lobang for maldives LOB 18 feb - 26 feb

jagr · January 18, 2005

asking for my organiser friend,

Actually had a personal trip organised on Handhu Falhi ex-SIN on 18 Feb and returning on on 26 Feb.

Had 2 panicked cancellations due to the tsunami incident and am now looking for replacements.

Total trip, including airfare by SriLankan Airlines including taxes, LOB 6 nights, 3 dives a day, total 15 dives, one day guided tour n shopping and stay in Sri Lanka (city hotel not affected by tsunami) will come to only only $1900 nett.

Only thing is, it's also a wedding photoshoot for him and his fiance and I, so there may be more stops than usual at various resorts in Maldives. But the number of dives will remain the same.

Do let me know if interested.

Cheers,

Dan

Additional info, we'll be diving around ari atoll area and we can also request the operators to bring us to whatever we wanna see. Additional dives have to be paid for. The boat is new and luxurious and its website is here Drinking water on board will be bottled water form so we're safe. We'll also get to stop and many resorts which usually don't allow you to do so, many pictures taking opportunities there. The price is a steal for what you're getting so if anyone is keen can PM me. Hope to see more photographers on the trip as there's currently only 2 of us out of 13!

Note: This is a not a commercial advert we're a private group doing a private charter but looking for people to fill the spaces due to the pull outs.

jagr · January 18, 2005

Here are a series of questions and answers from my operator:

1) There have been reports here that water supply in Maldives are contaminated. Can you pls confirm that those on the boat are given bottled water only, even during mealtimes?

Ans. Yes, there is no problems of drinking water in Capital, Resorts and Safari Boats.. Only the problem on 26th Decmber was the islands.. But now the islands have fixed their own running water plants as well..

2) There are worries that divers see the remains of those washed away by the tsunami while diving. Can you please advise if dive sites have been inspected and have been declared clear or debris and human remains? There are sites in Phuket (Thailand) that have been closed while the locals clear things and make it safe and pleasant for diving again.

Ans : Yes, now the Diving activities has started, and our boat Handhu is also on the trip with German Divers..

3) Please let me know the current visibility in Maldives, as compared to the average visibility in any other January. This will help the group determine if its still worth paying the money to dive now instead of joining another group later in the year.

Ans : Now everything is perfect.. with immediate effect all islands which was effected are under reconstruction..and all are taken care of well by the government..

4) Please let me know plant and marine life has been affected in any way - coral reefs damaged? Sudden disappearance of certain fishes, etc.

Ans : So far, we have no complaints..

5) You had mentioned earlier that the Maldivian government had discouraged diving activities. Does this still hold true?

Ans : It was on the first 2 Days, just to clear the situation..Now everything is normal and all resorts except 6 are operational.

sphinx · February 25, 2005

Just came back from there and boy it's definately not a good time to dive there now as current is so strong and even the DM was swept away..... :sick:

Have to cling on to rocks for my dear life... and the other hand holding on to my mask as it's gonna blow away!!!!

On my way back heard from the owner of one of the island that now is the spring season and no one in the rite mind would dive now...

The best season to dive is from sep onwards as current is mild, manta ray and whale shark season as well :yeah:

only did 3 dives there, so can't say much but personally from the 3 dive site i still think sipadan is much better though.... :angel:

jagr · February 28, 2005

Hi I think you must be mis informed. Diving in maldives is peak around this time. Currents are generally stronger over there because of the geography of the place.

This is espcially true if you dive outside the atolls on the side facing the ocean, but this is where you will get exceptional vis if the current is incoming from the ocean. I had about 40m of vis on those dives.

Out of 15 dives, there was only 1 dive which I could not keep up with the DM and gave up fighting the current. another 2 dives which were pretty strong that we were going against but manageable for the whole group of 10 of us. Then another 3-4 dives which had pretty strong current but we did a drift dive along the current. The rest of the dives had moderate to no currents.

I noticed that the currents were generally stronger in the afternoon compared to the rest of the day. There was plenty to see. We saw a big variety of fish life, a 1.5m napoleon wrasse, many white tips and grey reef sharks, a sleeping 3m nurse shark, a 4m baby whale shark, countless turtles, eagle and marble rays, 6-8 mantas with 3m wingspan average dancing with us for more than 30mins till we ran out of air. Morays, lion fishes, puffers and other colorful reef fish was everywhere. Coral formations was magnificent.

Though its my first time there, if anything was changed by the Tsunami, its probably only the perception that people have of the place. If anyone has reservations about diving in maldives, please put them to rest make your trips!