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Dive Review of Scuba Tours Worldwide/Sea Spirit in
Maldives/Equatorial Far South

Scuba Tours Worldwide/Sea Spirit: "Far South Maldives", Mar, 2017,

by Dan Purnell, WA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9513 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 1 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments My journey began in Portland Oregon, to Male, and then down to Gan. The Maldives are a long way from home! The next twelve days we would dive around Gan Addu, Foammulah and Huvadhoo. I was told to expect an adventurous diving expedition, and I was not disappointed!

The Sea Spirit is well run and maintained. The crew was very friendly and helpful. If you needed anything, they were right there to assist. They were always eager to help you get in and out of the water. And the food was absolutely delicious!

The Dive Guides, Lisa and Dave, are the best. Both were adventurous, excited to share the best of the Maldives with their guests. Lisa and Dave are incredibly enthusiastic about their work. You can tell that they love to dive. They took us to a number of challenging dive sites, well off the beaten path. We did a fascinating exploratory dive. Dave and Lisa provided excellent dive briefings, and ensured that we descended in the correct spots, given the wild and unpredictable currents.

The diving was diverse, from wrecks, to current swept channels, to lovely coral gardens, to brilliant reef fish to walls of sharks.

Gan Addu featured a bit of everything, including grey reef sharks, black and white tips, hammerheads, big eyed jacks, rainbow runners, barracuda, napoleon wrasses and green turtles. We also saw one friendly manta.

Foammulah featured sharks, sharks and more sharks. The diving here was truly mind bending. Diving here featured walls of grey sharks, walls of silver tip sharks and there were too many hammerhead sharks to count. On each dive we saw a number of tiger sharks, some up close. We also saw two whale sharks, estimated to be nearly 12 meters long. It was common to see huge dog-tooth tuna and barracudas. Foammulah diving is exciting, deep, open ocean diving.

Huvadhoo diving featured channel diving and coral gardens. We encountered lots of grey reef and silky sharks, along with jacks, dog-tooth tuna, barracuda, and eagle rays along the channel fronts. The channels themselves are canyons, comprised of mounds upon mounds of coral. There you would literally fly with the current, looking at eagle rays, huge green turtles, jacks, pompano, and a rainbow of reef fish. We also saw a beautiful leopard shark on one of the dives. By the end of the trip, we had seen eleven different types of sharks.

The currents can be intense, making it difficult to cross channels or maintain one's position. So it is best to have a reef hook.

In some areas, the corals were stunning. Layer after layer of table corals, brain corals and staghorn corals were mesmerizing. In many other areas, the corals are just beginning to come back from the extensive El Nino damage. Healthy coral cover will vary greatly from site to site.

I would highly recommend the Far South Maldives for the adventurous.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving PNG, Solomon Islands, Raja Ampat, Banda Sea, Bali, Halmahera, Yap, Palau, Bonaire, Honduras, Little Cayman, Red Sea, Oregon, Washington, Flower Gardens - Texas, Fiji, Galapagos
Closest Airport Male Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas currents
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-150 Ft/ 18-46 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions None
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks 1 or 2
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 5 stars
Large Pelagics 5 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments I did not take pictures during this trip.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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