Diving in the Maldives

The Black Pearl
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During an innocent chat with the owner of the Galle Fort Hotel way back in early February, we asked him for his recommendations where he thought we should visit.  We of course meant within Sri Lanka, but Chris went a little “off piste” and told us that we really must to go to the Maldives.

After we picked ourselves off the floor from laughing, he informed us that The Maldives were actually only an hour away and flights out of Sri Lanka were extremely cheap.

Of course, there was the small problem of finding somewhere affordable (for us poor backpackers on a budget) to stay, and the Maldives come with a hefty reputation of being one of the most expensive and luxurious places on earth.  Magazines such as Conde Nast Traveller are full of articles showing infinity pools and honeymoon palaces on perfect white sands overlooking aqua blue seas, all costing squillions in whatever currency you happen to earn (and crippling to the unemployed).

S and Glenn shooting the breeze
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So, we left Galle back in early Feb and let the idea roll around for a while until one day we came up with the idea of staying on a boat for a week. I have been a keen diver for years now and Tracey learned to dive a year or so ago in Gozo but had not had a chance to get back in the water since. The diving in the Maldives is meant to be some of the best in the world and they have “liveaboards” where you stay on board the boat for the whole week and dive three times a day. These are still not cheap but they are a hell of a lot cheaper than five star hotels with heart shaped pools and if we could find one that was affordable then suddenly this Maldives idea was not so mad after all and Trace and I would get twenty dives under our belts.

Hanging on to the reef for dear life
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I immediately emailed the idea to Glenn back in London who is not only one of my best friends but the person that I learnt to dive with and my long term dive “buddy”. Glenn being Glenn immediately signed up to the idea and started searching for affordable trips. After a week or so of emailing options back and forth from various remote internet cafés across the south of Sri Lanka we decided on the boat called the Black Pearl, great name. Poor Glenn had to fly from London via Dubai to get there while we had a one hour flight from Colombo to contend with.

Fish soup
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All this meant a significant change to our plans and budgets so poor old Tracey had to lock herself in a room with her extensive, and already battle weary, spreadsheets and work out how the hell we were going to make a week in the Maldives work.  The answer was to cut the world tour short, and we both agreed it was worth it.  I had every faith in her accounting a skills and before I knew it we were landing in Male the capital of The Maldives.

The Maldives are essentially a collection of atolls, which are islands surrounding a lagoon. There are about a thousand islands although this number changes (as the seas rise or sand blows away).  Some islands are inhabited by Maldivians, some have nothing but a luxury hotel on them and a lot are completely deserted. This whole lot sits in the Indian Ocean just above the equator and is generally considered as close to paradise as you can come.

It's a tough life
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Male airport sits on an island off Male island and we took the ten minute ferry ride from the airport across the water to Male where our hotel for our first night was. The Villingilli View Hotel was not the best introduction to "paradise". It was basic, in desperate need of some DIY and a little sad but at least it was clean. However, I could tell that Tracey clearly wasn't that impressed by the place as when I walked out of the bathroom the sofa had been pulled in front of the door...

Blue striped snapper
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The next day we caught the ferry back to the airport where we we met up with Glenn and the rest of our fellow divers and companions on board the Black Pearl for the next eight days. The boat was lovely and our new friends were a group from Denmark, Helgi from the Faroe Islands, Tahir from Portugal and Keeley from England who was living in Portugal.

After a couple of hours all the supplies were on board and we headed off into the atolls for a week of diving. The plan was simple, each day we would wake up early and do our first dive at around 7am. Then it was back on board for breakfast around a big table on the back of the boat while we moved on to our next dive site. Then it was back in the water for the second dive of the day. Then back on board for lunch while we moved on again. Finally about 3pm we did our final dive of the day. Afterwards our work was done and the rest of the day was spent lounging around chatting, drinking reading and listening to music. In the evening the cook served up superb dinners which we would eat and watch the sun go down.

Dumb and dumber
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The next morning we would move on to the next dive site and off we go again. Over the course of the eight days, we travelled around various atolls and dived three times every day.

The variety of marine life we saw was astonishing.  In seven days we saw dozens of sharks (including white tip, black tip and hammerheads), turtles, three whale sharks (some people spend years trying to spot one these), dolphins, morays, tuna, pilot whales and more colourful fish than you could shake a fishing rod at.

'Asian sweetlip'
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Some of the dives were idyllic, with amazing vistibility and thousands of fish, and some dives were extremely taxing with strong currents and low visibility but all were incredible adventures.

By the end of the week Tracey was diving like an expert and we had all put on weight thanks to the chef's amazing and plentiful food.  We called it 'bulking up' for the rest of our trip.  We made great friends with some of the guys on board especially Helgi who turned out to be a really great guy and Tahir and Keeley who were both mad as cheese and brilliantly funny. It was especially good to see Glenn who was in great form and entertained everyone with his unique and brilliant  sense of humour all week.

Unfortunately, the week eventually came to an end and we were deposited back at Male airport where we said our goodbyes to some of the gang. Tracey, Glenn and I were staying in Male for a couple of days back at the Villingilli View Hotel (oh joy).

We spent the next couple of days mooching around Male eating Thai food and then hanging out at the swanky hotel near the airport which had a great pool and booze (Male is completely dry).

Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Glenn and after emotional scenes at the airport (quick hug and "bollox to ya") we were off and on a plane heading back to India.