Steve P
Contributor
My wife and I just returned from our first trip to the Maldives where we spent a week diving on the MV Orion live aboard. Thought I’d provide a detailed trip report since there’s not much info on ScubaBoard about this vessel. The MV Orion is one of three vessels in the Constellation Fleet and it’s also part of the DivEncounters Alliance (Peter Hughes). Orion is a spacious (135 ft.) vessel with 12 guest rooms and plenty of elbow room split between three decks where divers can relax between dives. As is the norm in the Maldives, diving is from a smaller boat, called a dhoni. All of your dive gear remains on the dhoni during the week and it’s more spacious than most of the day boats I’ve been on. We upgraded our cabin to an upper deck mini-suite which is on the same level as the bar and outer deck. Our room was quite spacious compared to the standard cabin on the Palau Aggressor. Food was plentiful, of good quality and variety and every meal had a vegetarian / seafood option. Water, coffee and tea provided. Soft drinks and alcoholic beverages were extra.
There were a total of 21 divers and 18 staff on board during the week of our trip (10 - 17 Jan. 2016). The majority of the guests during our trip were from Great Britain. With the exception of an US Air Force mechanic stationed in Germany, my wife and I were the only divers from the U.S. - no surprise given the travel distance. From Chicago we took 2 flights of 8 – 10 hours each to get to Male. We arrived 1 day early to ensure we were well rested and hydrated before diving.
Charter included 17 dives total. 3 dives/day with exception of the last day with 2 scheduled dives. Early wake up & briefing had us in the water for our first dive between 7:00 – 7:30 A.M. Breakfast followed the first dive and second dive was typically around 11:00 A.M. Lunch and then third dive was either afternoon (around 3:00 P.M.) or night dive (2 during week). Divers were split between 4 dive guides. Our group included 6 divers with same guide all week.
Diving: We signed up for the “Best of Maldives” charter and I’d say this summed up our trip well. Maldives known for its pinnacles (thilas) and channels (kandus) and we did several of each. Currents varied from nonexistent to strong. Strong current dives on thilas and kandus required some finning against current at times and use of reef hooks to hang out and watch sharks and other pelagics. I believe Maldives are best enjoyed by divers having at least intermediate skills. Most of our diving was on South Ari which was fine with us. Starting with the night dive on day 1 we had 4 consecutive dives with mantas. Day 3 included two consecutive dives with whale sharks sighted and I think just about everyone had at least one encounter with whale shark while diving. Night dive at Kuda Rah Thila in South Ari was also quite special as we drifted among numerous large nurse sharks and rays. Being bumped by a 10 foot nurse shark from behind while hooked in was a first for me. My smile was so big I almost lost my reg. Although Maldives is known for its “big stuff” we also had plenty of variety with sightings of ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp, nudis, leaf fish, stonefish, octopus, turtles and plenty of morays, angels, triggers and other reef fish. In contrast to some of the reports I’d read, the corrals ranged from decent to very healthy and several dives were very "fishy". Viz was decent but not great, averaging about 65 – 75 feet. Overall this was a great trip which met all of our expectations.
There were a total of 21 divers and 18 staff on board during the week of our trip (10 - 17 Jan. 2016). The majority of the guests during our trip were from Great Britain. With the exception of an US Air Force mechanic stationed in Germany, my wife and I were the only divers from the U.S. - no surprise given the travel distance. From Chicago we took 2 flights of 8 – 10 hours each to get to Male. We arrived 1 day early to ensure we were well rested and hydrated before diving.
Charter included 17 dives total. 3 dives/day with exception of the last day with 2 scheduled dives. Early wake up & briefing had us in the water for our first dive between 7:00 – 7:30 A.M. Breakfast followed the first dive and second dive was typically around 11:00 A.M. Lunch and then third dive was either afternoon (around 3:00 P.M.) or night dive (2 during week). Divers were split between 4 dive guides. Our group included 6 divers with same guide all week.
Diving: We signed up for the “Best of Maldives” charter and I’d say this summed up our trip well. Maldives known for its pinnacles (thilas) and channels (kandus) and we did several of each. Currents varied from nonexistent to strong. Strong current dives on thilas and kandus required some finning against current at times and use of reef hooks to hang out and watch sharks and other pelagics. I believe Maldives are best enjoyed by divers having at least intermediate skills. Most of our diving was on South Ari which was fine with us. Starting with the night dive on day 1 we had 4 consecutive dives with mantas. Day 3 included two consecutive dives with whale sharks sighted and I think just about everyone had at least one encounter with whale shark while diving. Night dive at Kuda Rah Thila in South Ari was also quite special as we drifted among numerous large nurse sharks and rays. Being bumped by a 10 foot nurse shark from behind while hooked in was a first for me. My smile was so big I almost lost my reg. Although Maldives is known for its “big stuff” we also had plenty of variety with sightings of ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp, nudis, leaf fish, stonefish, octopus, turtles and plenty of morays, angels, triggers and other reef fish. In contrast to some of the reports I’d read, the corrals ranged from decent to very healthy and several dives were very "fishy". Viz was decent but not great, averaging about 65 – 75 feet. Overall this was a great trip which met all of our expectations.
