By coincidence I was booked on the same boat as @diveUAE 2 weeks later, and so won't repeat her comments. My impressions of Soleil 2 were quite similar to hers, and the tip to bring extra snacks was definitely helpful! Overall our experience was quite positive, but if we come back we would chose a different/smaller boat.
Full picture album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmKjN4XH
We did the 8d/7n classic route over Christmas. Our itinerary differed from diveUAE's trip slightly, we were unlucky with the whale sharks and I think the crew adjusted the usual route to try to give us another chance. Our boat was a large HK dive group, an Italian family, and couples/friends/solo travellers from Singapore, South Africa, Finland, and Australia. We passed our 100th dive on this trip and the other guests ranged from a girl who has not dived in >10 years to divemasters with >300 dives.
Boat facilities were quite nice, definitely a large step-up from our last liveaboard. We chose a large lower deck cabin and it had two queen beds, tons of space, and the shower was separated from the toilet and the sink. Water pressure was nice and the hot water never ran out. The room was cleaned daily and they changed towels mid-trip. Plenty of common area to relax, and the crew decorated the top deck for Christmas which was very nice. We had sunny days only 50% of the time even though Dec is supposed to be dry season.
Food was a let down, it was served lukewarm/cold most of the time and quite repetitive. I found it quite bland but it may suit western tastebuds better. It wasn't bad, just nothing to get excited about. I did not find the lack of continental breakfast before dive #1 to be an issue, there were always fruits and snacks available. There was a total lack of real desserts tho which I found quite off-putting, only thing we had all week was either fruit or ice cream out of a tub.
Although we did not find the boat crowded we did find 28 divers were too much underwater. When I booked I was told dive groups are usually 5 people. Our group ended up having 7 guests as they only had 5 guides. HK group was too large to be in 1 group so had to be split into 2 groups of 4/5, Italian family was another natural group of 5, and the solo/couples were split into 2 groups of 5 / 7 - not sure why they didn't do 6 and 6? Some people skipped dives and our guide was good so it was fine with 7, but felt crowded when we were all hooked in or were kneeling down side by side. The most glaring issue was during the whale shark dive when >30 people from just our boat dropped into the water at once and swam after a single whale shark. Not a pleasant experience.
We did 18 dives - most days were 3 dives/day, there were 2 night dives / 2 days of 4 dives, and we lost 1 dive due to the change in route to stay in whale shark area for an extra morning. We had a nice mix of thila/channel dives, I liked the thila dives better. Overall impressions: 10/10 for general fishiness, 10/10 for large animals, 3/10 for corals - most are bleached, but I was told it is slowly recovering. Soleil enforced a 50 bar / 45 min rule, although we stretched to 55 min for a couple of dives.
We booked this trip with the primary goal of seeing the whale shark. We did 2 dives to look for them and saw one whale shark, and swam with it for ~5 or 10 min. So we checked it off our bucket list but there were 2 other boats with us (+day trippers/snorkelers) and it was way too crowded to be an experience I would repeat. Another diver on the boat told us he had a much better experience at Tubbataha so I am hoping for better luck next year. There was nothing to see at the whale shark site if the whale sharks don't show up, so it was a waste of 1 and a half dives.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304162647/in/album-72157712405476667/
The boat stayed an extra night in Ari atoll and put out the flood lights hoping to attract the whale shark, but we had no luck (nearby boat says they saw it at 2am). The lights did attract a baitball of glassfish tho with tunas hunting which was quite cool.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304014391/in/album-72157712405476667/
There were 3 standout dives that I would go back just to repeat:
1) Maaya Thila manta night dive - probably the best dive we've had yet, nonstop manta show for the full dive. My guide had to drag me up at 50 min. We had I think 5 or 6 mantas.
Moofushi manta point is a close second. This was a cleaning station, again we had 6 mantas for almost the full 45 min.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303992296/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304249687/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304953827/in/album-72157712405476667/
2) Alimantha house reef - this was a night dive with tons of schooling nurse sharks and stingrays. First time seeing nurse sharks and they come so close you will touch them. We saw a schools of probably 30? at the top.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303952646/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304238127/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303950321/in/album-72157712405476667/
3) Fish Tank - done as the last dive of the trip (for extra $), we were glad to have read diveUAE's report before we went and knew it was something we couldn't skip. Tons and tons of stingrays, moray eels (most was 7 in one picture), and we saw the guitar shark! Super fishy.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304049821/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304162197/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304724927/in/album-72157712405476667/
Some of the other very good dives were Fish Head, Dega Thila, Kudarah Thila, and Kandooma Thila. Other than the whale shark dive (with no whale shark) the only other dive I felt was a total waste of time was Embudhoo Express. The other dives were pretty good but not great. We had 1 wreck dive that was just so-so. We saw:
-reef mantas, eagle rays, stingrays (4 varieties), a school of mobula rays in the distance
-grey reef sharks, whitetips, blacktips, nurse sharks, guitar shark
-green and hawksbill turtles
-large schools of snappers, barracudas, jack fish
-tons of butterfly fish, groupers, anthias, fusillers, surgeonfish, squirrel fish, parrotfish, needlefish, of all varieties
-tons of moray eels, at least 5 or 6 types
-there was some macro as well, saw a few nudibranches, crabs, cleaner shrimps, clams - but not enough to warrant bringing a macro lens
We had debated between French Polynesia vs Maldives for a bit before deciding to do both, so I will provide a quick comparison. The channel dives in the Maldives was a bit of a let down after diving Fakarava - you hook on and see 5-10 grey reef sharks swim by vs the hundreds you see at the south pass in Fakarava. We did see eagle rays tho which was new for us, but they were usually quite far away. Visibility overall was quite murky compared to French Polynesia. Shark experience much better in French Polynesia (Fakarava), manta experience much better in Maldives. Dolphins only in Rangiroa, whale shark only in Maldives - but crowded. Maldives felt a bit fishier overall, but not by much. We used reef hooks for the first time which was much easier than trying to hold on with hands in French Polynesia - and in general the current in the Maldives was less strong. Maldives is quite a bit cheaper/easier to get to - and you board the dhoni literally right outside the international airport.
Full picture album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmKjN4XH
We did the 8d/7n classic route over Christmas. Our itinerary differed from diveUAE's trip slightly, we were unlucky with the whale sharks and I think the crew adjusted the usual route to try to give us another chance. Our boat was a large HK dive group, an Italian family, and couples/friends/solo travellers from Singapore, South Africa, Finland, and Australia. We passed our 100th dive on this trip and the other guests ranged from a girl who has not dived in >10 years to divemasters with >300 dives.
Boat facilities were quite nice, definitely a large step-up from our last liveaboard. We chose a large lower deck cabin and it had two queen beds, tons of space, and the shower was separated from the toilet and the sink. Water pressure was nice and the hot water never ran out. The room was cleaned daily and they changed towels mid-trip. Plenty of common area to relax, and the crew decorated the top deck for Christmas which was very nice. We had sunny days only 50% of the time even though Dec is supposed to be dry season.
Food was a let down, it was served lukewarm/cold most of the time and quite repetitive. I found it quite bland but it may suit western tastebuds better. It wasn't bad, just nothing to get excited about. I did not find the lack of continental breakfast before dive #1 to be an issue, there were always fruits and snacks available. There was a total lack of real desserts tho which I found quite off-putting, only thing we had all week was either fruit or ice cream out of a tub.
Although we did not find the boat crowded we did find 28 divers were too much underwater. When I booked I was told dive groups are usually 5 people. Our group ended up having 7 guests as they only had 5 guides. HK group was too large to be in 1 group so had to be split into 2 groups of 4/5, Italian family was another natural group of 5, and the solo/couples were split into 2 groups of 5 / 7 - not sure why they didn't do 6 and 6? Some people skipped dives and our guide was good so it was fine with 7, but felt crowded when we were all hooked in or were kneeling down side by side. The most glaring issue was during the whale shark dive when >30 people from just our boat dropped into the water at once and swam after a single whale shark. Not a pleasant experience.
We did 18 dives - most days were 3 dives/day, there were 2 night dives / 2 days of 4 dives, and we lost 1 dive due to the change in route to stay in whale shark area for an extra morning. We had a nice mix of thila/channel dives, I liked the thila dives better. Overall impressions: 10/10 for general fishiness, 10/10 for large animals, 3/10 for corals - most are bleached, but I was told it is slowly recovering. Soleil enforced a 50 bar / 45 min rule, although we stretched to 55 min for a couple of dives.
We booked this trip with the primary goal of seeing the whale shark. We did 2 dives to look for them and saw one whale shark, and swam with it for ~5 or 10 min. So we checked it off our bucket list but there were 2 other boats with us (+day trippers/snorkelers) and it was way too crowded to be an experience I would repeat. Another diver on the boat told us he had a much better experience at Tubbataha so I am hoping for better luck next year. There was nothing to see at the whale shark site if the whale sharks don't show up, so it was a waste of 1 and a half dives.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304162647/in/album-72157712405476667/
The boat stayed an extra night in Ari atoll and put out the flood lights hoping to attract the whale shark, but we had no luck (nearby boat says they saw it at 2am). The lights did attract a baitball of glassfish tho with tunas hunting which was quite cool.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304014391/in/album-72157712405476667/
There were 3 standout dives that I would go back just to repeat:
1) Maaya Thila manta night dive - probably the best dive we've had yet, nonstop manta show for the full dive. My guide had to drag me up at 50 min. We had I think 5 or 6 mantas.
Moofushi manta point is a close second. This was a cleaning station, again we had 6 mantas for almost the full 45 min.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303992296/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304249687/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304953827/in/album-72157712405476667/
2) Alimantha house reef - this was a night dive with tons of schooling nurse sharks and stingrays. First time seeing nurse sharks and they come so close you will touch them. We saw a schools of probably 30? at the top.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303952646/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304238127/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49303950321/in/album-72157712405476667/
3) Fish Tank - done as the last dive of the trip (for extra $), we were glad to have read diveUAE's report before we went and knew it was something we couldn't skip. Tons and tons of stingrays, moray eels (most was 7 in one picture), and we saw the guitar shark! Super fishy.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304049821/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304162197/in/album-72157712405476667/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184457560@N06/49304724927/in/album-72157712405476667/
Some of the other very good dives were Fish Head, Dega Thila, Kudarah Thila, and Kandooma Thila. Other than the whale shark dive (with no whale shark) the only other dive I felt was a total waste of time was Embudhoo Express. The other dives were pretty good but not great. We had 1 wreck dive that was just so-so. We saw:
-reef mantas, eagle rays, stingrays (4 varieties), a school of mobula rays in the distance
-grey reef sharks, whitetips, blacktips, nurse sharks, guitar shark
-green and hawksbill turtles
-large schools of snappers, barracudas, jack fish
-tons of butterfly fish, groupers, anthias, fusillers, surgeonfish, squirrel fish, parrotfish, needlefish, of all varieties
-tons of moray eels, at least 5 or 6 types
-there was some macro as well, saw a few nudibranches, crabs, cleaner shrimps, clams - but not enough to warrant bringing a macro lens
We had debated between French Polynesia vs Maldives for a bit before deciding to do both, so I will provide a quick comparison. The channel dives in the Maldives was a bit of a let down after diving Fakarava - you hook on and see 5-10 grey reef sharks swim by vs the hundreds you see at the south pass in Fakarava. We did see eagle rays tho which was new for us, but they were usually quite far away. Visibility overall was quite murky compared to French Polynesia. Shark experience much better in French Polynesia (Fakarava), manta experience much better in Maldives. Dolphins only in Rangiroa, whale shark only in Maldives - but crowded. Maldives felt a bit fishier overall, but not by much. We used reef hooks for the first time which was much easier than trying to hold on with hands in French Polynesia - and in general the current in the Maldives was less strong. Maldives is quite a bit cheaper/easier to get to - and you board the dhoni literally right outside the international airport.
