The new Maldives liveaboard MV Orion offers seven day trips that take in classic Maldives dive sites at Male and Ari atolls as well as visiting the whale shark haunt of Hani Faru

MV Orion

MV Orion is built around the cruising in comfort concept, where the boat is appealing to divers and non divers alike. Scuba is a big part of the boat's itinerary with three dives a day -- four if there's a night dive - but it's also a great boat on which to relax, sunbathe, enjoy the spa, sauna and jacuzzi and watch the Maldives seascape go by as the boat cruises during the day. Cabins are very spacious and well-appointed, while the dining room, bar area and sundeck are also designed to provide plenty of room. (I've also written a more detailed report of the practicalities and amenities of the MV Orion, with videos and pictures of the bedrooms and mess decks).

Maldives seascape

Manta Ray, Lankan

MV Orion departs from Male on a 7 day schedule, usually with a checkout dive on one of Male's dive sites. We went to Lankan, the famous Manta Point site, where we saw a couple of manta rays hovering at the cleaning station - great way to begin a trip.

Manta Ray at Hani Faru

Hani Faru - Waiting For Whale Sharks
MV Orion heads from Male Atoll to Baa Atoll which is several hours crossing. This is the location of Hani Faru (also spelt Hanifaru), the small bay that's growing increasingly popular as a whale shark and manta ray hotspot. I've previously written about National Geographic's incredible Hani Faru video footage of mantas and whale sharks feeding together - unfortunately, we didn't get to witness quite such a feeding frenzy during our trip as the whale sharks remained elusive. There were however numerous manta ray encounters, both while snorkelling as they glided in to a bommie only 4 metres down, and again when we went diving at Darawandu Kandu.

The dhoni (a small boat separate from the MV Orion used as a dive platform) goes looking for whale sharks around Hani Faru, cruising until they spot one of the leviathans on the surface. Everyone then jumps in with snorkelling gear to spend some time with the whale shark. If everyone remains calm and no one gets too close to the whale shark, it's possible to spend anywhere up to 20 minutes with one of these huge but harmless creatures.

If there's no luck spotting a whale shark, the dhoni heads to a nearby reef for a dive - with the small chance that perhaps a whale shark will turn up while submerged. It's definitely worth the day of the itinerary at Hani Faru to have the chance to see whale sharks, even if they don't turn up - and the mantas are there pretty much all the time.

Hunting For Hammerheads
From Hani Faru and Baa Atoll we headed to north Ari toll via Rasdhoo Atoll, in search of another rare creature - the hammerhead shark. Rasdhoo Kandu is famous for hammerheads appearing out of the blue to investigate waiting divers, and our luck improved with not one but four of them suddenly materialising out of the depths. To go looking for hammerheads, you need to have good buoyancy and be able to hang in the blue at 30 metres, as that's the best chance of seeing them. Rasdhoo Kandu has a pretty sloping reef with abundant fish life on which to spend the remainder of the dive. The video clip above of the Maldives hammerheads is courtesy of Roald and SJ - thanks guys!

Red Snapper, Maldives

Speedy Drift Dives
Virtually every dive site in the Maldives is subject to the changing of the tides, and incoming or outgoing current. Besides the thilas, or pinnacles, the other staple of Maldivian scuba is channel diving, which can shape up into speedy drift dives depending on the current. We had a couple of contrasting channel dives at Gangahi Beru Faru and Gangahi Kandu in Ari Atoll - the first was pretty fast, with whitetip sharks and napoleon wrasse speeding by as we coasted along the sandy bottom of the channel with great viz all around. The second was a much more gentle affair which barely involved moving your fins to be carried forward - it also let us stop to look under ledges where there were huge stingrays to be found, while more whitetip sharks patrolled nearby.

In Love, Maldives

There are not many night diving sites in the Maldives thanks to the ever changing currents, but Maaya Thila is a stand out location due to the large collection of stingrays, turtles and whitetip sharks that are active at night. It's a deservedly popular dive site so you might encounter other groups of divers there too. Maaya Thila is also worth checking out during the day - when it's just right, the site can be teeming with fish when there's current to carry in big shoals of fish.

Yellow Snapper, Maldives

Fish And Ships
Haza Thila was one of my personal favourites of the trip thanks to the jawdropping clouds of fish racing around the pinnacle - vivid coloured fusiliers coursed over the pinnacle's top and down around us, while huge schools of snapper hundreds of fish strong hung in the current, eyeing us cautiously as we approached. Chunky dogtooth tuna cruised on the edges of the shoals, weaving in and out of the fish as whitetip sharks passed by underneath. I spent a few seconds level with a white spotted eagle ray as it rode on the current before speeding away. Haza has a convenient plateau at 10 metres stacked with big tables corals and dancing schools of tiny turquoise and orange fish.

Glassfish on the Kuda Giri Wreck, Maldives

SJ on the Kuda Giri Wreck, Maldives

For our final dives, we visited the Kuda Giri wreck, which is extremely photogenic thanks to its incredibly colourful coral growth and resident schools of glassfish. Sitting upright with the bow at 20 metres, it's perfect for diving (and indeed was deliberately sunk for divers around 20 years ago). There is still the giant propeller at the ship's bottom down at 35 metres. Beyond the wreck is the near vertical slope of the thila itself, which levels out into a shallow plateau of corals.

Bridge Window, Kuda Giri Wreck, Maldives

Kuda Giri Wreck, Maldives

Once back in Male atoll, we dived where we'd start at Lankan point in the hope of seeing manta rays again. It turned out to be a real grand finale - we encountered three mantas together at two different cleaning stations, sweeping across the reef in graceful arcs over the heads of slightly awed divers before unhurriedly heading out into the blue in a synchronised manta train.

Incoming Manta Rays, Lankan, Maldives

In all, despite not having much luck at Hani Faru, it was an excellent trip with a good diversity of dive sites and some great big pelagic action. It's my third visit to the Maldives to dive in north Male and Ari, and I'd love to go back to Hani Faru again and also venture down to the far south of the Maldives to see more of this unique dive environment.

Maldives Seascape

Newly launched in the Maldives, MV Orion provides a serious contender for those wanting luxury Maldives liveaboard scuba diving and island cruising

I recently went to the Maldives to see the newly built MV Orion in its second week of operation. The boat already has an impressive setup, and with its final improvements due to be complete by the end of October 2009 (free Nitrox, free unlimited drinking water, personal entertainment systems in each room) it will be even better. The following is a rundown of the practicalities of being on the MV Orion. I've also published a separate trip report about the scuba diving on MV Orion - the boat follows a 7 day schedule around Male, Baa and Ari atolls.

MV Orion

Included below are some of my world famous quick videos shot around the boat - there's zero production values as it's just me wandering around with my Canon IXUS. However, they hopefully give a good idea of what the bedrooms and bathrooms really look like. The first video shows the boat exterior, while the second and third show the Junior Suite and Standard Double Room. There is also a collection of photos below showing the outdoor bar area, the Executive Suite jacuzzi at the front of the boat, and the huge sundeck up top.

MV Orion is built around the cruising in comfort concept, where the boat is appealing to divers and non divers alike. Scuba is a big part of the boat's itinerary with three dives a day -- four if there's a night dive - but it's also a great boat on which to relax, sunbathe, enjoy the spa, sauna and jacuzzi and watch the Maldives seascape go by as the boat cruises during the day. Cabins are very spacious and well-appointed, while the dining room, bar area and sundeck are also designed to provide plenty of room.

Accommodation
MV Orion can accommodate up to 22 guests. It has an Executive Suite, Junior Suite and several double rooms. All rooms are ensuite with hot power shower, spacious and well-appointed. There is a vanity unit in each room which is good for setting up a laptop and camera gear if required. Each room also has its own flatscreen TV and will apparently have a personal media player in the near future. The air con was a bit hit and miss during our trip, but this is apparently being ironed out in the near future.

Dining And Drinking
MV Orion has a very large, comfortable air conditioned dining room where pre-dive breakfast, big breakfast, lunch, 5pm snack and dinner are served. Meals are served buffet style and there is always a choice of 3 or 4 different dishes. Fresh fruit e.g. watermelon or papaya is the standard dessert. Tea and coffee is available free all day.

There is a water machine due to be installed on the boat which will provide unlimited free drinking water to all guests during their trip. Some boats charge for bottled water beyond an initial two litre per day allowance.

There is a full bar on board serving beer and spirits - draught Heineken is around $4 a glass, and spirits around $5 a shot.

Sundeck and other amenities
The sundeck on MV Orion is massive, with a covered area for those who want some shade. There is also an outdoor bar at the back of the boat which is perfect for sundowners. There is a jacuzzi located in the outdoor bar too, as well as a private jacuzzi at the front of the boat for the use of guests who are in the Executive Suite. There is a spa and sauna also located near the outside bar, and a Thai massage service is available on board too.

Diving
MV Orion does not stick to a rigid schedule of trying to fit in a maximum number of dives per day. Three dives a day is the norm.

Daily Dive Routine - most days begin early at 6am for 6.30 am dive briefing. All dives are conducted from a smaller boat, known as a dhoni, which follows the MV Orion. The dhoni has a fair bit of room for gearing up and storage boxes underneath each seat. All dive gear can be left on the dhoni between dives. Most sites are no more than 10 to 15 minutes from the MV Orion. Remember to bring water, sunblock and sunglasses for each dive. A towel is provided for each guest in their room to bring on the dhoni.

Because all diving in the Maldives is tidal, guests should be aware that briefings can change while on the dhoni if the current is not behaving as expected. The dive guide will check the current before guests enter the water.

Entry into the water is by giant stride, with a fairly tall ladder to climb back up at the end of the dive.

Stepping onto the dhoni from the Orion can be a little bit tricky, so take care to watch your footing and let the staff help you.

Dive guides - there are two dive guides, Hassan and Alex. They are the co-directors of MV Orion's business. Hassan is a veteran Maldivian divemaster with over 15000 dives. Alex also runs a large dive operation in Singapore. There will a third Cruise Director joining the boat in November 2009 who will also act as a guide.

Free Nitrox - Nitrox will be provided as standard on MV Orion. It wasn't available when I was on the boat as it was only the second week of operation - send an enquiry using the form below to check if it's available for your preferred dates.

Camera Gear - there is a large flat platform on the dhoni which is a good place for putting cameras - a rinse tank is also available on the boat. There are charging stations for cameras in the dining room, but they are only really suitable for smaller cameras as they are cubby holes built into sideboard areas. There are several plug outlets in each room. The plugs use 3 pin British style plug sockets. Bring an adapter and surge protector if you use other types of plugs. The electricity voltage is 230 Volts AC / 50 Hz.

Getting There
Fly into Male Airport (the Maldives' capital city) for pickup and transfer by speedboat direct to MV Orion. The ride takes about 10 minutes. Find the cheapest flights to Male on Skyscanner and Kayak.

This has to be the most incredible underwater footage of manta rays and whale sharks I've ever seen - scores of them in a feeding frenzy at Hanifaru in the Maldives

This video clip from National Geographic is absolutely insane. Scores of manta rays and several whale sharks duking it out to see who can eat the most microscropic plankton in Hanifaru in the Maldives. Hanifaru Bay lies in the Baa Atoll, and this gathering of manta rays and whale sharks - sometimes scores of mantas and several whale sharks, which are usually solitary and very rare - occurs occasionally between May to November.

I am heading out to Hanifaru on the Orion liveaboard next month, and so I'm crossing everything that we might get to witness some of this incredible action. If I saw only a tenth of what goes on in these videos, I'd be a happy man. It might even surpass the best dive of my life...

Also check out this stunning Hanifaru photoset on Flickr taken by Christian Loader - thanks to UW photographer Matthew Oldfield for sending me the link.

Hanifaru by Christian Loader

Here's another Hanifaru clip from Aqua Dreams Imaging:

There's more info about Hanifaru on this page of the excellent DivePhotoGuide.com and Bruce Barcott'sfull Hanifaru National Geographic article, complete with more photos, is also online - definitely worth a read.

My story about luxury scuba diving in the Maldives has recently been published in Fah Thai magazine. You can read the complete article below

The Maldives is as famous for what lies below its sky blue seas as for the dazzling beaches that rest above it. Chris Mitchell and Jez Tryner explore the amazing underwater sights of the Maldives’ Male and Ari Atolls

Maldives Fah Thai Magazine Pages 1 and 2

Think of the Maldives and you think of tropical beaches, sunsets over aquamarine seas and beautiful beachside resorts. But what’s above the water is only half the story when it comes to this island nation scattered over 800 kilometres of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is defined as much by the water that surrounds it as what’s on the atolls themselves. Where the sandy beaches provide little habitat for life on land, within the water just a few metres away there is an unparalleled diversity of marine life that is revered by scuba divers the world over.

You don’t need to even enter the water to appreciate the unparalleled richness of the waters surrounding the Maldives – just standing on the jetty at the Soneva Gili resort and looking down into the water, you can see tropical fish and juvenile rays skittering across the sand a few inches beneath the ocean’s surface. As the first resort in the Maldives to be built wholly over the water, Soneva Gili also invested heavily in regenerating and protecting the marine environment around Lankafushi island on which it’s based. After painstakingly removing a large concrete wall built in the ocean by the previous resort owners, the waters around Soneva Gili revived and became a burgeoning nursery for numerous sea species, including tiny blacktip sharks and baby mobular rays. A resident marine biologist at sister resort Soneva Fushi oversees coral regeneration and marine life care programs.

It’s a rule of thumb for divers that for the most pristine reefs and abundant marine life, you have to be prepared to travel to the most remote places. But due to local conservation efforts, there are some excellent dive sites a few minutes boat ride from the bustling capital of Male and its surrounding resorts. Submerge into the water at a dive site like Nassimo Thila and you’re greeted by huge schools of yellow snapper, thousands of fish strong, moving in perfect synchronicity together. Fronds of soft coral resplendent in electric reds and purples cling to the huge boulders that sit on the sandy bottom of the seabed, wreathed in clouds of tiny glassfish. Look away from the reef and out into the blue, and you can see for 40 metres, the deepening shades of blue shot through by the Maldivian sun, still visible above. The colours feel vivid and saturated, like an image enhanced picture postcard, but they’re completely real.

Maldives Fah Thai Magazine Pages 3 and 4 - that's me top right!

The abundance of the reefs near to Male spark excitement about what’s to be seen underwater in more remote areas, hidden away from any boat traffic or other human contact. The lure of seeing whitetip sharks, manta rays or possibly whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world at 12 metres long fully grown, makes many divers take to a liveaboard, literally a boat where you spend a week living on board. Originally liveaboards were quite primitive affairs for hardcore dive enthusiasts only. The MV Sachika typifies a new breed of liveaboard, where the boat is a floating luxury resort so that guests are not denied any comfort (such as jacuzzi, spa and massage, along with huge buffets of freshly cooked food). This lets non-divers enjoy the trip as much as divers with island hopping, snorkeling and sunbathing, as well as ever changing spectacular vistas of the Maldivian ocean, miles away from anyone else.

Over the course of a week the Sachika traces a route between Male, Ari and Felidhe atolls, criss crossing amongst numerous tiny deserted islands where Robertson Crusoe could be half expected to make an appearance. These islands within the atolls signify thilas, pinnacles of rock rising up from the ocean floor of which the sandy top is the only part visible above water. Down below the thilas are the aquatic equivalent of skyscrapers, home to all manner of marine life, from the tiny coral polyps that make up the enormous, man-size coral fans, to the dustbin lid sized grey stingrays that shuffle across the sand, to the enormous but elusive whale shark, which can sometimes be spotted straight off the boat’s sundeck basking a couple of metres below the surface. The thilas are also the cause of a couple of shipwrecks, like the Kuda Giri and Kudima, which have now been reclaimed by the sea and become impromptu marine sanctuaries.

At the edge of the atolls lie the channels, where the outside ocean meets the atoll interior waters. Channels are a magnet for divers as one of the best places to see white tip and grey reef sharks up close and personal as they ride in on the strong ocean currents. This is a real Maldivian adrenaline experience, watching the sharks effortlessly cruise by while hanging on to any available rock to avoid being swept away by the insistent movement of the water.

Maldives Fah Thai Magazine Pages 5 and 6

Sharks have an undeniable allure, but the highlight of the liveaboard trip for most was a more serene encounter with arguably the most graceful creature in the ocean – the manta ray. Known to congregate at certain coral bommies, mantas will hover there stationary in order to be cleaned by smaller pilot fish – it’s effectively an underwater car wash. At Donkalo in Ari atoll, the cleaning station attracts not just one manta ray – a cause for celebration in itself – but three of them, queuing up in orderly fashion to await their turn at the station before deciding to playfully hover over the bubbles coming from the divers themselves. To see a four metre wide manta ray swoop over you only inches away, moving its black cowled bulk with complete fluidity, is to witness one of nature’s greatest creations, and to be somewhat awed by it too. As a finale to our liveaboard, it’s unforgettable.

Back on land at the Sheraton Full Moon resort to relax before leaving, it’s impossible to resist the temptation to have one last dive – there always seems to be something more to see. The Sheraton is the nearest five star resort to Male Airport and has access to the same great sites as Soneva Gili, and a final dive on Lankan Reef proves to be turtle heaven - no less than seven of these endearing creatures are spotted, busy munching coral, drifting on the gentle current or simply sound asleep. Moments before surfacing, one super curious turtle circles around, completely unafraid and thoroughly intrigued about these noisy creatures in its realm. As a friendly farewell from the underwater world of the Maldives, it’s hard to beat.

The Maldives are famous for manta rays - here Julian Cohen describes how he finally got the shot of these elusive, beautiful creatures

Julian Cohen: Going to the Maldives for me was all about my quest for Mantas. Since I started diving I had wanted to see these most enigmatic sea creatures but was unsuccessful at the top Manta spots of Asia. Hin Daeng, The Similans and Koh Bon in Thailand; Bora Bora in French Polynesia and even Manta Point in Bali. So off to The Maldives I went and saw my first Manta feeding on the surface as we approached the first dive site on the first day and then there was not a dive that went by without seeing them. I had to wave them out of the way so I could see the fish!

My rig for this trip was a Nikon D200 in a Subal housing with two Ikelite D-125 strobes.

[Chris note: You can also read Julian's article about the Manta Rays of the Maldives in Underwater Photography magazine issue 46 - download it for free]

Mantas, Maldives

1/50 at f5.6 ISO 100 Nikon 10.5mm - All Image Sizes On Flickr

This is my favourite shot from the whole trip. At the end of a dive we came up to find the mantas feeding at the surface. Stripping off the tanks we jumped back in with snorkels and swam with them for an hour. I wanted to get a black and white reportage kind of shot with the mouth of the manta wide open. To do this I had to get close at feeding time and on the surface proved to be the best for this. The visability was about ten meters as there was a lot of plankton in the water and they swooped around me, appearing out of the gloom swimming at top speed. Sometimes they seemed to be surprised to see me there in front of them but they always just missed me and carried on feeding. As there was a lot of backscatter, converting to black and white helps to attract the eye away from this and onto the manta.

Manta Sun, Maldives

1/160 at f8 ISO 100 Nikon 12-24mm at 17mm - All Image Sizes on Flickr

I am always trying to find different ways to shoot the same subjects. For me a lot of the subjects are actually new, as this was my first time shooting mantas, but other photographers have shot mantas before so it was important to me to impose my own style on the photograph. This can be done in post processing, as is the case with this photo, as well as in camera. I primarily use Adobe Lightroom to develop and store my RAW images and this program has the ability to store a snapshot of the adjustments made to a photo as a preset that can then be applied to any other. I have many presets stored and use these as a base to further adjustments. I like this one as it has removed a lot of the cyan ring that you get when including the sun in the shot with a digital image. The surrounding water is turned so dark it is almost black which draws attention to the manta and the sun.

Manta Rain, Maldives

1/125 at f7.1 ISO 100 Nikon 10.5mm - All Image Sizes On Flickr

Taken in only eight meters of water during a period where the mantas were feeding at the surface, I was looking for the beautiful silhouetted manta shot to add to my collection. I tried one with the strobes on to see how it would look and got this. Although the water was murky, because I was near the surface and was shooting straight up it appears to be very clear, and the manta is beautifully highlighted by the strobe. You can see the rain on the surface of the water.

Glassfish, Maldives

1/200 at f8 ISO 100 Nikon 10.5mm - All Image Sizes on Flickr

This dive site was teeming with glass fish that covered the whole bombora; so thick it was nearly impossible to see the coral. The dive guides told me that later in the season there would be loads of fish there. I find it hard to imagine there being room for any more!

Manta Vortex, Maldives

1/4 at f22 ISO100 Nikon 10.5mm - All Image Sizes on Flickr

An experimental shot that involves shooting at slow speed, maximum aperture and then twisting the whole camera housing as you squeeze the trigger. Try to keep the subject as the axis point and twist the camera without moving the lens off it's axis or the subject itself will be blurred. It doesn't always work and I had a whole card of blurred and warped images while I practiced this technique but I think it was worth it for this shot.

See all of Julian Cohen's Maldives portfolio on Flickr.

Here's some awesome photos of the Maldives by Jez Tryner taken on our recent liveaboard trip

Not been able to write much here yet about my recent liveaboard trip in the Maldives on the Sachika liveaboard as I've been busy with the magazine article - however, Jez Tryner who accompanied me on the trip got some awesome photos and you can see two beautiful galleries of his Maldives photos on his site.

They act as a brilliant visual rundown of what we saw and capture the abundant marine life and vivid clarity of the water perfectly. Maldives Underwater Photo Gallery and Sachika Liveaboard gallery.

Following on from my cover star status a couple of years ago, you will also see an incredibly hot male model in several of Jez's underwater shots ;-)

My trip to the Maldives was a big success, thanks to the guys on the Sachika liveaboard and the Soneva Gili and Sheraton Full Moon resorts.

Sachika Liveaboard

Back from my work trip to the Maldives with photographer Jez Tryner. The liveaboard Sachika turned out to be a quite amazing boat - essentially a luxury cruiser for non-divers with an entirely separate boat following behind as the dive platform! - and we had some excellent dives at the beautiful Soneva Gili and Sheraton Full Moon resorts at the beginning and end of our trip. I'll be doing a full write up of the Maldives liveaboard experience on Divehappy in future, once I've written up the magazine story. In short, however, I can certainly recommend the Sachika liveaboard if you are looking to charter a boat for a big group - 10+ people - check out their website at TopClassCruising.com.

Maldives - Ali on the Dhoni

This is a photo of our dive guide Big Ali, on the dhoni (traditional Maldivian boat) that follows behind the Sachika and from where all the dives are made.

Heading back to the Maldives today to go exploring around the northern atolls - can't wait to hit the water.

I've been to the Maldives once before, in March 2008, to visit my friends Ayesha and Wilco who were working at dive instructors at the time on the island of Bandos. (Read my full Maldives Diving report if you're interested).

This time I'm going with my good mate and ace photographer Jez Tryner and we're visiting a couple of resorts - Soneva Gili and Sheraton Full Moon - as well as spending 7 days on the Sachika liveaboard. It'll be interesting to see what the Sachika is like as I can't find hardly any info about it on the Web, besides their official site and a couple of ads on ScubaBoard - I'll be posting a full report here when we get back.

If anyone has dived with the Sachika before, please leave a comment here so I can add it to my trip report - thanks!

My first dive trip to the Maldives was to the island of Bandos, a good all-round resort island very near Male airport and with dive sites only a few minutes boat ride away.

During March 2008 I spent a week in the Maldives on the island of Bandos. Bandos is one of the Maldives' oldest and biggest resorts, located a twenty minute boat ride from the international airport in Male. (You can read more info about Bandos' accommodation and restaurants here). Despite Bandos' proximity to the nation's capital and the heavily developed (and in some case industrialised) islands around it, the diving around Bandos is really quite impressive. It's certainly the easiest access I've ever had to diving this good - get on the plane in Bangkok, get off in Male after a four hour flight, get on the taxi boat, arrive at the resort 20 minutes later, get in the water first thing in the morning - bingo!

Giant honeycomb moray eel

Lurking

This was my first visit to the Maldives and certainly I am keen to see more of the diving here. I have subsequently found out that the diving in the far south of the Maldives around Equator Village is meant to excellent, and it's one of the few places where soft corals can still be found in abundance since coral bleaching damaged much of the Maldives dive sites. The only major drawback to the Maldives is the expense - accommodation and food are not cheap due to everything having to be imported and the government's interest in only attracting "quality" (i.e. rich) tourists. Liveaboards make this more managable, but even so, it's pricey.

Reef scene

The diving: There are a lot of different dive sites around Bandos. During a full week of diving there, we only visited the same sites once, and that was because I made a special request. The topography is quite similar on most dives, as you'd expect on island reefs - a sloping reef of mainly hard corals that is intermittently broken up by sand, usually no deeper than 30 metres. There is a fairly intact cargo wreck over right by Male Airport too, but that's about the only one in the vicinity. Visibility is generally very good and gives the sites a picture postcard quality. Some dive sites have fantastic overhangs with coral fans underneath. The hard corals look quite gnarled in places but also have patches of explosive colour too - soft corals are noticable by their absence. Each site has its own merits and it's difficult to recommend particular sites over others, given most of them are within 20 minutes boat ride.

2 morays on the reef

However, it's the marine life that really makes the Maldives. There are scores of tropical fish species, with great big schools of yellow snapper and seemingly endless clouds of blue triggerfish hovering over the reefs, while blacktip reef sharks patrol the deeper depths and six foot long moray eels of all colours - some the size of a tree trunk - are to be seen on virtually every dive.

Yellow snapper

Endless clouds of triggerfish

Mantis shrimp and blue ribbon eels can be occasionally spotted, along with frogfish and leaffish, although I had no joy finding the last two. Eagle rays and groupers are also quite common, but they are so skittish it's difficult to see them for more than a couple of seconds before they shoot off. There are also quite a few turtles, some pretty huge, which are always good value:

Turtle

Spot the mantis shrimp!

Mantis shrimp close up

The star attraction around Bandos are the manta rays that gather en masse during September and October for mating season. They can be often seen throughout April to December. I visited out of season, but still got to see mantas twice, at Hudhuveli Out and on Lankan Reef, where the main cleaning station is located. Seeing a manta when you'e not expecting it is easily one of the Top 5 Dive Experiences. At Hudhuveli Out we were on our safety stop when two mantas sped past us, while at Lankan Reef, we'd passed by the empty cleaning station a minute or so before and I idly looked back behind me, only to see a manta mother and child glide into the station very gently and very slowly. They circled around us and then decided to disappear back into the blue, no doubt being protective.

Manta at Lankan

The house reef on Bandos is worth repeated dives as well. Divers can gear up in a small sandy bottomed lagoon and then swim through a channel out onto the reef proper, following a guiderope. The house reef has quite a few blacktip sharks that are not particularly shy, especially when you're going in and out of the channel! Big schools of yellow snapper can also be found here. The house reef itself is a steep slope that bottoms out at around 25 metres. This is the site used for night diving.

Blacktip

Batfish

The Dive Shop: Bandos' Dive Centre is a big, well-equipped operation with several instructors. Customers are a real mix of nationalities and dive abilities. If you are a single diver like me, you will be buddied up with another diver. The majority of Bandos divers are either beginners or casual divers who are certified but have not dived for several years.

The Boats: traditional Maldivian dhoni kitted out for diving. The boats offer 2 dives in the morning and one in the afternoon except on Fridays, where it's only 1 dive in the morning so the boat staff can back to the mosque for prayers. No camera facilities at all - if you have a big rig, you'll need to keep it on your lap as it can get choppy at times and dhonis roll with it.

Customers are divided into Guided and Unguided - typically any diver who is Advanced Open Water or above is buddied up and sent off on their own, with OW divers guided by the dive staff. You can come up wherever you want and the boat will collect you.

Visibility: generally very good - 30 metres or more. Some dives were pretty murky, however, so it's not a given

Ayesha and yellow snapper

Yellow snapper

Currents: the dive sites around Bandos have occasionally strong currents. Dive staff always jump in and check the current first before divers enter the water, but as is the nature with currents, what it's doing on the surface is not a guarantee of what's happening at 20 metres. All divers must use computers and safety sausages (SMBs).

Food: Only a small bottle of water and an apple or orange are available on the boat - if you want more food for your surface interval, bring your own.

Nitrox: Bandos's Dive Shop offers free Nitrox as standard, which is greatly recommended.

Pricing: $44 per dive including all gear, $36 per dive for just tanks and weights, $400 for a six day unlimited, unguided package

Maximum depth: 30 metres.

Honeycomb moray

Open wide!

When To Go: You can dive all year round at Bandos. The rainy season is from May to October and there can be bad weather during this period. However, there is also a monsoon season from January to March and certainly while I was there iat the end of March it rained for 4 out of the 7 days. The manta season is from April to December - it's not guaranteed you will see mantas, but there is a very good chance of doing so. During manta season in September and October it's not uncommon to see numerous mantas on one dive. While I was there, in March, we still saw mantas on two occasions even though it was off-season.

Temperature: Hot! Around 30 degrees Celsius in the water and on land.

The Resort In General: I was staying at Bandos with my friends Ayesha and Wilco who were working there as dive instructors (they have now moved on after completing their one year contract). Therefore I didn't get to see the resort's range of rooms really, although there is a wide selection of accommodation and it's all pretty luxurious. Bandos caters for a wide clientele and is very kid friendly - if you are looking for a romantic Maldives holiday, this is probably not the place to come. (Somewhere like Karumba might be a better bet).

More info: I recommend Lonely Planet Maldives as a good overview of the country and guide to choosing a resort suited to what you want. The book features a lot about diving, although sadly the dedicated Lonely Planet Maldives Diving and Snorkelling has now been discontinued.

2 morays with cleaner shrimp

Cleaner shrimp

The Maldives have thousands of islands with great diving - so a liveaboard is the logical way to see as much of the underwater world as possible without being tied to one resort

Excellent write up in Chiang Mai City Life magazine this month of a recent liveaboard around the Maldives. This is another of those spectacular destinations that is on my "Must See" list, whenever I find the money - or a willing sponsor - to get me there.

Gary R. Johnston, the article's author explains:

"Our plan was a week-long safari around the central islands [on MV Savruga, a Turkish-built, 75 foot, two-masted sailboat], visiting their best dive sites and looking for new ones as well. The trip put my wife and me in the poor house, but we’d heard the underwater sights of the Maldives were the stuff of legends, and the idyllic islands could sooth the soul of any savage beast, (I’m referring to myself of course, not my wife).

There's plenty more detail in Johnston's report about their Maldives liveaboard, but the highlight was a close encounter with a whale shark:

Suddenly, out of the blue it came, and straight towards us! With its wide mouth housing a mouth evolved to filter the smallest organisms from the water, and grey spots covering its nine metre long body, an encounter with a whale shark is one of those rare moments that gives any human a rush of humility and a reminder that even after the age of dinosaurs there are many living things in this world larger than us, and we may be lucky enough to see them if we’re willing to visit their habitats. As it slowly passed an arm’s length away, all I could do was float and stare. As it passed, others chased it down into the impossible abyss.

Fantastic stuff. Given the relative expense of visiting the Maldives due to its popularity with honeymooners, a liveaboard seems the way to go if diving is your priority.