Manthiri, November 1996, Mark J. Buchfuhrer, CA. "My wife and I spent 10 days on the Manthiri. Food and accommodations were excellent. The dive and support crew were very helpful and tried to hard to take care of all our needs. Excellent weather and fairly reasonable visibility despite not being in the so called "high season". Diving fantastic! We dove/snorkeled with 7 whale sharks, schools of large Manta rays, reef sharks and a whole assortment of macro subjects and soft corals. Interesting to visit the native islands. . . . Two complaints. No rinse tank for the photography equipment on dive boat or main boat. Once back to the Manthiri, the staff would rinse off the photo stuff under the outdoor shower. I developed incredible salt deposits on my equipment and had to spend hours back home to scrub out the salt deposits, some of which were almost impossible to remove. I did ask them several times to get another plastic bucket (they did have one bucket which they used religiously to rinse our B.C.'s and dive skins), but was not successful in getting one. Second problem: controlled duration and supervision during the dives. Because the Manthiri can only travel in the daylight, dives were limited to 50 minutes (not the 70-90 minute dives possible with their 80 cubic foot tanks), to get in 3 to 4 daily dives. The dive master liked to herd our group together and move fairly quickly. . . . not great for macro photographers! I was repeatedly dubbed the "slow poke" and advised that I should swim faster and keep up with the group - not what I expected on an expensive live-aboard trip where I should be able to do macro photography to my heart's content, as I have done on other live-aboards."

Manthiri, January 1997, Ben Glick, Williamstown, MA. "Guided dives in high currents, not for beginners. 3 dives/day. Night dives not good. Need a good divemaster to enjoy to fullest. We had the best, Manik on the MV Manthiri. Enforced restrictions: Need to stay in group, high currents. Boat is excellent in very good condition. Diving from Pohni (smaller dive boat with compressor and tanks) was great. Lots of room. No dive equipment on live­aboard. vis: 75­100 ft. water: 84­85 degrees."

Manthiri, April 1997, William R. Smyth, Stuart, FL. "Food handling and cleanliness of the galley is deplorable. Poultry and fish are defrosted together on back deck in a black bucket; when not used for defrosting, the crew uses it to wash their clothes. If you can overlook, then you can enjoy the food as it is plentiful and very tasty. . . . Bathroom toilet, sink and counter are exposed and where showering water is everywhere. Added to this the drain would not work so after showering we were left with up to one quarter inch of water to stand in. Despite the negatives, the crew was great and went out of its way to make the trip enjoyable. vis: 60­90 ft. water: 85­86 degrees."

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