Dive Review of Emperor Serenity in
Maldives/Deep South

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Emperor Serenity : "“Current” subscription to Shark TV +", Jan, 2023, by Beverly Sobelman, WA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12339.
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	Context: we were on a trip organized by the Marine Megafauna Foundation (postponed from 2022) and therefore our focus was on big stuff. There may be more small critters there but we didn’t look for them much. It also meant we repeated a few dives instead of seeing more of the area so YMMV. Note that this trip was in the Deep South area, which involves a lot of channel diving. Highlights You like sharks? They’ve got sharks. Grey reef, white tipped reef, black tipped reef, silver tipped reef, tiger, spinner, leopard, nurse, and whale. Nothing like being awakened at 4 am to hang out with three whale sharks feeding off the back of the boat. The dive setup is excellent. All gear lives on the dhoni and tanks are filled in place between dives. Nitrox is included and used by default. The food is truly outstanding. Variety, quality, and service all excellent. Fresh tuna sashimi caught off the back of the boat. And they are great about handling dietary restrictions like GF needs. The water is quite warm. I am almost always cold but was quite comfortable in a 4th element under-layer and a dive skin. Watch for thermoclines though! For advanced divers, there are opportunities for truly amazing megafauna encounters. Lowlights Accommodations felt shabby and in need of updates (e.g. linens with bleach stains, thinning towels). Our premium cabin was sparsely furnished despite being spacious. Zero drawers, awkwardly placed shelves. Feels like an operator still recovering from COVID down time, perhaps? The currents are no joke. You must be comfortable using a reef hook at about 30m, sometimes in significant current (by which I mean it felt like a firehose to the face) in order to watch shark TV along the many deep channels. Several dives required swimming into current in order to make it to the more interesting reefs for the drift part of the dive after unhooking. This is not a place for beginners or even newly-minted advanced divers. The operator required 100 dives minimum and I see why.I would have appreciated more info about the diving conditions before going, but I am not sure how much of our itinerary was set by MMF vs the operator. Maldivian Air, the local carrier, adds a degree of randomness to the travel experience. We arrived very late after our flight to Addu was delayed, and yet were made to set up our dive gear before getting into the Serenity. This was after about 40 total travel hours. Some flexibility around the arrival process would have been appreciated, or at least an offer to set up the gear for us if it really had to be done that night. There were zero protocols around COVID or other illness. One of the dive guides (and maybe one guest) had a cold when we arrived and many guests ended up with it. Other safety protocols were sufficient, including providing plenty of charging stations for electronics outside of personal cabins. Bottom line Overall, we enjoyed our time on the Serenity despite the shaky start and the somewhat disappointing accommodations. I would not choose to do that many channel dives in a row on my own but I do feel like I became a better diver by the end of the trip. And getting to watch Shark TV every day is pretty cool.
Websites	Emperor Serenity
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Australia, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Honduras, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Galapagos, Indonesia
Closest Airport	Male	Getting There	Fly internationally to Male and then connect via Maldivian Air to the atoll where you meet the boat.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	They are legally required to limit dives to 30m. It’s not strictly enforced.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	We did not have a camera but it seemed like the strong currents made it quite challenging to get good photos on many dives. The facilities were excellent though.

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Dive Review of Emperor Serenity in Maldives/Deep South

Emperor Serenity : "“Current” subscription to Shark TV +", Jan, 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 Emperor Serenity in
Maldives/Deep South