darook
Contributor
Completed the long journey back to the US late last night and am fighting some serious jet lag today! Despite the long trip it was more than worth it and I plan to repeat it again as soon as circumstances allow.
Travel was via Delta to Houston and back. Houston to Male was on Emirates via Dubai. Emirates is way, way, way nicer than Delta but I think that is obvious. The Dubai airport is really a nice Duty Free shopping mall with runways and an awesome airline as their chief tenant.
Male airport offered little in the way of amenities upon arrival but customs was super quick and our hotel representative was there waiting to take us to to the Traders Hotel in Male via speedboat. We literally got off the plane at 8:45am and were checked into our room and asleep at 10:00am. That was sweet. The Traders Hotel is very nice with a GREAT breakfast and the nicest showers I have ever enjoyed. Their rooftop restaurant was tasty for dinner and lunch. No alcohol or pork on the island of Male but I really didn't notice that. I did notice that outside of the hotel it is not a tourist island and not terribly welcoming. I also noticed that it was crazy crowded. It was a good experience to spend night on it but it was a better one to get off of it and on to the Aggressor aka Grandezza. Traders provided the free transfers to and from the airport.
We met the Maldives team back at the airport at 4:00 on Sunday and were led to their dhoni waiting at the pier. Once boarding we surrendered our shoes for the week. Shoes are not allowed on the dhoni or the yacht to help keep things tidy. I loved this. If you have particularly ugly feet that you are self conscious about it may be a concern for you. In the Maldives the primary dive boats are dhonis which are operated by independent contractors in many cases from the LOB. This was the case with our dhoni the Magsadh but this was not noticeable as their boat was really nice and large and their crew was one with the Aggressor team in terms of service and operation. On the way to the yacht we pulled all of our dive gear out of our luggage and it resided on the boat for the week either rigged on a tank or in our dedicated plastic container.
Upon arrival at the Grandezza we were greeted with a coconut drink and then given an orientation of the boat and then our room. My wife and I were travelling together and had cabin that had a bunk with a lower bed that was plenty large for the two of us and then an upper bunk that was used for frequently accessed junk. The private lav also had a shower. All of these items performed their duties as assigned just fine. There was plenty of room under the bottom bunk to stash our travel bags. I definitely suggest using soft sided bags that compress so you can get them out of the way. Once we were situated with our cabins we finished up our paper work with Shumi the boss and then enjoyed a beer while exploring the boat and waiting for dinner. We went with the Nitrox option which is $100 for the week. When diving 4 times a day it is nice to have the extra margin of safety particularly so far from home.
Other than some tasty welcome snacks our first real food experience was dinner. Oh my! As we had six guests on a boat that handles 20 they said they would really make whatever we want. Well, I wanted whatever they were making. Didi and Lak****a the chefs are masters. Every dish I had of theirs was tremendous. They made both regional and American dishes with great aplomb. Many of the dishes were new to me or were spins on others I knew but regardless were delicious. All of the guests were excited to taste what they made next at each meal. The boat has two amazing hosts in Jenny and Namy to serve the dinners and fetch you drinks. They were each a joy to spend time with. After dinner we made an early departure to bed still dog tired from the travel. The boat spent the night in the airport harbor as none of the LOBs move at night due to the huge number of reefs in the Maldives. That many reefs is good for diving but bad for navigating in the dark.
On Monday morning we did our check dive nearby and it was a decent drift dive that went about an hour. While we were out the Grandezza weighed anchor and we met up with her and travelled to South Male Atoll for dives 2-4 of day one. Those included a drift dive, a wreck dive, and a pinnacle dive. The feeding schedule worked out to really 5 meals a day. Wake up call was at 6:00 am each day where you could get some toast and fruit as a pre dive snack. The first dive briefing occurred at 6:30 at the rear of the boat and you immediately departed for your dive. Sanook had mentioned earlier that they have the best briefings he had ever experienced and I agree. Very nice maps were drawn with expected depths and currents and our plan. After dive one you return for a full warm breakfast and chill for an hour or so for the next briefing and dive. After that dive you return for lunch a little nap and then an afternoon briefing dive followed by a snack. After the snack and SI you head out for either a dusk or night dive. Upon return from the late dive you are greeted with either beer or hot cocoa. Put me down for a beer. After a quick clean up dinner is served followed by the next day's plan. In this case because we wanted to see pelagics they offered to change their intended plan if we could sacrifice one dive to make our way over to South Ari Atoll where we would have a better shot at mantas and whale sharks. Done.
To be continued...
---------- Post Merged at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:59 PM ----------
Holy sensitive prude application Batman! 4 of the letters in Lak****a's name were replaced with stars. The pronunciation of his name is lack-sheet-uh.
---------- Post Merged on August 15th, 2012 at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous Post was on August 14th, 2012 at 08:59 PM ----------
Here is the captain's log from the trip: http://www.aggressor.com/captainlogsview.php?log=2673 One correction is that Mary indicated we saw multiple whale sharks, it was actually one. We saw several mantas and dove with three that kept zooming over us for about 20 minutes while we were in less than 15' of water. Amazing experience.
Here are some of my pics: http://brucep.smugmug.com/Maldives/Maldives-Trip/24767593_d9zT7C#!i=2026672396&k=xTNgMpB
More to follow...
---------- Post Merged on August 15th, 2012 at 07:06 PM ---------- Previous Post was on August 14th, 2012 at 08:59 PM ----------
Our weather Monday-Friday was perfect. Saturday was very rainy and windy making for a rough passage back from North Ari Atoll to Male. The discomfort was worth it. Here are some of my random thoughts about the experience:
Aggressor caters to Americans which means they have plenty of 110 outlets for your camera and computer charging needs. The camera table is quite large and protected.
The crew of the Maldives Aggressor offered the best service I have had in my dive experience. Little things like my wife asking if they had soy milk sent them to a nearby island to procure some. She didn't demand it just asked if they had as she does not handle regular milk well. This was my first LOB but it will not be my last and not my last time on the MA.
The boat is nice, large and very well laid out for divers. My only nit with it is that sometimes underway the cabin would get some diesel stink in it. Not enough to kill you or anything but still a bit annoying.
Nitrox is really a requirement on LOBs. While I think we could have dived air based on the long SIs I don't think it would have had near the margin for safety.
We got to Male the day before our charter boarded. This is the minimum amount of time I would suggest for folks coming from the States. It is a 10 hour time difference between MN and MV and is still kicking my a$$ in reverse. I would probably go ahead and try to make the trip two weeks with a few days on one of the resorts in the Male area. We visited the resort for drinks at Karumba Island and that place looked fabulous.
Travel was via Delta to Houston and back. Houston to Male was on Emirates via Dubai. Emirates is way, way, way nicer than Delta but I think that is obvious. The Dubai airport is really a nice Duty Free shopping mall with runways and an awesome airline as their chief tenant.
Male airport offered little in the way of amenities upon arrival but customs was super quick and our hotel representative was there waiting to take us to to the Traders Hotel in Male via speedboat. We literally got off the plane at 8:45am and were checked into our room and asleep at 10:00am. That was sweet. The Traders Hotel is very nice with a GREAT breakfast and the nicest showers I have ever enjoyed. Their rooftop restaurant was tasty for dinner and lunch. No alcohol or pork on the island of Male but I really didn't notice that. I did notice that outside of the hotel it is not a tourist island and not terribly welcoming. I also noticed that it was crazy crowded. It was a good experience to spend night on it but it was a better one to get off of it and on to the Aggressor aka Grandezza. Traders provided the free transfers to and from the airport.
We met the Maldives team back at the airport at 4:00 on Sunday and were led to their dhoni waiting at the pier. Once boarding we surrendered our shoes for the week. Shoes are not allowed on the dhoni or the yacht to help keep things tidy. I loved this. If you have particularly ugly feet that you are self conscious about it may be a concern for you. In the Maldives the primary dive boats are dhonis which are operated by independent contractors in many cases from the LOB. This was the case with our dhoni the Magsadh but this was not noticeable as their boat was really nice and large and their crew was one with the Aggressor team in terms of service and operation. On the way to the yacht we pulled all of our dive gear out of our luggage and it resided on the boat for the week either rigged on a tank or in our dedicated plastic container.
Upon arrival at the Grandezza we were greeted with a coconut drink and then given an orientation of the boat and then our room. My wife and I were travelling together and had cabin that had a bunk with a lower bed that was plenty large for the two of us and then an upper bunk that was used for frequently accessed junk. The private lav also had a shower. All of these items performed their duties as assigned just fine. There was plenty of room under the bottom bunk to stash our travel bags. I definitely suggest using soft sided bags that compress so you can get them out of the way. Once we were situated with our cabins we finished up our paper work with Shumi the boss and then enjoyed a beer while exploring the boat and waiting for dinner. We went with the Nitrox option which is $100 for the week. When diving 4 times a day it is nice to have the extra margin of safety particularly so far from home.
Other than some tasty welcome snacks our first real food experience was dinner. Oh my! As we had six guests on a boat that handles 20 they said they would really make whatever we want. Well, I wanted whatever they were making. Didi and Lak****a the chefs are masters. Every dish I had of theirs was tremendous. They made both regional and American dishes with great aplomb. Many of the dishes were new to me or were spins on others I knew but regardless were delicious. All of the guests were excited to taste what they made next at each meal. The boat has two amazing hosts in Jenny and Namy to serve the dinners and fetch you drinks. They were each a joy to spend time with. After dinner we made an early departure to bed still dog tired from the travel. The boat spent the night in the airport harbor as none of the LOBs move at night due to the huge number of reefs in the Maldives. That many reefs is good for diving but bad for navigating in the dark.
On Monday morning we did our check dive nearby and it was a decent drift dive that went about an hour. While we were out the Grandezza weighed anchor and we met up with her and travelled to South Male Atoll for dives 2-4 of day one. Those included a drift dive, a wreck dive, and a pinnacle dive. The feeding schedule worked out to really 5 meals a day. Wake up call was at 6:00 am each day where you could get some toast and fruit as a pre dive snack. The first dive briefing occurred at 6:30 at the rear of the boat and you immediately departed for your dive. Sanook had mentioned earlier that they have the best briefings he had ever experienced and I agree. Very nice maps were drawn with expected depths and currents and our plan. After dive one you return for a full warm breakfast and chill for an hour or so for the next briefing and dive. After that dive you return for lunch a little nap and then an afternoon briefing dive followed by a snack. After the snack and SI you head out for either a dusk or night dive. Upon return from the late dive you are greeted with either beer or hot cocoa. Put me down for a beer. After a quick clean up dinner is served followed by the next day's plan. In this case because we wanted to see pelagics they offered to change their intended plan if we could sacrifice one dive to make our way over to South Ari Atoll where we would have a better shot at mantas and whale sharks. Done.
To be continued...
---------- Post Merged at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:59 PM ----------
Holy sensitive prude application Batman! 4 of the letters in Lak****a's name were replaced with stars. The pronunciation of his name is lack-sheet-uh.
---------- Post Merged on August 15th, 2012 at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous Post was on August 14th, 2012 at 08:59 PM ----------
Here is the captain's log from the trip: http://www.aggressor.com/captainlogsview.php?log=2673 One correction is that Mary indicated we saw multiple whale sharks, it was actually one. We saw several mantas and dove with three that kept zooming over us for about 20 minutes while we were in less than 15' of water. Amazing experience.
Here are some of my pics: http://brucep.smugmug.com/Maldives/Maldives-Trip/24767593_d9zT7C#!i=2026672396&k=xTNgMpB
More to follow...
---------- Post Merged on August 15th, 2012 at 07:06 PM ---------- Previous Post was on August 14th, 2012 at 08:59 PM ----------
Our weather Monday-Friday was perfect. Saturday was very rainy and windy making for a rough passage back from North Ari Atoll to Male. The discomfort was worth it. Here are some of my random thoughts about the experience:
Aggressor caters to Americans which means they have plenty of 110 outlets for your camera and computer charging needs. The camera table is quite large and protected.
The crew of the Maldives Aggressor offered the best service I have had in my dive experience. Little things like my wife asking if they had soy milk sent them to a nearby island to procure some. She didn't demand it just asked if they had as she does not handle regular milk well. This was my first LOB but it will not be my last and not my last time on the MA.
The boat is nice, large and very well laid out for divers. My only nit with it is that sometimes underway the cabin would get some diesel stink in it. Not enough to kill you or anything but still a bit annoying.
Nitrox is really a requirement on LOBs. While I think we could have dived air based on the long SIs I don't think it would have had near the margin for safety.
We got to Male the day before our charter boarded. This is the minimum amount of time I would suggest for folks coming from the States. It is a 10 hour time difference between MN and MV and is still kicking my a$$ in reverse. I would probably go ahead and try to make the trip two weeks with a few days on one of the resorts in the Male area. We visited the resort for drinks at Karumba Island and that place looked fabulous.
