Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Maldives/Best of Maldives

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Aggressor Fleet: "Best of Maldives on Aggressor", May, 2023, by Jeffery E Snyder, DE, US ( Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 12577 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I didn't realize how long the travel and layovers were going to be. That's on me, it just seemed to take a long time to get there. Layover in Doha where we paid to be admitted to a lounge so we could rest and grab something to eat and drink. We arrived in Male around 8 am and met the Aggressor reps at 3:30 pm at the airport. We boarded the dhoni which was tied up right across the road from the airport. First thing we did was set up our gear before we left the dock. We then were taken to the mother ship, shown our rooms, had a quick introduction to the crew and fellow guests, then had dinner and went to bed. All of us were tired. The next day our first few dives were where we were anchored near the airport. All dives are from the dhoni which seemed either past its prime or at least in need of some repairs or servicing. My buddy and I were gearing up right over the dhoni exhaust fumes which made us a little nauseous and gave us mild headaches. We did 3 dives a day (I skipped the 2 night dives). They were relatively deep (51' to 101', avg. for the week 76'), we dove with 32* Nitrox and 100 cf aluminum tanks. Throughout the week there were several sharks; tiger, hammerhead, gray reef, white tip, black tip as well as several turtles, octopus, cuttle fish and sting rays. Currents were strong in some places so we used reef hooks to stay in place to watch the action go by. We saw one manta ray at a cleaning station and none at another so that was disappointing. However we did jump in and snorkel with mantas on one surface interval. We saw one whale shark at a popular site where boats from surrounding islands let about 100 people in the water chasing the one whale shark that swam through and seemed like to couldn't get out of there fast enough. I expected a more organized experience but it was a free for all with too many inexperienced snorkelers in the water at the same time. Some of the shark dives were baited and much of the coral looked bleached or dead, but the amount of fish was higher than I would have expected given these conditions. We were told this cruise was the 2nd to last of of the season. The boat was going into dry dock after the next trip for two months, then a new northern itinerary would be starting up. It was a long way to travel but I'm glad I did it. If I did it again, it would have to be in the best time to see manta rays, not at the end of the season like this time. I thought I did my research and this would be a good time to go to see manta rays but I shouldn't believe all the marketing material I read. Again, this was on me, but making it a little easier for divers to know what they are likely to see by Aggressor would have better prepared me for what were were likely to see.
Websites	Aggressor Fleet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	New Jersey, North Carolina, Caribbean, Costa Rica, Fiji, Truk Lagoon, Red Sea, Cozumel
Closest Airport	Male	Getting There	Philadelphia to Doha (12.5 hours on Qatar Air), 6 hour layover, 5 hour flight to Male
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-87°F / 29-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	70-100 Ft/ 21-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with divemaster but this was loosely enforced.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	1 or 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
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	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in Maldives/Best of Maldives

Aggressor Fleet: "Best of Maldives on Aggressor", May, 2023,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Maldives/Best of Maldives