Selina and I recently visited the Maldives and we're glad we decided to do it by scuba diving on a liveaboard. It all started with a plan to scuba dive at Tubbataha Reef off the coast of Palawan--in our own backyard so to speak. Then we found out how expensive the Tubbataha Reef liveaboard packages have become. A comparable Maldives liveaboard package (about one-third across the world from the Philippines in the middle of the Indian Ocean . . . indeed, in the middle of nowhere) costs less than a Tubbataha Reef liveaboard package--inclusive of the roundtrip airfare from the Philippines to Maldives!
By most accounts, the quality of dives in the Maldives is comparable to (some say even better than) those in Tubbataha. So, the Maldives appeared to offer better "value for money" than Tubbataha. And because Tubbataha is just around the corner, we decided to save that liveaboard adventure to a later date.
We were fortunate to arrive in the Maldives in the afternoon. This afforded us a birds eye view of the atolls before the plane landed. It reminded me of Apo Reef, about 50 kilometers west of Occidental Mindoro, except that the Maldives was Apo Reef multiplied 100 times. It's not an archipelago, which connotes a group of island. It's an amalgamation of atolls and sandbars, which barely breach the surface of the Indian Ocean.
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| An amalgamation of atolls and sandbars barely breaching the surface of the Indian Ocean |
With a population of about half a million people (nearly one-third of which is concentrated on Male, the capital of Maldives) and spread over a vast geographical area, I surmised the condition of the marine environment below the surface should still be OK--at least better than anything I have observed in all of my dives in the Philippines to date. Long story short, I surmised correctly! Click on the video link at the end of this blog.
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| Emperor Leo, our roving home for the week in the Maldives |
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| Before boarding Emperor Leo |
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| This is the dhoni or dive boat of Emperor Leo. It follows Emperor Leo wherever it goes. It is tethered to Emperor Leo when anchored. This is where all our scuba gear is placed and our tanks our filled (air and nitrox). It's got two identical compressors and a nitrox station on board. It transports the entire diving group to specific dive spots from where Emperor Leo is anchored. Most importantly, it picks up the divers after we have surfaced. |
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| A room with a view! |
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| Attention to detail! |
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| Emperor Leo, the dhoni and a typical Maldive resort in the background |
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| Living and dining area . . . fully air-conditioned 24/7 |
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| Also serves as the dive briefing room . . . Andrea (Swiss), boat manager and dive master, together with the other dive masters on Emperor Leo, Rico (Maldivian), Victor (Ukranian) and Megan (Canadian) |
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| Upper deck of Emperor Leo with Selina |
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| Selina at Sunrise |
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| With Andrea |
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| With Rico |
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| With Manda, my dive buddy |
Michael, a real good sport!
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| Dinner on an island |
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| Observe the Maldivian God above the setting sun looking down |
Our area of coverage was in the middle section of the Maldives. We dove everyday from April 15 (Sunday) to April 20 (Friday), 3 dives a day except on the last day (2 dives only to allow a gap of 24 hours before our return flight). That's a total of 17 terrific dives!
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| The rightmost column lists our 17 dive locations |
