In the many years I have taken people around the world, to places like Palau, Tuck, Galapagos, Cocos Islands, PNG, and all those wonderful places that have in their own right, special attractions, the Maldives for me was a place that you only dream about. Blue ocean, turquoise reefs surrounding picture perfect islets, some with resorts and many totally deserted. Dolphins cruising the waterways almost hourly, with Mantas jumping from time to time and the occasional whale shark passing by. Sounds to good to be true? Well think again, it’s true and I along with Bev and John Smart, Stephanie Scrawel, Sue and Teresa Folkes, Flavio and Ursula De Battista can assure you it was all that and much, much more. In the first five dives we had seen Mantas, four Whale sharks, Dolphins, Leopard sharks, groups of eagle rays and that is not to mention, white tips, dog tooth tuna, travallies, and some fantastic reefs as good as any of us had seen anywhere else. Our boat the Manthiri ( http://www.manthiriliveaboard.com/) was excellent. The rooms were clean and well appointed, the saloon was big and of course the usual, TV (which we never turned on) video selection, tea and coffee and most of all the tender (Doony) a 54 foot long boat accommodating the compressors, hot water showers, bathroom, and spacious enough for 14 divers. Having the tender as a dive platform was excellent. Cruising from one site to the other was peaceful and serine, without the noise of the compressors thumping away. I would without a doubt recommend this trip to anyone. See the trip photos here We are looking into the possibility of another trip to do the North atolls in search of the Manta Aggregation, possibly some time in October 2008. This is where the Mantas come together in the hundreds, see the link for some unbelievable photos of the Manta aggregation here contact allan@asiadivers.com should you like more information on this unbelievable trip.
Cheers
Allan Nash
0 comments:
Post a Comment