Underwhelmed in the Maldives (Trip Report)

[kaaralex]

Hi, i was on LOB (Princess Lara) in October this year. The lessons I learned:
1) always ask for nitrox. if they can handle Nitrox, they are good enough to handle mere air.
2) before u pay for LOB, ask trusted friends who went there (and lived to come back.) Yes, we had some air issues, when u keep the compressor on diving dinghy too close to exhaust pipes of the main boat, what do u think they will be breathing?

as for underwater: we saw lots of big stuff which ppl, who have logged 20x more dives than I have said they have never seen. The drift dives above white coral sand were amazing, hammerheads, whale sharks or 1.5m napoleon wrasse swimming with us, and sharks, sharks on each dive... but u can clearly see that this is a devastated, mutilated place. I saw some pre-Nino pics from Maldives, I dived same spots - and the stuff was all gone.
I only saw 1 tiny frogfish (like one in ONE), and 2 nudibranches (TWO) during 30 dives...

So, in my opinion (and of the others on the boat), it still was a great diving and a great holiday, but true, marine life which i saw was nothing when compared to the Red Sea or Sipadan. It is not about comparing apples with tomatoes - diving is not cheap and one wants get value for his money. I think Maldives will have to adjust their financial expectations to what they are able to offer in near future.

On the surface, it still is a dream destination for (rich) honeymooners. To add few days on one of those postcard islands sure makes the travel more worth.

L.

 

[gee13]

Interesting feedback kaaralex, im wondering if your experience is typical or perhaps unique to when you went in October. also perhaps the dive sites visited. Im booked for March on my first trip and Im not having to many expectations, apart from finding pelagics, which I love. So Sharks and mantas are great. I do love nice coral formations as well, so it will be interesting to see what's on offer. I dived Sipadan last May and it was mgic but there were also El Nino effects, the wall off turtle cave/ dropoff was rather barren, also South Point had dead corals. But the sheer magnitude of colourful coral life in the other sites - Mid Point, Coral Gardens, Hanging Gardens really made up for it. So perhaps Maldivian sites are rather similar. Anyone to add from their experiences?

 

[PeCaRi]

I dived both Sipadan and the Ariatoll (in October). Try to dive maaya tila (night dive!). Great. But I saw much more small stuff in Sipadan and the big stuff in Maldives. Big was Manta, sting and eagle rays, whalesharks, hammerheads, Tunas, and Napoleons. I haven't found this typical asian reef life like in sipadan. oh yes, and only some turtles. Never as many and as big/huge ones like in Sipadan. the hammerheads are quite deep (negative entry and jump into the channel... advise: do never miss it!) I saw them on 25-30 m in Sipadan and in the maldives... I won't say anything because it is officially forbidden to dive deeper than 30m. (missed for some meters):ssst:

Sept/October: have a look at the resort/ island prices: they rise although it is still monsoon time! Reason is whaleshark/Manta season in the south Ari Atoll. You still can see them, but probably not so many at once (we saw around 20 within 1 week). On a LOB, they will look for rays and whalesharks. Corals... on the most dived sites they are in a rather poor state (but regenerate)

In general: you can't compare this two sites. I found Sipadan is macro plus some bigger stuff whereas the purpose in the Maldives is large!