corals. In the last 10 minutes of the dive we spot another whale shark. What a brilliant way to finish of a nice dive. Everyone was so happy and most of our guests were seeing their first whale shark!!! After finding the whale sharks we moved further down southwest of Ari Atoll to hopefully see some Manta ray. We dived in at Madivaru, which is another protected marine area that is very famous for spotting giant manta rays. We were blessed with lots of manta ray, napoleon wrasse, white tips, turtle and black saddle grouper during the dive. As a last dive today we did dusk into a night dive at Bul Bul Reef. This was a drift dive along a reef wall with a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, free-swimming octopus and unicorn fish.

Thursday
Dour day started with a dive at Hollywood and there was a lot to see from start to finish! As soon as we started the dive we spotted grey reef sharks and white tips, schools of barracuda, fusilier along with beautiful table corals on top of the reef and reef fish were also seen which made for a beautiful dive. For the second dive we did a dive at Black Jack. This was a drift dive, where along with some fascinating fluorescent soft corals colors, we also saw a giant manta ray, turtle and napoleon wrasse.

Friday
The day started with a dive Kokodaako Giri. This is a round shaped small pinnacle style coral formation that gives a golden opportunity for our divers to discover the area nice and slowly. One of the best things that happened on this dive was a giant frogfish spotted by our dive master. The site was filled with lots of macro life and other common reef fishes where are all over the place. Second dive was at Fish Head that is a small Thila with lots of different marine life. Gray reef sharks, moray eels, colorful reef fish, schools of jack fish, fusilier, snapper and unicorn fish playing in the bubbles were the main highlights. Third dive we did at Ehlaidhoo Reef. This was a great drift dive with lots of overhangs attached on the wall. The main highlight being was the upside down wreck, which lies on the bottom of 100 feet. Guests also spotted turtles, oriental sweetlips, blue stripe snappers and lots of moray eels. The fourth dive of the day was at Kan Thila. This site was an easy spot where we saw many gray reef sharks, white tips, turtle, moray eels, dogtooth tuna and napoleon wrasse. After the dive we came back to the boat and enjoyed a chef’s special snack before heading north towards North Male Atoll.

Saturday
The day started off with an early dive at Kuda Haa, which is protected marine area. This round shaped small pinnacle is a home for lots of small reef fishes. Our guests spotted scorpion leaf fish, black cheek moray eel, garden eel and different types of reef fish. Second dive of the day was at Feydhoo Wall. This outstanding wall style drift dive was a home for lots of green turtles. This dive site is famous for lots of unique marine life including frogfish, green turtles, comet fish and lots of different types of juvenile reef fishes can be easily spotted. The last dive of the trip was at Kokodaah Ko Reef. During the dive we spotted moray eels and a nice amount of table corals with different reef fish around. An enjoyable dive to end the trip with!
The day ended with a farewell party on the bow of the yacht with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Max and Nadine for their 100 dives reached onboard the Maldives Aggressor. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Robert, Nadine, Ann, Pam, Hue ma, Sandy, Steven, Johanna, Max, Jon and Many and for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report Dec 30, 2012 - Jan 6, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 10 mph NW, N & NE
Sea: Calm
Current: Morning- East to West. Afternoon- West to East
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 80 to 130ft

Sunday
We received all guests at 4pm at the Male International Airport and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor around 4.30pm. On the way, they were helped to put their equipment together so they had more time to relax once onboard. They were welcomed aboard with refreshing tropical drinks. We then showed our guests to their cabins. The captain’s briefing started with a glass of champagne around 5.30pm and then we enjoyed our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start off. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with a small current along the long reef. During this dive the main highlights were white tips, black tips, batfish and many moray eels. Second dive was at Banana Reef; another nice easy dive to get everyone started off. On this dive we saw lots of moray eels and a nice amount of table corals with different reef fish around and napoleon wrasse. Third dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck. This is a wreck dive, along with a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive there was lots of reef fish to be seen along with turtle, lionfish and giant barracuda. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Maadhoo Reef. Again this was another nice and easy style of drift dive, but tonight there was something very special for our guests as during the dive we saw lots of different types of crabs, flat worms, scorpion fish, giant moray eel and a marbled stingray. After dinner we all went onto Maadho Island to celebrate 2013.

Tuesday
Start of the day was at Guraidhoo Kandu. This is a protected marine area that is one of the best-known dive spots for reef sharks. During the dive our guests spotted lots of white tips, gray reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, honeycomb moray eel and different types of reef fishes. Second dive was at another well-known dive spot at Kandooma Thila. This spot hosts a big pinnacle that is located in the mouth of a narrow channel, which gives an absolute abundance of marine life throughout entire dive. Last part of the pinnacle was an amazing gray reef shark cleaning station - with over 40 reef sharks! After doing this second dive we started our journey south towards Ari Atoll. As a last dive of the day we did a dive at Bul Bul Reef. This was a drift dive along a reef wall with a small current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, free-swimming octopus and unicorn fish. After the dive our guest enjoyed a beautiful dinner on a sand bank of South Ari Atoll.

Wednesday
First dive of the day was at MV Kudhimaa. The wreck is a ship, which is home to a lot of different species of marine life. We saw stonefish, frogfish, stingray, nurse shark and schools of giant trevally were the main highlights of the dive. We then started our whale shark search. We were blessed with 5 Whale Sharks and our guests even went snorkeling with one of them.

Our second dive was at Holiday Out where for the first 20 minutes of the dive all of the guests were surrounded by a big whale shark. What a brilliant way to finish of a nice dive. Everyone was so happy and most of our guests were diving with their first whale shark!!! Afterwards we moved further down south west of Ari Atoll to (hopefully) see some Manta Rays. Madivaru is a protected marine area that is very famous during the northeast monsoon season to spot giant manta rays. We were blessed with 9 Manta Rays, napoleon wrasse, white tips, turtle and black saddle grouper during the dive. As a last dive we did dusk into a night dive at Bul Bul Reef. This again was a drift dive along a reef wall with a small current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster and unicorn fish.

Thursday
Day started with a dive at Madivaru and this time we were blessed with 7 Giant Mantas that for almost 75 minutes stayed with us! All our guests were really happy and amazed that they never had a dive like that before. The second dive today was at Kuda Rah Thila, which is in a marine protected area. This small mountain shaped reef is one of the best dives in Maldives and it is famous for vibrant marine life and coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on west are all covered with soft corals. Large schools of blue-striped snappers were all around the reef and there were a large number of anemone fishes everywhere on top of the reef. After the second dive we travel towards to Felide Atoll and our third dive was at Enderi Thila. The dive was very enjoyable and there was a great amount of marine life with lobsters and healthy hard corals being the main highlights. The final dive was a night dive at Alimatha, which is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. Surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tips and giant morays eels were breath-holding moments right up until the last minute of the dive. Once our guests came back to the mother ship we heard many comments about “Best Night Dive Ever”.

Friday
Our beautiful day began with a dive at Miyaru Kandu. This is not only a popular dive spot, but it’s also listed as one of the best dive spot in the Maldives. A small narrow channel flows water in and out making home for every kind of pelagic animal. We encountered eagle ray, napoleon wrasse, gray reef and white tip sharks. Second dive was at again Miyaru Kandu, and as a request from our guests we repeated the same dive again for our third dive as they had enjoyed very much the first time! This was again a great drift dive with lots of stingrays, white tip reef sharks and napoleon wrasse. The fourth dive of the day was a night dive at Kuda Giri. The site is an easy dive with a small, round shaped pinnacle where it is easy to spot lots of macro life including flat worms, nudibranchs, hermit crabs, spider crabs and ghost pipefish.

Saturday
To start off the day, we did our first dive at Embudhoo Express. This was a perfect start to the day with napoleon wrasse, gray reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, yellow-fin barracuda and stingrays were everywhere. Our last dive of the trip was at Maldives Victory, which is a wreck that lies upright, tilted slightly to port in 130 feet of water on the sandy bottom. This 3500-ton, 260-foot long freighter stuck the reef at almost full speed and is now a home for many different specious of marine life together with lots of live corals.

Our day ended with a farewell party on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. Here we celebrated the milestone dives for Tina as she had her 100^th dive onboard. A brilliant way to finish off the week!
The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Ian, Rosalind, Mark, Julie, Mike, Candyss, Cameron, John, Daniel, Morgan, Lev, Liz and Tina for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

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[Aggressor Adventures]

Maldives Aggressor Captains Report January 6 – 13, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 10 mph NW & N
Sea: Calm
Current: Morning- East to West. Afternoon- West to East
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 100 to 150ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00pm we greeted our guests and escorted them to Maldives Aggressor. On the way we helped them put their equipment together (so they had more time to relax once onboard!) They were welcomed by refreshing tropical drinks and then showed them to their cabins. Our captain’s briefing started with a glass of champagne around 5.30pm and we ended the day with our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start our week off with. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with a slight current along a long reef. During this dive we saw black tip sharks, batfish, moray eels and turtles. Our second dive was at Banana Reef. This was another nice easy dive to get everyone started off. On this dive we saw lots of moray eels and a nice amount of table corals with different reef fish around, napoleon wrasse and giant barracuda. The third dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck, which is a wreck dive along with a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive there was lots of reef fish to be seen along with turtle, lionfish and napoleon wrasse. The last dive of the day was a dusk into night dive at Biyaadhu Reef. Again, it was another nice and easy style of drift dive and during the dive we saw lots of different types of crabs, flat worms, scorpion fish, a giant moray eel and an electric free-swimming ray.

Tuesday
The start of our day was at Kandooma Thila. This dive site is a big pinnacle located in the mouth of narrow channel with an absolute abundance of marine life throughout entire dive. The last part of the pinnacle had an amazing spot for gray reef shark cleaning. Over 40 reef sharks were there and the highlight of the dive. Second dive was at Medhu Faru. This was a drift dive along some big coral heads. During the dive we saw honeycomb moray eel, turtle, fusiliers, nurse shark and giant trevally. After the dive we set sail towards south Ari Atoll. Our last dive was at MV Kudhimaa. This wreck is a ship, which is home to a lot of different species of marine life. We saw stonefish, frogfish, stingray, nurse shark and schools of giant trevally.

Wednesday
The first dive today was at Kuda Rah Thila, which is a protected marine area. This small mountain-shaped reef is one of the best dives in the Maldives. It’s famous for vibrant marine life and coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on west are covered with soft corals. Large schools of blue striped snappers were all around the reef and there were a large number of anemone fishes everywhere on the top section of the reef. We then started our whale shark search. We were blessed with 3 different whale sharks and our guests went snorkel with them. Second dive was at Holiday Out. For the first 15 minutes of the dive a big whale shark surrounded our divers. What a brilliant way to finish of a nice dive. After our whale shark encounter, we move further down southwest of Ari Atoll in search of some Manta rays. Madivaru is a protected marine area that is very famous during northeast monsoon season for spotting giant manta rays. We were blessed with 2 manta rays, napoleon wrasse, white tips, turtle and black saddle grouper during the dive. As a last dive we did a dusk into a night dive at Mirihi Reef. This was a drift dive along a reef slope with a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and stingray.

Thursday
Our day started with a dive at Madivaru. Again we were blessed with 2 giant mantas for almost 60 minutes. Our guests were both happy and amazed, as they never had a dive like that before. The second dive was at Broken Rock. This site is around 250 feet long and what clearly distinguishes this Thila from the others in the channel is a canyon that runs about 3 to 10 feet wide and up to 30 feet deep. Strong current and protected pockets on the reef have made this an ideal environment for an amazing variation in marine life. Branching sea fans, fusilier and giant barracuda were the main highlights. After the second dive we travel towards Felide Atoll where our third dive was at Enderi Thila. The dive was very enjoyable and there was a great amount of marine life with lobsters and healthy hard corals being the main highlights. The final dive was a night dive at Alimatha. This is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. Surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tips and giant morays eels were breath-holding moments until the last minute of the dive.

Friday
This beautiful day begin with dive at Miyaru Kandu. This site is not only a popular dive spot; it’s also listed as one of the best dive spot in the Maldives. The small narrow channel flows water in and out making home for every kind of pelagic animal. We encounter eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, gray reef and white tip sharks. Today’s second dive was at again Miyaru Kandu. This was a request from our guests to repeat the same dive as they enjoyed it very much the first time! Our third dive we did at Embudhu Express, which is also in South Male’s protected marine area. We saw napoleon wrasse, gray reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, yellow fin barracuda, eagle rays and stingrays were everywhere. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Mal Mal Reef. Again, another nice and easy style of drift dive was something very special for our guests. During the dive we saw lots of different types of crabs, flat worms, scorpion fish and a giant moray eel.

Saturday
First dive today was at Maldives Victory. This wreck lies upright, tilted slightly to port in 130 feet of water on a sandy bottom. The 3500 ton, 260 feet long freighter stuck the reef at almost full speed and now this wreck is home for many different specious of marine life mixed together with lots of live corals. Our final dive was a night dive at Black Coral Reef. The formation of this reef is very unique as from the top to deep down at 100FT it’s a wall, but on the wall close to the bottom there are overhangs. The top of the reef is covered with live hard corals and during the dive we saw stingrays and lots of green turtles resting inside the caves. Nudibranch, lionfish and some scorpion fishes were also spotted on the wall throughout the dive. Today ended with a farewell party that started on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Peter with 500 dives and Ryan with 150 dives achieved onboard the Maldives Aggressor this week.
A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank our guests for coming to see us this week.