2000 Chapbook

These 7000 low-lying coral islands in a 1200-mile chain southeast of India will be the first to disappear if global warming raises sea levels significantly. About 200 of the islands are inhabited (although visitors have very little interaction with the 175,000 predominantly-Muslim residents), and several are devoted entirely to small resorts that offer average to excellent tropical reef diving with big fish action if the resort has a knowledgeable staff that knows where and when to find it. However, the Maldives are best dived from live-aboards.... Given its large influx of European divers, this could be one of the most dived regions of the world.... Dive rules are strict for this part of the world.... Expect year-round daily temperatures of roughly 85 degrees and abundant rainfall, which is distributed evenly from May through December....

For full reviews of the following Maldives live-aboards, see:
" Aboard the Barutheela, Manthiri", August 1998
"The Maldives aboard the Manthiri", May, 2001

Eurodivers, Aribeach, February 1999, John Haddington, Gordon: Berwickshire, UK. Vis: 70-150 ft. Water: 29-30 degree Celsius. Diving in large groups tended to make larger fishes such as manta rays rather wary. Too many divers in water over the day sent these creatures to the bottom. The reef was badly damaged by overheating, but a nice place to visit all the same. The profusion of fish sort of made up for this. The divemasters were excellent and we appreciated their service. Until the climatic conditions accommodate I would suggest a dive elsewhere.

Jurgen Schagger Diving World/Villi Varu, November 1998, Susan Norton, London, England. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 80-83 degrees. Restrictions: time more than depth; Generally 1 hour max - back on the boat. Reef, particularly in the shallows, has been poached due to high water temperatures, leaving dead or close to dead coral. Some making a comeback. Surprising amount of fish and critters. Tons of turtles. Excellent offshore diving easy access, nearby wall. On the boats divemasters spent most of time on resort course people, not much attention to others. Automatic 10% tip is added to your bill for this. They are nice enough, but no extra effort. They put tanks on and off boat for you. You take care of the rest of your gear. You pay for potable water at the resort despite packages. Don't take alcohol into the country, It will be confiscated at customs and returned on leaving. Must help the local non-alcohol consuming economy!

Ocean Pro/CoCo Palm Resort, January 1999, Peter Louwerse, Switzerland. Until 3 years ago, the Baa atoll (Northwest of Male) was only accessible by live-aboard. Now there are three island resorts. Coco Palm opened before Christmas 1998 and not all facilities were operational, e.g., coffee shop and health club. Accommodations very good for Maldivian standards, food excellent. Transfer from Male by float plane and the difference between this comfort and the suffering for hours on a dhoni can make or break your vacation! Ocean Pro, a Swiss company, runs the dive operation. Equipment was new, both rental and operational such as compressors. No Nitrox diving yet. Logbooks and C-card checked thoroughly. My wife had a knee operation in October and they took all care that she could still come diving (as an afterthought: her pain diminished considerably during this vacation - could it be attributable to the Hyperbaric oxygen treatment her knee received?). Catered to individual preferences of the divers. Seeing my interest in "small critters," they took me to habitats of leaf fish and ghost pipefish. Dives limited to 30 meters and/or 75 minutes; nearest recompression chamber is only accessible by plane. $31 per dive, plus $10 per boatride, plus $1 for loading and unloading your gear, or $42 per dive. Two years ago we saw healthy reefs. Now, some are rubble. El Niño has warmed the water so much (27 C at 25m) that all corals died. Fauna abundant as ever. Large schools of reef fish, turtles, dolphins, grey reef sharks, and some saw a guitar shark. Nudibranchs and flatworms, beautiful large cowries. No mantas. Some sites 30 min by slow dhoni, others over one hour. Faster boats would be great! 0-5 knot current with strong vertical components, not for beginners! Shore diving is difficult: The jetty is located in a sandy lagoon with little life, the house reef is only accessible with great trouble and has few entry/exit points, a problem if you would get caught in a current. Do not use Air Lanka! Our round trip Zurich-Colombo-Male, with a total flying time of about 22 hours, had delays of 46 hours!