nakedeyeview.com.my 2008
Diving Safari in Maldives
Bursts of excitement amidst spells of doing nothing
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When I first went to Maldives in June 2002 and stayed in an island resort, I found an idyllic haven where I could practice the pleasurable art of doing nothing slowly. This time around (27/08/05 to 03/09/05), three other divers and I went to Maldives again and decided to liveaboard and do nothing except dive, dive and dive…. We did, when we found a dive site where we had exciting and close "encounters" with many big manta rays. But, thanks to the weather, I also had a lot of spare time in many afternoons to laze around alone in the boat and practice the gentle art of doing nothing slowly. |
General
I first set foot on Maldives with my wife and some fellow divers with their spouses in June 2002. We stayed in one of the island resorts. There I finally found an idyllic haven on Mother Earth, where life was slowed down to the point where I could hear myself think.
Though scuba diving was my hobby, I chose to spend more time lazing away and practicing the pleasurable art of doing nothing slowly.
However, the main purpose of my recent trip to Maldives with three other divers was purely to dive, dive, and dive … and so we chose a liveaboard boat where we could get access to a wider range of dive sites.
We boarded the boat "Handhufalhi" late in the night of 27th August in North Male Atoll near the Airport with the fervent hope that we would experience some exhilarating dives in Maldives this time.
Our hopes were raised and we were also pleasantly surprised when we discovered that we were the only four passengers on board the boat, which normally carried ten divers with eight hands in attendance including our dive master, Issey (Mohammad Ismail)!
This means that we each occupied a cabin and with the whole boat to ourselves, we could decide where we wanted to dive and cooked what we wanted to eat!
The Liveaboard Boat
Our Chef in action
But our diving safari for the whole week was only confined to dive sites around Kaafu Atoll i.e. The North Male Atoll and South Male Atoll. The Atoll is located almost in the center of the Maldives atoll chain.
| Note: | |
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The Male International Airport is located in Hulhule Island, which is at the southeastern tip of North Male Atoll. |
| • | Maldives is an archipelago of 26 major atolls with about 1190 islands. |
| • | Only some 200 islands are inhabited and of these about 90 are exclusive resort islands. |
| • |
In Maldives, an island is defined as a sea outcrop or land mass, which has some form of vegetation. |
The Kaafu Atoll
An Island?
A Resort Island
Main road in an inhabited island
| Note: | |
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Visitors are allowed to visit some inhabited islands, but they have to leave by 6.00pm. |
| • | No alcoholic drinks are sold in all inhabited islands or in the capital, Male. |
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Alcoholic drinks are only sold in the resorts, but many resorts do not welcome visitors. A can of beer was sold for US$3 in the boat! |