This was the first Free Flow Divers club trip of 2006. Previously scheduled for March 2005 but postponed because of the Tsunami this was a highly anticipated trip and due to the long delay the members who finally made the trip were a different bunch from those who originally signed up over a year ago.
Divers on this trip were :-
Paul & Sheila Blackburn
Goetz & Gitta Von Dresky
Duncan & Jane Reed
Danny & Robbie Goman (with Wendy snorkeling).
Elenor & Laurence Jones
Steve Mellor
As we have done on four previous occasions we charted MV Aisha (previously known as MV Rani2) operated by Hardy. Having made a group booking with Singapore Airlines (saving a few hundred dollars in the process) our agent had visited the airport on the day before departure to pre-check in ten divers. (Jane & Duncan would be making their own way to the Maldives from Germany). So on Friday 6th January at 7.00 pm we all arrived at an empty group check-in desk (row 11) where there was no queueing and we were quickly rid of all our baggage with no excess baggage charges notwithstanding the considerable extra weight involved – well done SIA!
As it is illegal to take alcohol into the Maldives we instead stocked up with copious amounts of chocolate, biscuits, fruit and cheeses which would prove to be most welcome treats during the dive week. HP sauce was also an essential extra that we took with us.
Arriving in Male at around 10.00 pm local time we were met at the airport by Judith, our dive guide, and a few minutes later we had pushed our overloaded trollies down to the jetty where the MV Aisha’s Dhoni (support boat) collected us and whisked us over to the waiting MV Aisha.
Maldives is not usually dived in April, May, June and the boat is taken out of the water. However January should be good and has previously had good conditions and great sightings.
This is a deceptively spacious boat with six well appointed cabins each with own ensuite toilet/shower. A twin cabin has a double bed with a single bunk above (effectively big enough for three people) and there are two triple cabins which are as just described with an additional spare bed (so could sleep 4). In fact the maximum practical number of divers is fourteen. This is because the support boat – Dhoni is where all the dive equipment is stored throughout the trip with this boat having fourteen seats with individual baskets beneath for booties, torches etc. whilst the permanently set up BCD sits on its tank secured in a large plastic grip. After each dive all you have to do is detach the first stage and the tank is refilled in situ by one of the two compressors on the Dhoni. Wetsuits are hung up in front of your station. There is space for cameras etc and on top of the Dhoni is a sun deck.
This arrangement of maintaining a separate Dhoni for all the dive gear and transporting divers between the liveaboard and dive sites (usually about 15 mins away) is a very civilized way to operate and means that there is no messing about squeezing into small dinghies with camera equipment knocked about and the sometimes awkward exit from the water back onto the dinghy. With the Dhoni its a giant stride into the water and at the end of the dive remove fins and climb the ladder back into the Dhoni.
MV Aisha has a small lounge where briefings are co-ordinated. Meals are served al fresco (but shaded) at a large table at the front of the boat. Upstairs is a large sun deck.
There are plenty of two pin charging points in the lounge and most people attend to their camera equipment in there. Cabins have powerful oscillating fans. Movement between dive locations is done during the day time with the liveaboard moored in sheltered spots at night making a decent night’s sleep possible. There are usually three dives per day with the third dive optional and charged as an extra (USD12 per dive) on top of the charter prices.
This proved to be a good idea as some of our divers for various reasons chose not to take the third dive on some days.
In addition to the dhoni (approx 12 ft beam, 50 ft long) there is a small dinghy, ten feet long which seemed to be mostly used by the crew for fishing – something they seemed very good at with all sorts of different specimens arriving every day – mackerel, tuna, snapper and even sprats (by the bucketful).
There are three dives each day and the general approach to diving is fairly relaxed. There is never any rush to be punctual to dive briefings, get onto the dhoni or enter the water. The last diver dictates the pace. Consequently even when planning to start briefings at 7.00 am the third dive was rarely happening before 3.00 pm. A large breakfast follows the first dive around 10.00 am with cheese, sausage, toast, omelette and fruit.
Judith gave thorough briefings before each dive, first showing the location overall within the Maldives and then detailing the topography of the site itself and what we could expect to find. Upon arrival at the site Judith checked currents to confirm the method of diving the site.
Night dives are not usually offered except on one special occasion.
On this trip our diving centred upon Ari Atoll. Unfortunately the visibility was not great, but not so poor as to spoil the diving.
This was our first dive for checkout purposes. Visibility was poor but the sloping reef yielded a few interesting items including turtle, small stingray, octopus and an unusual blue/black sea slug with large cylindrical bumps across its 3 inches long body. Red toothed triggerfish were everywhere as in the rest of the Maldives and we also saw a moray. All equipment was in good working order and with buoyancy sorted out we were ready to head to Ari Atoll for some serious diving. Max Depth : 22 metres.
This dive had a very light current and for some divers in the water some interesting sightings including a large manta ray, grey reef shark, turtle, many types of morays, saddle back groupers, lionfish and of course red toothed triggerfish. Max Depth : 21 metres.
This was our special night dive. Conditions were perfect with no current. Judith tied off the Dhoni on the submerged block and we descended the line to immediately encounter feeding white tip reef sharks.
This was the purpose of the dive – to see as many feeding white tips as possible. Throughout the entire 45 mins dive there were sharks in view the entire time and often two or three in view.
They were swimming close to the coral, heads swinging from left to right in search of the fusiliers that seemed relatively unconcerned by the sharks’ presence. This might be because the sharks did not seem to be very effective hunters often going right past their prey without many successes but we did witness one or two fusiliers meet their end on this night.
Also out for the party were a few large morays on the prowl and several sleeping turtles were tucked under overhangs so we did not disturb them.
This was a great dive – one of the best night dives available – filled with action and affording great photo opportunities.
Max depth : 22 metres.
Next morning and its time to dive the site of our thrilling night dive as a day dive. There was a slight current so we enjoyed a mild drift dive which brought us a spectacle the likes of which some of us have never seen before. We were entertained to a huge array of reef fish including many white tip reef sharks, large shoals, of big eye trevally, giant trevally, big blue finned trevally, yellow tail barracuda in large shoals mackerel, tuna, four grey reef sharks, beautiful intensely blue lunar fusiliers, a large saddleback grouper and a very friendly eagle ray – the same one that we saw 18 months previously on this site with the distinctive missing left wing tip. This friendly fish seemed to enjoy the presence of divers and kept returning to check out what was going on.
We dived this site a second time and saw everything again plus a remarkable performing octopus that danced across the coral giving us an amazing show of camouflage changes as it probed the hollows with its tentacles.
Max depth : 37 metres.
Visibility on this site was quite poor but we still encountered large turtles, three large sharks, and a large and a medium napoleon wrasse (very friendly because of divers feeding them) and shoals of the yellow blue lined snapper. The current on this site was a little stronger.
Max depth : 26 metres.
On the surface at this site were spinner dolphins and pilot whales. Down below we saw white tip reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, large grouper, morays and a very large flatworm with a black body and purple/red edging. This fellow seemed keen to swim around quite a bit landing once on a nice cowrie shell. Later when studying a moray another similar flatworm came by.
Max depth : 26 metres.
Slight current and average visibility made this a slightly less enjoyable dive. Nevertheless there was much to see with many types of morays, tangs, unicorn fish, various types of fusiliers, tuna fish and a turtle.
Max depth : 21 metres
This was quite a nice site where we saw green moray, white mouthed moray and also a turtle plus numerous reef fish varieties.
Max depth : 23 metres.
On this dive we hoped to see Manta Rays but unfortunately this was not meant to be and the current was picking up also. We did however see white tip reef sharks, two turtles, a large napoleon wrasse, many lunar fusiliers and the usual wide selection of reef fish. Visibility remained a problem though.
Max depth : 22 metres
On this dive we were hoping to see Whaleshark but again we were disappointed, at first. During the dive we saw a sleeping nurse shark, approx eight feet long, many types of parrotfishes and morays.
After the dive we were heading back in the Dhoni to the liveaboard when we saw up ahead quite a commotion with three liveaboards/dhonis moving into one small area and approx twenty people thrashing about in the water. Whaleshark. So we too put on our fins and snorkels and leapt into the frenzy. The poor whaleshark must have been totally frightened by all the action around it and not surprisingly it quickly headed off in search of deeper water which it eventually found but not until all divers, snorkellers, sightseers man, woman and their dog had dived alongside got their instant picture and in a few unfortunate cases touched the gentle giant. All a bit sad but nice to see this young four metre specimen nevertheless and we hope it was not too traumatized by the experience.
Max depth : 20 metres.
This was a gentle drift dive in average visibility but adequate to see stuff for ten metres around. We saw smaller specimens of typical reef fish including many types of parrotfish, butterfly fish and there were some large lionfish. Most noteworthy was a large free swimming honeycomb moray that was having great difficulty finding a suitable hole to hide inside. It glided across the reef for fifteen minutes enabling Goetz to record an impressive and unusual video.
Max depth : 28 metres
What makes this dive so nice is the underwater scenery with large overhangs and caves with swimthroughs. The area is plastered with shoals of blue lined snapper everywhere and we saw grouper of many shapes and sizes including a massive animal inside a small cave. There were morays, oriental sweetlips, emperors and someone saw a large mantis shrimp. Overall a very nice dive.
Max depth : 24 metres.
On this dive we hoped to see sharks but alas there were none, not withstanding the very strong current. We had to get down onto the site very fast or we would have been swept over the reef. On the bottom it was the best to hook into some rock in view of the strength of the current. After waiting a while for some shark action we then let go and did a high speed drift along the wall in fantastic visibility dipping into the odd overhand enroute to take shelter. Later we saw a large eagle ray pass overhead onto the top of the coral reef in about three metres of water.
We also saw many groupers and small reef fish like anthias. At 20oC this felt like a relatively cold dive!!
Max depth : 34 metres.
A mild current meant we had to enter the water in the blue and drift down onto the reef. Visibility was very good. The underwater scenery is nice. This Thila is submerged at around 14 metres and around the edges are interesting overhangs with short drop offs down to the sandy bottom. For the first time on this trip the site was completely covered in black coral. There were also millions of orange anthias hovering a yard above the reef. We also saw a large turtle, napoleon wrasse, white tip reef shark, many types of moray and a solitary large scribbled file fish. As usual there were thousands of red toothed triggerfish.
Max depth : 30 metres
This was a great dive with strong currents and lots of fish action. We descended in the blue so as to drift down onto the point where we were soon joined by several white tip reef sharks riding the current in front of us. We drifted down onto the tip of the reef at about 30 metres where we held on watching numerous sharks patrolling in front of us. Also just below an overhang we saw two morays in a hole which were easily tempted out by the scent of a sausage from breakfast. Then from out of nowhere eleven large eagle rays glided by overhead. As the time for requiring decompression stops fast approached we let go of the rocks and drifted slightly upwards and across the sloping reef to settle in shallower water where we could drift along in safety encountering many large emperors and groupers along the way. There seemed to have been morays everywhere and in one hole was a giant moray and honeycomb moray sharing the residence making a great photo opportunity. Towards the end of the dive we drifted past approx fifteen large giant trevallys that had congregated in a lee.
Max depth : 33 metres
The channel here has two sides and in the previous dive we dived the left side. On this dive the intention was to dive the right side but currents had other plans for us. Getting down was quite a challenge and had to be done very quickly against a 3+ knot current. Eventually on arriving at the reef it was necessary to hold onto rocks for dear life to avoid being swept away. Indeed upon grasping a large boulder both diver and boulder were lifted up and slowly carried across the reef!! So the dive was over very quickly with no fish sightings that anyone can remember.
After aborting the dive we drifted upwards to our safety stop to then found our bubbles being pushed downwards as we drifted into the ‘washing machine’. Oh dear! Fortunately the sausage was already deployed so we were able to climb our way back up to five metres for our safety stop.
Max depth : 22 metres (but for other divers it was almost 40 metres).
This was dived early morning in the hope of avoiding strong currents which we succeeded in. Dropping down onto the reef quickly we swam across the top of the reef to the drop off and descended down to thirty seven metres. There were no sharks but we did see a napoleon wrasse, turtles and an eagle ray. The reef housed many morays and even many honeycomb morays. As usual the reef was teaming with red toothed triggerfish.
Max depth : 37 metres.
This dive involved a wreck – sunk as an artificial reef close to the reef wall. The wreck is still intact after twelve years with the main hold open and easy to penetrate. The wheel house is also intact with the window frames in place.
In the past a black resident frogfish lived on this wreck for many years but has now gone. However nearby on the reef is a peacock mantis shrimp which seems to have taken up residence in a favourite hole in the coral. The reef is almost vertical with a number of overhangs and hollows populated with groupers and morays. Living with one moray were a pair of large boxer shrimps guarding the entrance to the moray’s lair. Though visibility was not great this was a very pleasant dive.
Max depth : 29 metres.
Following a night of bad weather and a rough crossing back to Male next morning diving looked to be out of the question due to the poor surface conditions. We were resigned to probably ending the dive trip at this stage as tomorrow is decoday. However by 10.30 am conditions had improved a little and six of us decided to brave the rough seas and set out for a 45 minute journey in the Dhoni to Manta Point. It was a rough crossing but once in the water and on the reef everything changed – calm, gentle current as we descended onto the reef at 12 metres past a free swimming moray. We then worked our way along the edge of the reef in about 16 metres seeing a wide selection of reef fish – emperors, barracuda, napoleon wrasse enroute plus many morays as usual.
Then it appeared out of the grey ahead of us. A three metre manta ray gracefully gliding over the cleaning station. Then another and another. Wow what a way to conclude an excellent dive trip. Three mantas performing graceful swimbys swooping across the reef reaching close to the divers all in a line on the reef watching the spectacle unfold. One, two, three and then two more glide in. The excitement grew as we watched five manta, one about four metres across criss-crossing over the divers, past each other across the reef. Then in the distance another dark shape appeared getting larger and clearer. Then yet another. Incredibly seven mantas were in view creating an awesome spectacle. Sadly the one diver with the functioning movie camera decided to sit this one out so missed footage of a life time but we had plenty of still photos and short mpegs to substantiate the encounter.
It doesn’t get much better than this and our divers will be enthusing about this dive for years to come.
Max depth : 17 metres.
Rating Guide for Videographers
***** Has everything
**** Many photographic subjects
*** Good site, lots to photograph
** Some photographic material
* Little to photograph
