Trip report – 2w liveaboard Maldives on the Dhinasha – 26 October – 9 November 2010

[Popeye328]

In our schedule we start at 9:30am with the pick-up at the airport and end the last day delivering people on the airport at 8:00 am.

On the first day we do an easy dive as everybody has been travelling for at least 12 hours and is tired and dehydrated. Next days we do 3 dives a day except the day before everybody takes off. We advise 24 hours between the last dive and the flight so we are only able to squize 1 dive in on the day before the guests leave. In the afternoon the guests then then have time to rinse their gear and visit Male and we then have time to do logistics.

We have a group on facebook with a lot of information about our trips including text and video tripreports of all trips we have done.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=155193809533

 

[Joeri]

Nice report Wim !

I will be following in your footsteps november this year (first time was two years ago with Bas, this time Hanifaru too).

Greets,

Joeri

PS : do you have any info on the bed size ? This was a real nightmare for me (I'm 1m94) on the Blue Dolphin. Have asked Bas already a couple of times, but no answer ... .
PPS : Nice photos dude !

 

[Popeye328]

Beds on the Dhinasha are bigger then on the Blue Dolphin but with 1.94 you are a giant for Asian understandings and we'll probably need a shoehorn to get you in

.

Seriously, the beds are bunkbeds with 1,5 size below and normal size above. There are two larger cabins which I normally assign to bigger people with larger bunkbeds and a cabin with two regular beds in front.
I will upload some pictures to the fb group so you get an impression .

Regards,
Bas

 

[Umpus]

Hi rainbowprof,

Sorry to keep you waiting (I have a crazy agenda these days). At the airport, you can buy a gsm-simcard and call credit at the shop of one of Maldives' gsm operators, Dhiraagu (it is on your left when you get out of the arrival hall). (dhiraagu.com.mv/mobile/mobile_internet/). Mind you, they only have gprs (no edge or 3G), so very slow. Good enough to check you gmail but forget about uploading pictures or movies.
Coverage in the Maldives is excellent though. On a liveaboard trip, you will virtually never loose gsm-coverage (only when sailing between atolls).

The bigger islands have wifi , often reaching far enough to have a connection on the liveaboard when anchored nearby (on average, I had wifi about every three to four nights). This is also offered through Dhiraagu, the gsm-operator. The instructions to get connected and cost are indicated on the startpage you'll see on your browser after connecting with the wifi network. Getting access to the internet involves sending an sms in order to get credit. You will immediatly receive an access code back through sms and the cost will be deducted from the call credit. You enter the code on the startpage I've mentioned and you'r in.
Speed is comparable with a good edge-connection. Good enough to surf the net but it might take some time if you would like to upload pictures or movies (forget about posting long movies on youtube though, unless you got very lucky on your connection).

The gloves I recommend are the cheap DIY protection gloves, which you can normally purchase at every DIY-store. I don't think you can buy them at the airport.

At the Dhinasha, you'll make three dives a day except at arrival day and the day before departure when only one dive will be planned. On my liveaboard, I made 33 dives (I lost some due to the mechanical failure of the compressor).

Happy diving,

Wim