Instant Reader Report
on Eurodivers / Club Med Kani in
Maldives / [N/A] on
2002/09
by
Kim S , NC, USA
Report Number 021114102851300

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 Tahiti, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Hawaii, Thailand, Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand
Cayman, USA (NC and CA) 

Dive Conditions

Maldivian law limits depth to 100 feet.  Dive computers were mandatory on
every dive and depth and time was checked by dive masters after each dive.  

Great subject matter - also for macros.  Strong surge and currents made
photography a real challenge on some days.  Also, the plankton counts in
the water caused some problems with backscatter if strobe was not
perfectly aimed.

The boats did not have camera tables or rinse tanks but the crew was
helpful in finding safe places to stow camera equipment on board.  They
were also very helpful in assisting with equipment during entries and
exits.  There are large separate rinse tanks for camera equipment at the
docks.

The resort offered E-6 processing on site and there were excellent
photography courses for both beginners as well as experienced
photographers.  

Overall Rating

Diving is more difficult than in most warm water destinations due to strong
currents and lots of surge.  All divers are given orange safety sausages
attached to a 15 foot rope.  When the dive is finished and you have
started your safety stop, you simply inflate the sausage with air from
your reg and let it pop to the surface while you remain at 15 feet holding
onto the rope.  When you surface, the boat is usually right there to pick
you up.  It was great not having to spend half of the dive getting back to
boat!   

Eurodivers was very professional and a well run operation.  They kept
novice divers separate from experienced divers and did an excellent job of
varying dive sites.  Experienced divers were left to dive their own
profiles as long as they did not violate the government imposed 100 foot
depth limit.  Dive briefings were informative and accompanied by
illustrations of the dive sites on plastic boards.  Complete briefings
were done in several languages - English always being one of them.

Although El Nino has caused the death of a lot of the corals, we still saw
amazing soft corals in several locations.  The highlight of the trip was
definitely the Mantas.  On two dives at a manta cleaning station we saw
4-6+ mantas that had wing spans of 8-10 feet.  We also saw many many
turtles, several Napolean fish that weighed 200+ pounds each, lots of lion
fish, tropical fish of every variety, lobsters, eels and many many sea
anenomes with their resident clown fish (some of the anemomes were more
than 5 feet in diameter and at one location the sea floor was literally
carpeted with anenome).

The resort was a typical Club Med with basic rooms.  All accommodations
are in bungalows, some of which are over the water. The island is so small
that all rooms are oceanfront. The rooms did have hot water pots for in
room tea/coffee and refrigerators which were a very pleasant surprise. 
The food for the most part was good and varied (lots of Asian food, like
sushi, as well as European).  Fresh fruit and fruit juices were very
limited.  This is due partly to the fact that practically all food items,
including fruit, must be imported.  The bread and pastry chefs were
awesome, though! 

The only drwaback to this destination is the travel time.  We traveled on
Singapore Air using frequent flyer mileage and with travel time and
layovers it took almost 3 days of travel time in each direction.  More
direct connections are available through Germany and Britain but its still
a long trip. 

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