lemurs2
Contributor
We recently returned from our liveaboard in the Maldives and it was really great.
We had a long flight from LAX and went on Singapore Airlines which went very smooth.
Once we arrived we stayed overnight at the Central Hotel and then met the Baani back at the airport the next day. The locals were great and are very friendly and had no problems with Americans.
There were 18 passengers: 8 Germans, 4 Italians and 4 non-diver Italians there just to bake in the sun.
We did 3 dives a day and 1 day with 4. The currents were pretty strong on 1/2 the dives so doing more then 3 was a challenge. On one channel dive 1/2 of the divers had to abort the dive because they couldn't get down fast enough before they passed by the reef to quickly.
The crew was really great and tried very hard to find good spots where the current didn't pull your mask off. These were the strongest currents we had ever experienced so saw it as good practice. The crew said that the currents were unusally strong and the water temp was down and vis is usually better in Jan and Feb.
Vis was on avg 60 ft and water temp was 79-81F and there was loads of fish, especially macro.
The boat was clean and the food was really good. All the DM's were knowledgable, friendly and had safety in mind.
We saw loads of white tips, 1 12 ft grey reef shark and lots of mantas. On our last dive we could snorkel or dive at a manata sight and the snorkels said the mantas were very friendly and would come circle them and even touch them, but if you tried to touch a manta it would take off. We dove and I had one small manta play with me by spinning when ever I spun. It was great interaction.
We got 18 dives in 7 days. The coral was looking like it was making a comeback from the Tsunami and I think there was a hurricane recently. One passenger said he had been there 10 years before and said the coral was pristine back then compared to what it looks like now.
The only thing that really bothered us was that there was no regard about touching the coral. We saw some divers kick right into it causing damage. We did use reef hooks for some areas which seem to do less damage then just grabbing on to what ever you could. Besides that it was a good trip.
We had a long flight from LAX and went on Singapore Airlines which went very smooth.
Once we arrived we stayed overnight at the Central Hotel and then met the Baani back at the airport the next day. The locals were great and are very friendly and had no problems with Americans.
There were 18 passengers: 8 Germans, 4 Italians and 4 non-diver Italians there just to bake in the sun.
We did 3 dives a day and 1 day with 4. The currents were pretty strong on 1/2 the dives so doing more then 3 was a challenge. On one channel dive 1/2 of the divers had to abort the dive because they couldn't get down fast enough before they passed by the reef to quickly.
The crew was really great and tried very hard to find good spots where the current didn't pull your mask off. These were the strongest currents we had ever experienced so saw it as good practice. The crew said that the currents were unusally strong and the water temp was down and vis is usually better in Jan and Feb.
Vis was on avg 60 ft and water temp was 79-81F and there was loads of fish, especially macro.
The boat was clean and the food was really good. All the DM's were knowledgable, friendly and had safety in mind.
We saw loads of white tips, 1 12 ft grey reef shark and lots of mantas. On our last dive we could snorkel or dive at a manata sight and the snorkels said the mantas were very friendly and would come circle them and even touch them, but if you tried to touch a manta it would take off. We dove and I had one small manta play with me by spinning when ever I spun. It was great interaction.
We got 18 dives in 7 days. The coral was looking like it was making a comeback from the Tsunami and I think there was a hurricane recently. One passenger said he had been there 10 years before and said the coral was pristine back then compared to what it looks like now.
The only thing that really bothered us was that there was no regard about touching the coral. We saw some divers kick right into it causing damage. We did use reef hooks for some areas which seem to do less damage then just grabbing on to what ever you could. Besides that it was a good trip.
