Maldives Aggressor Captain's Logs

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What is the downside of diving the maldives in the summer?
 
Maldives Aggressor Captains Log 20 to 27 January 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 7 to 20 mph NE & N
Sea: Moderate
Current: Morning - East to West
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 to 200ft

Sunday.
We again this week greeted our guests at 4 pm at Male International Airport. After quick introductions we stepped aboard our dhoni and cruised to meet the Maldives Aggressor, which is anchored in the harbor. Along the way, our guests started to assemble their dive gear, as this would be their diving tender for the week. As we then boarded the Maldives Aggressor the crew was ready to greet them with refreshing tropical drinks and afterwards we showed them to their cabins. Our captain’s briefing started with a champagne toast to a great week of diving and afterwards everyone enjoyed our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday.
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start with as this was a drift dive along a long reef with only a slight bit of current. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. During this dive we saw black tip sharks, batfish, moray eels and turtles. Our second dive was at Coral Garden. Again, this was another drift style dive with some outstanding healthy hard corals. It was an awesome way to explore the many small nursery reef fishes attached on the reef. Our guests enjoyed spotting the different types of hard corals and the colorful reef fishes. The third dive of the day was at the Kuda Giri Wreck. This is a wreck dive that is situated along with a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive we saw lots of reef fish along with turtles, lionfish and napoleon wrasse. The last dive of the day was dusk into a night dive at Dhah Buri Giri. This small pinnacle is located inside the atoll and attracts lots of macro life including sponge snails, flat worms and Spanish dancers along with larger free-swimming octopus and sleeping turtles.

Tuesday.
Our first dive of the day was at Lhosfushi Kandu. This narrow channel is located close to Guraidhoo. Here the dive starts with a sandy shallow and narrow entrance that is just 30ft wide and deepens inside to a sandy bottom at 90ft. From the start to the finish there were a lot of things to see. White tip sharks, a green turtle and octopus were the main highlights. Our guests were also thrilled to see large schools of fusiliers and a honeycomb moray eel. The second dive was at Kandooma Corner. On this dive we saw lots of marine life including white tip sharks, gray reef sharks, turtles, napoleon wrasse, jack fish, schools of fusilier and schools of blue striped snapper. Last dive today was at MV Kudhimaa. The wreck is a ship that is home to many different species of marine life. Today we saw stonefish, frogfish, stingray, nurse shark and schools of giant trevally.

Wednesday.
Kuda Rah Thila was the site of our first dive today and this is located in a protected marine area. It is a small mountain shaped reef that is one of the best dives in the Maldives and it is famous for both its vibrant marine life and impressive coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on the west side 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 top of the reef.

We then started our whale shark search, but we were not successful to begin with. So instead we made our second dive at Holiday Out. This is a nice and easy, drift style dive with some special macro life for our guest as here they spotted flat worms, shrimp, pipefish and different types of nudibranchs. We did not give up on our search for whale sharks and after lunch in the afternoon we went looking again. This time we were successful in finding three! We then did our third dive at Maamigili Out where we had an underwater encounter with one of the whale sharks for almost half an hour. As the last dive today we did a dusk-into-night dive at Mirihi Reef, which was another drift dive along a sloping reef with only a small current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and stingrays. After we were back onboard and dry the dive crew gave a surprise birthday party to our guest Mercy.

Thursday.
Our day started with a dive at Madivaru. This site is famous for so many reasons, but mainly it is a well-know cleaning station for giant manta rays. Today we saw more than 15 mantas during the dive, but the real highlight of the dive was when a big whale shark passed by our guests!

We made a second dive here at Madivaru, as a request from our guests, and after this we travel towards to Felide Atoll. Once we reached there our third dive was at Eco Giri. 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 today 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 for our guests right up until the last minutes of dive. All our guests were happy and many said it was their best night ever when they returned to the mothership.

Friday.
This beautiful day begin with dive at Miyaru Kandu. This site is not only a very popular dive spot; it is also listed as one of the best dive spots in the Maldives. With a small, narrow channel the water flows in and out, making this a potential home for every kind of pelagic animal. Today we encountered eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, gray reef sharks and also white tips. Our second dive was at again Miyaru Kandu. This was a request from our guests to repeat the same dive as they had enjoyed it very much the first time! The third dive we did at Cocoa Corner in South Male’. Especially during the northeast monsoon season when the current flows from east to west this dive site is an easy spot to see lots of pelagic marine life. During the dive we saw marbled stingrays, white tip reef sharks, turtles and a free-swimming sailfish.

Saturday.
Embudhu Express in the South Male’ protected marine area was our first dive site today. We saw napoleon wrasse, gray reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, yellow fin barracuda, eagle rays, tuna and the stingrays were everywhere. Our final dive was 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. During the dive we saw stingrays and lots of green turtles resting inside the caves. We also spotted nudibranchs, lionfish and some scorpion fish along the wall throughout the dive.

A farewell party on the bow of the yacht to celebrate the week ended our day. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Mitch - 100 dives and Tina - 250 dives that they each achieved onboard the Maldives Aggressor. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew would like to thank Gary, K, Pam, Tina, Margrit, Mercy, Kevin, Mitch, Ed, James and Mark for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew









 
Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report Feb 10 – 17, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 7 to 13 mph
Sea: Moderate
Current: Morning- East to West
Air temp: 72 F- 87 F
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 - 200ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4 pm, we greeted our charter guests and escorted them aboard the dhoni 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. Reaching their charter home for the week they were welcomed by refreshing tropical drinks. First we showed everyone to their cabins and after a bit our Captain Briefing started with a glass of champagne and a toast to a wonderful week ahead. 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. Here everyone was able to check his or her equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with little current along a long reef. During this dive the main highlights were black tip sharks, batfish, moray eels and turtles. Our second dive was at Black Coral Reef. The formation of this reef is very unique as from the top to deep down at 100 feet 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. Nudibranchs, lionfish and some scorpion fish were spotted on the wall throughout the dive. The last dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck. Though this is a wreck dive it is situated along with a pinnacle of soft corals. On this dive there were lots of reef fish to be seen along with turtles, lionfish and a giant barracuda.

Tuesday
Our first dive of the day was at Miyaru Faru. This is a nice and easy style drift dive that gives our divers a chance to see a variety of marine life including hawksbill turtles. The second dive of the day we went to Dhahburi Giri. Here another turtle made an appearance along with large schools of batfish, plenty of clownfish and even a napoleon wrasse was spotted. The last dive today was at Bul Bul Reef. This was another drift dive along a reef wall and again we had only a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, free-swimming octopus and unicorn fish. After the dive our guests had the chance to enjoy a beautiful dinner on a sand bank of South Ari Atoll.

Wednesday
Today we started with a dive at Dhihdhoo Corner. This outstanding drift-style dive was an amazing place to spot lots of different varieties of marine life including a leopard shark, gray reef sharks and stingrays were seen all over.

We then started our whale shark search as we cruised around in the dhoni, but today we were not so lucky. Our second dive was at Holiday Out, which is a nice and easy drift style dive. Our guests spotted many different types of macro-life such as flat worms, shrimp, pipefish and different types of nudibranchs.

Not giving up we went again to search for whale sharks in the afternoon after our lunch, but again we had no luck so back to diving we went. We did our third dive out at Maamigili Out. This easy drift dive was again filled with lots of macro life. As a last dive today we a night dive at Eri Faru, which was a drift dive along a sloping reef. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and stingrays.

Thursday
Our day started with a dive at Madivaru. This site is famous for so many reasons, but primarily it is a well-know cleaning station for giant manta rays. Today we saw more than 15 mantas during the dive! But the true highlight of the dive was a big whale shark that passed right by our guests!

The second dive was again at Madivaru, by popular request from our guests, and was enjoyed just as much. The final dive today was a night dive at Alimatha. This dive site hosts one of the best night dives you could ever imagine. Here you are surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tip sharks and giant morays eels. We had amazing breath-holding moments right up until the last minute of dive. All of our guests were extremely happy and once they came back to mother ship many said they had just done their best night dive ever!

Friday
This beautiful day begin with dive at Miyaru Kandu. This site is not only a popular dive spot, but it’s also listed as one of the best dive spot in all the Maldives. This site has a small narrow channel where the flow of water in and out makes it a home for every kind of pelagic animal. We encountered eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, gray reef sharks and white tip sharks. Our second dive was again at Miyaru Kandu, as a request from our guests to repeat the same dive since they had enjoyed it so very much the first time!

Guraidhoo Corner, in South Male’, was our next dive site. During the northeast monsoon season, when the current flows from east to west, this dive site is an easy spot to see lots of pelagic marine life. During the dive we saw marbled stingrays, white tip reef sharks, turtles and a sailfish swimming by. The last dive of the day was at Maadhoo Reef. This site is an easy dive without any current. It’s always an amazing place with plenty of photo opportunities to take pictures of many different types of reef fishes. After the dive our guest enjoyed dinner on the sandy beach of a local desert island.

Saturday
First dive of the day was at Lhosfushi Kandu. The dive starts with a shallow and narrow channel entrance that is just 30 feet wide and deepens inside to a sandy bottom at 90 feet. From the start to the finish there were a lot of things to see. White tips, a green turtle and octopus were the main highlights. Our guests were also thrilled to see large schools of blue-striped snapper and a unique honeycomb moray eel. The second dive was at Dhahburi Giri, where again we had outstanding visibility. The entire dive was outstanding.

Last dive was at Coral Garden. This sits has beautiful healthy hard coral. This drift style dive was an awesome way to explore the reef that was filled with small juvenile reef fish. Our day ended with a farewell party on the bow of the ship with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Catherine - 100 dives, Paul - 400 dives and Attilio - 200 dives. Also, congratulation to Karen for her AOW course taken onboard during the charter. This was a brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Karen, Heather, Gayle, Jesse, Gayle, Ross, Paul, David, Sue, Tom, Lisa, Catherine, Donald, Judith, Attilio, Melissa and Jefter for coming to see us this week. We hope to see you again.

Maldives Aggressor Crew







 
Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report Feb 20 - Mar 2, 2013
Special 10 night Charter

Weather: Good
Wind: 7 to 10 mph N & NE
Sea: Moderate
Current: Morning - East to West
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 to 200 ft

Wednesday
We greeted as guests as usual around 4 pm at the Male International Airport. We then boarded the dhoni and cruised to the Maldives Aggressor, which was moored in the harbor. On aboard and after being offered refreshing tropical drinks our guests were shown to their cabins so they could unpack. Our Captain’s Briefing began around 5:30pm and started with a glass of champagne. Afterwards our chef presented his special welcome dinner and the yachts started to travel towards Thaa Atoll.

Thursday
We reached Thaa Atoll quite early in the morning and did our orientation dive at Dhiyamigili Beyru. This is a nice and easy style drift dive that let everyone check his or her proper weighting and scuba gear. During the dive we saw a devil ray, dogtooth tuna, napoleon wrasse, barracuda and wahoo. Our second dive was at Guraidhoo Corner. We began the dive inside the atoll and drifted along the outer reef of Guraishoo. This was an amazing place to see some of the most fascinating soft corals. We also saw turtles, giant grouper and an eagle ray. The third dive of the day was at Guraidhoo Reef. Today the current was medium to strong and this is a perfect reef to conduct a drift dive. During the dive we saw another devil ray, black tip shark, a stingray and big schools of giant trevally.

Friday
Today’s first dive was at Dhiyamigili Corner. We did an early morning dive to allow us to spot great hammerheads and we were in luck as during the dive we saw hammerheads, napoleon wrasse, eagle rays and white tip reef sharks. Our second dive was at Fahala Griri. This is a small, square-shaped pinnacle with the northern tip having quite a steep drop off and the southern side more like a slope. Our guests enjoyed exploring the dive site without any current. We saw healthy corals and sea fans along with dogtooth tuna and millions of baitfish that were all around. The third dive was at Ohlugiri Kandu. This is one of the famous channel dives in Thaa Atoll that gives our guests the opportunity to explore their very first pelagic marine life including gray reef sharks, white tip sharks, barracuda, napoleon wrasse and graceful eagle rays. After the dive we moved a bit more north, closer to Villufushi, to do our last dive of the day. Vilu Giri is an outstanding small pinnacle surrounded with lots of different types of hard corals and macro life. Our guests enjoyed spotting different types of juvenile reef fishes along the dive.

Saturday
Fushi Kandu was the site of our first dive today and it is probably one of the smallest channels in North Thaa Atoll. During the dive we saw big schools of giant trevally, an eagle ray, napoleon wrasse, porcupine fish and stonefish. For the second dive we went to Coral Garden. This specific dive site is located inside the atoll and it’s protected from strong conditions. This was an excellent place to spot lots of nursery reef fishes and it also is home to some of the best hard corals in Thaa Atoll. After the dive we travelled towards Meemu Atoll. The third dive we did at Bodu Faru in Meemu Atoll. This is a large horseshoe shaped reef with the best part being on the southern side of the reef between 30 feet to 67 feet. During the dive we saw lots of macro life including leaf fish, banded pipefish, flat worms and there were beautiful overhangs are all over the reef.

Sunday
Today started with a dive at Muli. This site is a long reef dive along the channel dive off Muli Island. The reef has a rounded top at 45 feet and the outer ends change into finger slopes. During the dive we saw giant trevally, gray reef shark, white tip shark, eagle ray, and lots of different types of reef fishes were everywhere. Our last dive in Meemu Atoll was at Maduhvari Kandu, which is a small narrow channel filled with vibrant marine life. Our guest enjoyed spotting pelagics including gray reef shark, white tip shark, napoleon wrasse, turtles and giant barracuda. The third dive of the day was at Eco Giri in Vaavu Atoll. This is another beautiful round-shaped pinnacle that was an amazing place to discover nursery reef fishes. The top reef was covered with lots of live table and mushroom corals. This top reef was also an ideal place to do our safety stop before heading to surface. The final dive today was a night dive at Alimatha. This is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine as we were surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays, black tip sharks and giant morays eels.

Monday
Our beautiful day begin with dive at Miyaru Kandu. This is not only a popular dive spot, but it is also listed as one of the best dive spots in all the Maldives. Having a small narrow channel, the water flows easily in and out and makes this a home for every kind of pelagic animal. We encountered eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, gray shark, reef shark and white tips were the main highlights of the dive. But before heading to South Ari Atoll we did a dive at Enderi Thila in Vaavu Atoll. This round shaped pinnacle is around 40 feet in diameter and is an ideal place to discover lots of types of hard corals, soft corals and many more different types of reef fishes. After this dive we treated our guests to a beautiful lunch on one of the local deserted islands. The last dive of the day was at Kudimaa Wreck. This ship is home to a lot of different species of marine life including glassfish, scorpion fish, marble stingray and a stonefish. Afterwards our guests enjoyed a wonderful buffet-style dinner on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor.

Tuesday
Today’s first dive was at Kuda Rah Thila, which is a marine protected area. This small mountain-shaped reef is one of the best dives in Maldives. It’s famous for vibrant marine life and coral growth. Overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on the west side 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 of the reef. Our second dive was at Bodu Finolhu Out. This is a nice and easy drift-style dive that was an amazing place to spot lots of white tip shark, turtle, napoleon wrasse and more devil rays. After the dive we went in search of Whale Sharks! We were blessed with finding not just one, but two whale sharks and our guests were able to snorkel with them for almost 2 hours!

The last dive today was at Ari Faru. This sight is filled with lots of overhangs that are attached at different depths along the steep drop off. Today it was an amazing place to spot different types of moray eels. Our guests said they counted more than a 100 different types of moray eel during the dive! Might be a slight exaggeration! After the dive, we did a full moon surprise BBQ on an uninhabited island. We encountered another whale shark – actually a sand sculptured one made by the Maldives Aggressor crew J

Wednesday
Our day started with a dive at Madivaru and we were blessed with 4 giant mantas with us for almost 60 minutes. All our guests were just amazed and very happy as they never had a dive like that before. As a second dive of course we came back to Madivaru. This time we were blessed with 2 whale sharks and 7 manta rays! Many of our guests said this was “the best dive of their lifetime”.

We then began our travel towards North Ari Atoll and as a third dive we went to Fish Head. This site is a large, isolated, flat top reef that rises sharply from the inner atoll floor from a side depth of 130 feet. The presence of large schools of different types of marine life includes grey reef shark, white tip shark and guitar shark along with turtles, giant jacks and moray eels. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Maaya Thila, another popular site for spotting lots of interesting marine life. The dive was exciting and there was a lot 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.

Thursday
To start off the day we did a dive at Hafsa Thila, which is a good site to spot gray reef sharks. We also spotted white tips along with mantis shrimps, moray eels and a variety of colorful reef fish. The second dive was again at Maya Thila where our guests got to see the real difference between night and day. There was again lots of marine life to be seen including white tips, lots of octopus and a mantas shrimp along with schools of fusilier, beautiful corals and colorful reef fish. Our third dive we went to Kan Thila. This is a long narrow thila stretching north to south down the eastern edge of the atoll. There are many interesting caves and rich corals everywhere on this reef. Today’s main highlights of the dive were spotting lots of gray reef sharks, white tips and napoleon wrasse. After the dive we headed towards South Male’ Atoll to do our last dive of the day. As a last dive we did a dusk into a night dive at Bul Bul Reef, which was a drift dive along a reef wall that had only a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, along with schools of oriental sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, jack fish, fusilier and unicorn fish.

Friday
The first dive of the day was at Laguna Caves. This was a great drifting dive for all. Main highlights of the dive were lots of overhangs attached all over the reef. Our guests also spotted turtles, oriental sweetlips, napoleon wrasse and many shrimps. Our second dive was a dive at Black Coral Reef. Here the formation of the reef is very unique as from the top to deep down at 100 feet it’s a wall and on the wall close to the bottom there are numerous overhangs. The 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 scorpionfish were spotted on the wall throughout the dive.

After lunch we celebrate guest Angel’s birthday. The final dive of the trip was at Banana Reef. This site is known as the first dive spot discovered in the Maldives. Another beautiful dive with lots of different types of reef fishes includes fusilier, oriental sweetlips, blue stripe snappers and napoleon wrasse.

A brilliant way to end our guests’ 10-day journey aboard the Maldives Aggressor.

During the evening cocktail party we celebrated the milestone dives for Bill - 400, Scott - 150, Oscar - 50, Chris - 250, David L - 250, Steven - 150, Clark - 100 and Stephen - 100 dives!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Greg, David K, Ron, Angel, Scott, Joe, Mike, Bill, Rob, Mark, Chris, Oscar, John, David L, Steven, Clark, Stephen, Bob and John T for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew











 
Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report March 3 – 10, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 10 kt from northeast
Sea: Calm
Current: Morning - east to west
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 to 200 ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00pm we received all our charter guests and escorted them to Maldives Aggressor. On the way, the guests were helped to put their equipment together so they had more time to relax once onboard where they were welcomed with refreshing tropical drinks. We then showed them to their cabins. Around 5.30pm our Captain’s briefing started with a glass of champagne followed by 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 along a long reef with just a slight current. During this dive we saw black tip sharks, batfish, moray eels and turtles scattered among the tropical fish. Our second dive was at Black Coral Reef. The formation of this reef is very unique as from top to deep down at 100 ft it’s a wall, but on the wall close to the bottom there are many overhangs. The top of the reef is also covered with live hard corals. During the dive we saw stingrays and lots of green turtles resting inside the caves and nudibranchs, lionfish and some scorpion fish were spotted on the wall. As a last dive we went to Coral Garden. This specific dive site is located inside the atoll and it is protected from strong conditions. It is an exciting place to spot lots of nursery reef fish and it has some of the best hard corals in South Male’.

Tuesday
Our first dive of the day was at Miyaru Faru. This nice and easy style drift dive gives our divers plenty of time to explore the expansive marine life, including hawksbill turtles. The second 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 were lots of reef fish to be seen along with turtle, lionfish, napoleon wrasse, flat worms and a giant octopus. The last dive of the day was at Kudimaa Wreck. The wreck is a ship, which is home to a lot of different species of marine life including frogfish, scorpion fish, marble stingrays and a stonefish.

Wednesday
The first dive was at Kuda Rah Thila, which 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 the 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 fish everywhere on top of the reef. We then started our whale shark search and today we found two. After snorkeling with the whale sharks for almost 2 hours we went on a dive at Sun Out. This is another nice and easy drift-style dive. Our guests spotted many different types of macro life including flat worms, shrimp, pipefish and different types of nudibranchs. Our third dive we went on Dhihdhoo Corner. The outside reef has very good fish life and during the dive we saw lots of reef fish including oriental sweet lips, white tips, leopard shark, giant trevally and green turtles. As a last dive we a night dive at Eri Faru, which was a drift dive along a sloping reef slope with a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and stingrays.

Thursday
Today started with a dive at Madivaru, a site that is famous for so many reasons. This is a well-know cleaning station for giant manta rays and today we saw three mantas. The second dive was at Madivaru, followed by a request from our guests… to go again in search of whale sharks after the dive. Our guests lucked out and enjoyed snorkeling with two of the biggest fish in the world. Our third dive of the day was at a site called 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 tip sharks. The fusilier, along with beautiful table corals and reef fish that were also seen, made for a beautiful dive. The last dive was a night dive at Ran Faru. This is an easy drift dive with lots of small overhangs along with some nice healthy hard corals. During the dive we saw ghost pipefish, stingray, napoleon wrasse and lots of lionfish.

Friday
Our beautiful day began with a dive at Donkalo Thila. This site has some of the best diving here on the south side and has and abundance of excellent healthy corals all over. During the east monsoon season it is also a place where mantas have often been sighted, but because of the lack of current today we did not see any. For the second dive we went to Maalhos Thila. This site is also known as “Blue Caves”. The top of the Thila is at about 25 feet and on the south side is a line of caves. The ceiling of the caves is covered in soft coral resplendent with a wide mixture of colors. The snowy soft coral here is some of the finest seen in all the Maldives and decorated caves make a surreal backdrop for underwater photographers. Our third dive was at Bul Bul Reef, which was a drift dive along a reef wall with a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels along with schools of oriental sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, jackfish, fusilier, white tip shark and unicorn fish. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Maaya Thila, another popular dive site. The dive was exciting and there was a lot 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 jackfish.

Saturday
To start off the day we did a dive at Hafsa Thila, which is a good site to spot gray reef sharks. We spotted white tips along with mantis shrimps, moray eel, scorpion fish and colorful reef fish.
For our final dive we went to Kan Thila, which is a long narrow Thila stretching north to south down the eastern edge of the atoll. There are many interesting caves and rich corals throughout the reef. The main highlights of the dive were spotting lots of gray reef sharks, white tip and napoleon wrasse. After the dive we cruised to North Male’ Atoll.

This evening the crew hosted a farewell party on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Tru - 250 dives, Richard - 200 dives, Stephen - 500 dives and Marion - 150 dives. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Erik, Richard, Tru, Brock, Joseph, Marion, Linda, Mikael, Steve, Stephen and Marie for coming to see us this week and we look forward to welcoming you back some day.

Maldives Aggressor Crew
 
Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report March 10 – 17, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 8 knots NE
Sea: Calm
Current: East to West
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F Max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 to 200 ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00pm we met our guest for the week’s charter and led them to the Maldives Aggressor that was anchored in the harbor. Along the way we assisted them with setting their gear up on the dhoni, which would be their diving platform for the coming week. Once aboard the yacht they were refreshed with tropical drinks and shown to their cabins. Around 5:30 pm we started our Captain’s briefing 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 with and here everyone was able to check his or her equipment and weights. This site was a drift dive with just a slight current along a long reef. During the dive the main highlights were black tips, batfish, moray eels and turtles. Our second dive was at Black Coral Reef. The formation of this reef is very unique as from the top, which is covered with live hard corals, down to the deep (over 100 ft) it’s a wall, but on the wall close to the bottom there are overhangs. 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. The third dive of the day was at Kuda Giri Wreck. Though this a wreck dive, there is also a pinnacle nearby with soft corals and on this dive there were lots of reef fishes to be seen along with a turtle, lionfish and a Spanish dancer. This is a good dive site to spot small macro life. Our last dive of the day was a night dive at Dhahburi Giri where our guests were treated to seeing a giant marbled stingray.

Tuesday
We started the day with a dive at Kandooma Corner where we saw white tips, fusilier, jack fish and napoleon wrasse. After the dive, we came back and enjoyed a hot breakfast before getting ready for the next dive that was at Lhosfushi Kandu. This small narrow channel let our guest discover more pelagic marine life including white tips, turtle, napoleon wrasse, honeycomb moray eels, leaf fish, stingray and gray reef shark. The last dive of the day was at Kudimaa Wreck. The wreck is a ship, which is home to a lot of different species of marine life including frogfish, scorpion fish, marble stingray and a stonefish.

Wednesday
The first dive today was at Arches. We had originally planned our dive on Kuda Rah Thila, but due to a strong current condition we change to Arches. This nice and easy drift dive let us discover more marine life including white tips, stingray, manta ray, turtle and napoleon wrasse. We then started our whale shark search. We were fortunate to find 2 whale sharks. After snorkeling with the whale sharks for almost 2 hours we went on a dive at Sun Out. This nice and easy drift-style dive was something very special for our guests because during the dive we spot 2 different whale sharks! The third dive we went to Dhihdhoo Corner where the outside reef has very good fish life, but it really is better known for its whale sharks. During the dive we saw lots of reef fishes including oriental sweet lips, white tips, leopard shark, giant trevally and green turtles. As a last dive we a night dive at Eri Faru, which was a drift dive along reef slope with small current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and stingray. After this last dive our guests went on a picnic on a local island to have their dinner set by our crew.

Thursday
Day started with a dive at Madivaru, a site famous for so many reasons as this is a well-known cleaning station for giant manta rays. We saw more than 5 mantas during the dive. Our second dive was again at Madivaru as a repeat request from our guests. After doing our second dive, we travel towards Vaavu Atoll. The third dive today was at Enderi Thila. This round-shaped pinnacle is 40 feet in diameter and is an ideal place to discover lots of types of hard corals, soft corals and many more different types of reef fishes. The final dive was a night dive at Alimatha and is probably one of the best night dives you could ever imagine as our guests were surrounded with lots of nurse sharks and stingrays along with many breath-holding moments right up until the last minute of the dive. Our guests were extremely happy!!!

Friday
This beautiful day begin with dive at Miyaru Kandu, a site that is listed as one of the best dive spots in Maldives. It has a small narrow channel that allows the continuous flow of water in and out making it a home for every kind of pelagic animal. During the dive we saw eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, gray reef and white tip sharks and a free-swimming sail fish that was a highlight of the dive. The second dive was at again Miyaru Kandu as another repeat request from our guests. Our third dive we did at Guraidhoo Corner in South Male’. During the northeast monsoon season, when the current flows from east to west, this dive site is an easy spot to see lots of pelagic marine life. During the dive we saw marbled stingray, white tip sharks, gray reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, giant barracuda and eagle rays. The last dive was at Embodhoo Reef, which was a drift dive with a slight current. The main highlight of the dive was the healthy corals right on top of the reef. Also during the dive we saw plenty of moray eels along with schools of oriental sweetlips, napoleon wrasse, jack fish, fusilier, white tip shark and unicorn fish.

Saturday
Our first dive was at Embudhoo Express. This channel dive is within a protected marine area and was an amazing dive with napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, octopus, moray eel, turtles, gray reef shark, leopard shark, stingray and big schools of banner fishes all over. The final charter dive was at Banana Reef. This site is known as first dive spot discovered in the Maldives and today it was another beautiful dive with lots of different types of reef fishes including fusilier, oriental sweetlips, blue stripe snappers and napoleon wrasse.

We ended today with a farewell party hosted on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor with snacks and drinks to recap the week. During the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Jay - 400 dives and Ulrich - 200 dives. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Joan, Bill, Alice, Will, Mike, Yvonne, Andrew, Ellen, Richard, Christine, Ulrich, Arndt and Jay for coming to see us this week.
 
Maldives Aggressor Captain’s Report March 24 – 31, 2013

Weather: Good
Wind: 5 to 15 knots from northeast
Sea: Calm
Current: east to west
Air temp: 72 F min – 87 F max
Water temp: 84 F / 29 C
Visibility: 150 to 200ft

Sunday
At Male International Airport around 4.00 pm we received all guests and escorted them to the Maldives Aggressor. On the way our guests were helped to put their equipment together so they had more time to relax once onboard where they were welcomed with refreshing tropical drinks. First we showed them to their cabins and then the Captain’s briefing followed, which started with a glass of champagne. The day ended with our chef’s special welcome dinner.

Monday
We did our orientation dive at Vihamanaa, which is an easy dive to start with. Here, everyone was able to check their equipment and weights. This was a drift dive with a slight current along the long reef. During this dive the main highlights were black tips, batfish, moray eels and turtles. Our second dive was at Black Coral Reef where the formation of this reef is very unique as from the top to deep down at 100 feet 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. Nudibranchs, lionfish and some scorpion fish were also spotted on the wall throughout the dive. The third dive of the day was at Coral Garden. This is an outstanding healthy hard coral drift style dive that was an awesome way to explore the small nursery reef fish on the reef. Our guests enjoyed spotting different types of hard corals and colorful reef fishes throughout the dive. Today’s last dive was a night dive at the same site of Coral Garden. During the dive we saw lots of small macro life including hermit crab, flatworm, shrimp, ghost pipefish and sleeping turtle.

Tuesday
We started the day with a dive at Miyaru Faru. This nice and easy drift style dive gives the divers plenty of time to explore the plentiful marine life including hawksbill turtles, white tip shark, eagle ray and napoleon wrasse. The second dive of the day was at Lhosfushi Kandu. A small narrow channel that allowed our guests to discover more pelagic marine life including white tips, turtle, napoleon wrasse, honeycomb moray, leaf fish, stingray and gray reef shark. On the very last minute of the dive we saw one juvenile whale shark J Our last dive today was at Mal Mal Reef, which was a drift dive along a reef wall with a slight current. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels and unicorn fish, but the main attraction of the dive was the healthy table corals on top of the reef.

Wednesday
Today’s first dive was at Kuda Rah Thila, which is a protected marine area. This small mountain-shaped reef is one of the best dives in Maldives and it is famous for both vibrant marine life and significant coral growth. The overhangs on the east side and swim throughs on west side were both covered with soft corals. Large schools of blue striped snappers were all around the reef and there were a large number of anemone fish on top of the reef. We then started our whale shark search and though we searched for almost 2 hours we did not spot any whale sharks. We then went on a dive at Sun Out. It was a nice and easy drift style dive that brought something very special for our guests because during the dive we saw a whale sharkJ. On our way back from the dive we saw another whale shark and our guests enjoyed swimming with the big fish for quite some time. For the third dive we went on Madivaru. This dive site is famous for giant manta rays, but unfortunately today we did not spot any of them during the dive. Instead our guests enjoyed watching turtles, napoleon wrasse, white tip sharks and many different types of reef fish. As a last dive today we went on a night dive at Rangali Reef, which was another drift dive along a reef slope. During the dive we saw plenty of moray eels, lobster, free-swimming octopus and scorpion fish.

Thursday
Our diving day started with a dive at Madivaru, a site that is famous for so many reasons, but primarily this is a well-know cleaning station for giant manta rays. Today we saw 7 mantas during the dive. Our second dive was an encore dive at Madivaru as a request from our guests. After this dive we travel towards Vaavu Atoll and our third dive was at Enderi Thila. This 40-foot pinnacle is round-shaped and is an ideal place to discover lots of types of hard corals, soft corals and many more different types of reef fish including leaf fish, trumpet fish and free-swimming octopus. Today’s final dive was a night dive at Alimatha and may be one of the best night dives you could ever imagine as we were surrounded with lots of nurse sharks, stingrays and giant jacks. We encountered many breath-holding moments right up until the last minute of the dive. Our guests were extremely happy!!!

Friday
This beautiful day begin with a dive at Miyaru Kandu. This site is not only a popular dive spot, it is also listed as one of the best dive spots in the Maldives as a small narrow channel flows water in and out making a home for every kind of pelagic animal. During the dive today we saw eagle ray, napoleon wrasse, along with both gray reef and white tip sharks. Our second dive was at again Miyaru Kandu by request from our guests. The third dive we did at Guraidhoo Corner in South Male’. Here, during the northeast monsoon season when the current flows from east to west, this dive site is an easy spot to see lots of pelagic marine life. Today we saw marbled stingray, white tip shark, gray reef shark, napoleon wrasse, giant barracuda and eagle ray. The last dive of the day was a night dive at Dhahburi Giri. There was a lot of marine life to be seen, including a giant marbled stingray.

Saturday
Our first dive today was at Embudhoo Express. This protected marine area was an amazing channel dive filled with napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, octopus, moray eel, turtles, gray reef shark, stingray and big schools of banner fish. Our final dive was at Banana Reef, also known as the first dive spot discovered in the Maldives. We enjoyed another beautiful dive with lots of different types of reef fish includes fusilier, oriental sweetlips, blue striped snappers and napoleon wrasse. We ended the day with a farewell party on the bow of the Maldives Aggressor with snacks and drinks to celebrate the week and during the party we celebrated the milestone dives for Johanna - 50 dives, Adam - 50 dives, Phil - 400 dives, Julie - 400 dives and Mark - 150 dives. Massive congratulation!!! Johanna also completing her Nitrox class with us. A brilliant way to finish off the week!

The crew of Maldives Aggressor would like to thank Johanna, Marta, Maria, Jean, Mark, Kristine, Coleen, Scott, Adam, Julie and Phil for coming to see us this week.

Maldives Aggressor Crew

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