Canon Powershot S90 Camera and WP-DC35 Underwater Housing

The Canon Powershot G11 was widely anticipated by underwater photographers – but the Canon Powershot S90 is smaller, lighter and seems to do the same job for a cheaper price. Which one to choose?
I recently wrote about the Canon Powershot G11 and its [...]
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Diving Komodo Trip Report November 2009 – MSY Damai

Komodo National Park offers some of Indonesia’s best scuba diving, from the temperate waters of the south to the tropical reefs of the north – in November 2009 I took a 10 day trip on MSY Damai to explore this amazing area for a third time.

I’ve dived Komodo twice before – in December 2006 on [...]
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MSY Damai Liveaboard Report

Possibly the most luxurious liveaboard boat currently in Indonesia, MSY Damai is trying a new approach in providing top notch diving and underwater photography MSY Damai is a new luxury Indonesian liveaboard launched in October 2009 by Alberto Reija, who previously worked on MSY Seahorse and Kararu liveaboards. Damai (the word is Indonesian for “peaceful”) [...]
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Richie Kohler Interview: Diving The USS Lagarto

Deep Sea Detective Richie Kohler has scuba dived many shipwrecks around the world. The WWII American submarine USS Lagarto, whose final resting place was only discovered three years ago in the Gulf of Thailand, is among the most important to him. Chris Mitchell finds out why.
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Wicked is one of the oldest dive operators in Khao Lak. I noted that there seem to be a lot of dive shops here – too many I think – but many of the shops are merely booking agents for the various live-aboard boats. Wicked operates their own boat, with a full schedule of tours to the Similans. They can also offer day trips to some of the closer dive sites, such as the Boonsung wreck, which is within sight of the shore here.

My conversation with Paul convinces me that everything I’ve heard about Wicked is true: They’re a class act, that really looks after their customers, whether they’re just learning, or experienced divers looking for a good boat with good guides who will look after them. Definitely keep them in mind if you’re visiting the Phuket or Phang Nga area.

I’m not sure if this moray is ticklish, or if the shrimps are pinching it, but it’s certainly tolerating the services of these two cleaners. One brave crustacean even goes into the eel’s mouth!

A couple of shrimps clean a moray eel.

On the main deck was a large enclosed, but not air conditioned, salon where dive briefings were held. Breakfast was served here in the mornings, as was lunch if the weather was bad, which fortunately only happened once or twice during our week-long voyage. The salon had several cozy ‘booths’ which were comfortable places to laze about between dives, while the tables made good workstations for those with computers. There was a ‘charging station’ for cameras, laptops and computers, as well as a large flat screen television. Like most live-aboard boats, there was complementary soft drinks, water, tea and coffee.

Forward of the salon was a covered dining area where we had lunch and dinner. Meals were definitely a high point of this trip. The Sri-Lankan chef – the only non-Maldivian member of the crew aside from the dive guide – was a master of Asian, Indian and European cuisine. We had some amazing curries – including beet root, which I’ve never heard of – as well as some well prepared European dishes. The cruise director took pains to keep abreast of any important events, such as one diver’s birthday, or even my 50th dive, and each event was celebrated at dinner that day.

The top deck was a large space completely dedicated to sun worshipers, although there was a covered area for those of us that didn’t want to get too much sun.

Some Redfin Butterflyfish on the reefs of the Maldives

The Dive Boat

Diving was off a separate smaller boat, the Niumath. The 18 meter boat was built in the style of a traditional “Dohney” used around the Maldives. The Niumath held all our dive gear and had air compressors and nitrogen to refill the tanks between dives. There were four exits for giant-stride entries, so all the divers could get into the water quickly. Note that due to currents, it’s common in the Maldives for divers to be instructed to submerge immediately on entry (in other words, entering the water with an empty BCD), rather than doing a surface check. Re-entry to the boat after a dive was up a ladder dropped from the bow. A firmly attached rope gave other divers something to hold on to while waiting to board. The two crew members handled your fins and helped you back into the boat if needed. The only minor negative point about the whole setup was the lack of fresh water on the dive boat. You had to wait to get back to the Sea Spirit to get anything to drink, shower, or even rinse off your camera and other gear.

Dive Gear Rental

The Sea Spirit has rental gear available, for a fee. Be sure to let them know ahead of time what you need so they can arrange it.

Sea Spirit Arrival and Departures

The Sea Spirit departs from Male and returns there at the end of each cruise. The boat will pick you up at the airport, or alternatively from the main pier in Male town, as arranged with the cruise director.

Quick Summary

Pluses: Comfortable rooms and common areas; excellent food; and friendly crew.

Minus: No fresh water on the dive boat – for showers or drinking or rinsing.

Bookings may be made through Maldives Scuba Tours.

I’ve come to the Maldives for what’s under the water’s surface: some of the best diving in the world. There are over 1,000 islands perched on 26 different atolls. That’s a lot of reefs worth diving. Our dive guide reckons that you could spend a year diving three different dive sites every day, and not see them all. But I only have a week.

Swimming with the triggerfish in the Maldives

My home for the week is the MV Sea Spirit (see my separate review of the Sea Spirit), with its companion dive boat the Niumath. We set out from Male, the capital of the Maldives, on a bright sunny Sunday morning. First, we head just a short way north of Male to do our check-out dive at Langkhan reef in the afternoon. It proves to be not the best check-out dive you can have. A wicked surge has come up, making it a bit like diving in giant washing machine. It’s not a great start to the trip, but it turns out we’ll be back here for another dive, which will be better, much better.

The next day we sail to South Male atoll to dive Kuda Giri, a very nice wreck dive, with a couple of spectacular lion fish on the prowl. Next up was a site called the "Manta Spa" because it was a cleaning station favored by mantas. We settled on the sandy bottom near the station, but didn’t see any mantas. I ended up trying to sneak up on a patch of garden eels to get a good picture. I skipped the last dive of the day. The sun and the sea were getting a bit much for me.

I was feeling much better the next day when we arrived in Ari Atoll, and was definitely up for the next dive at Kidi Maa, which was another wreck dive. This time, the ship was sunk on purpose to provide a fantastic diving opportunity for a dive resort on the nearby island. There were plenty of friendly batfish as well as a cab full of glassfish in the deck crane. Large holes had been cut in the sides of the ship, making an easy swim through the hold. Next we went hunting for whale sharks along the outer reef, but there were none to be seen, so we dived on a site I’ve logged as "Diva Reef". This was a long sloping reef on the outside of the atoll. The last dive of the day was Angaga Thili, which was another great dive site. We saw a few turtle on this dive. One juvenile seemed to bury his head in the reef when we first came alone, but then seemed to swim along with the group once he saw we weren’t going to do him any harm.

The next morning started out with my 50th dive, on a site called Dega Thila. It’s been just a few weeks over one year since I did my open water dives, and it’s hard to believe I’ve managed so many dives in such a short time. We were greeted on the bottom by a school of batfish, followed by assorted angels and butterflyfish on the reef. The mid-day dive was on a site the guide called Fish Head reef, and the last on Maaya Thila, where we saw schools of unicornfish, as well as bright yellow-striped sea perch.

Incredible Reefs of the Maldives

Makaro Thila the next morning was definitely one of the best dives of the trip. The broad flat top of the pinnacle was covered with several large table corals, under which were sheltering juvenile white-tip reef sharks, flower groupers, and assorted other fish. This was followed by a roller-coaster of a drift dive through Congchi Pass. This was one of those dives where I eventually just had to turn off the camera and enjoy the ride. We got to take it easy on the last dive on Madivaru Finolhu at the northern edge of Ari Atoll.

We’d now worked our way through South Male Atoll, up through Ari Atoll and on to the small Rasdhoo Atoll. The next day we made our first dive on Raschoo Madivaru, on the west side of Rasdhoo, then headed back to North Male Atoll. We reached Bodufinolhu Thila on the west side of North Male just before mid-day for our second dive. After lunch, the boat sailed across the atoll for our next dive, Trixie’s Cave. The ‘cave’ is really just a deep overhang, but the most interesting aspect of this site is the profusion of soft corals. The entire rim of the cave is lines with a profusion of small Dendronephthya soft corals in a variety of pastel colors. It was a refreshingly different dive site, and got even more interesting after dark, since we also had the option of doing a night dive on this same site. The color of the corals got even brighter, and the cave was visited by several other interesting creatures as well, such as a few morays out of their holes and on the prowl.

Mantas Being Cleaned in the Maldives

The next day, we could only do one dive, since the following day would be the end of our cruise, and some people had noon flights that day. There was a bit of a groan when it was announced that our last dive would be on Langkhan, the same place where we had a rather disappointing first dive. But, the dive guide hastened to point out, we came back here because the Sea Spirits sister boat had seen mantas on the site the night before. So, we somewhat skeptically got ready for the dive. This time, we weren’t disappointed. The mantas were on the cleaning station when we got there. Our guide had briefed us well and was quick to show us exactly where to settle on the bottom for the best view. There were two groups of mantas about. As soon as the one group of three moved off, a pair came to take their place. They switched back and forth for almost an hour, after which we had to surface. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic week of diving.

Getting to the Maldives

The only way to get to the Maldives, really, is to fly. Male International Airport is served by the major carriers of South and Southeast Asia, like Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Air System, Sri Lankan Airlines; as well as several carriers from the Gulf and Europe.

Dive Operators

There are several dive operators working the Maldives. Most dive sites are reached by live-aboards, although there are a few dive-oriented resorts. The Sea Spirit is operated by Maldives Scuba Tours.

Three manta rays perform their "ballet" over a cleaning station.

The mantas were already there when we got down, and didn’t seem at all disturbed by our presence. I took mostly still shots, but did take one video sequence to try and capture the gracefulness of these big creatures.

We spent almost an hour on the bottom watching the show, as the mantas came and went.

Of course, I saw a lot more than mantas in the Maldives, but it will take some time to sort through all the pictures, so more will be coming later.

It’s very easy to mis-identify some fish, so if I’ve made a mistake, please use the comment forms to let me know.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control – as the saying goes – I haven’t been able to write up a complete trip report for this dive blog. However, you can read a general overview of the trip in my regular travel journal. I also posted a few Komodo teaser videos there as well.

Look for more updates soon.

Next up: Komodo!

Admittedly I’m still a “newbie” diver, but to me this place easily matches or betters Koh Tao, and comes very close to the Similans for the quality and number of dive sites. But you be the judge. Here’s a brief overview of my dives and what I saw. The site will be updated with detailed dive site descriptions shortly.

A clownfish peeps out from its anemone.

Firstly, I had to resist calling this post “Finding Nemo” or “Nemo Found” because the first thing that struck me was the number and variety of anemone fish to be seen here. They’re everywhere, in every stripe and color, and some can be coaxed out of the anemone – by our clever dive master, at least.

Almost all of the dive sites around Tioman are within about a 30 minute boat ride of the west coast resorts, so the typical regime is to go out for two dives in the morning, around 9:00 am, come back for a late lunch, then go out again for two dives in the afternoon. You’re of course free to skip one session or the other, and depending on which two dive sites are scheduled, you may even be able to join one dive and not the other, if the boat is passing it’s pier on the way from the first dive to the second.

A large sea turtle ‘beds down’ in some staghorn coral at Renggis

The variety of corals here also seems to be much wider than I’ve seen before, including many varieties I’ve never seen and will have to look up when I get home. The fish numbers aren’t quite what I’ve seen in other dives, but the variety is very broad. Just about everybody’s favorite dive site is Renggis, a boulder islet just 100 meters or so offshore from Tioman. I dived it twice during my stay, since just about everyone else I was diving with wanted to go back and see it again. On the first dive here, I saw a sea snake, white-tipped sharks, many turtles, a moray eel, the biggest box pufferfish I’ve ever seen, and much more. On the second dive, we spotted a very large cuttlefish, more sharks, morays, giant triggerfish, and more again.

There are also a few wreck dives around the island. We did the Sawasdee wreck this morning, which is an interesting dive. It’s deep, at almost 30 meters, so compared to the other generally shallow dive sites, I enjoyed it more for the challenge than the scenery.

Some sites have occasionally strong currents, but with the small boats, most of them can be done as drift dives. I particularly enjoyed a site called Soryak for this.

As for Tioman itself, it is not a very developed place. It is part of a marine park, and the Malaysians seem to take this a bit more seriously than Thais do. The level of development is probably comparable to Koh Tao in Thailand, although Tioman is bigger and has an airport. Also, Tioman is not as dive-centered as Koh Tao. There are a lot of dive shops on the island, but there are a lot of people (probably more than half) who don’t come here for diving. There are a couple of high-end resorts, but most of the accommodations are fairly basic bungalows. I’m staying at Panuba Inn, which sits in its own small bay with its own house reef, and I’m diving with Bali Hai divers, which is based at the Panuba Inn.