Captain's Blog Feb/ Mar 2012

My vacation had been spent and I was instructed to go to Maldives and relieve Saini for vacation before returning back to Indian Empress. Kalizma was sitting at anchorage in Hulhumale' together with m/y Linse and there was a skeleton crew maintaining both boats.

Chartlet of Maldives courtesy of worldatlas.com

Diving South of Banana reef

This was my last dive for this tour in Maldives as I'm flying to Abu Dhabi to take over as Master on Indian Empress so I need some surface time to be able to fly. To make it special I decided to do a night dive. Had all gear in the boat by sunset and off we went to check out Banana reef. The rising tide was still several knots too strong to do the dive at this location so we decided to go back a step down south and do it the next reef. At least there it looked to be no current.

BA chart 3323

Diving Club Med corner

This morning we saw there was a strong ingoing tide on Kudakalhi Channel so we decided to do a drift dive from the corner into the atoll as we had not yet dived this particular segment of the Club Med corner. We went an ample distance along the Ocean side of the reef to gear up and once ready we simultaneously jumped in at 10m depth. 

BA chart 3323

Diving Furana South

My diving days are soon over for awhile as I'm due to return back to Indian Empress in a few days. This morning decided to revisit the Furana south site and we started well inside the Kudakalhi Channel as the current was slightly outflowing. Earlier diveboats had tied a white canister to the reef as a marker so we tied up there and geared up. Down we went just South of the Full Moon Maldives resorts lagoon and started heading East.

BA chart 3323

Diving reef West of Aarah Island

For this mornings dive we chose to go to an unnamed reef West of the Aarah Island. There are 2 reefs next to each other and in between there is a narrow channel. Once you get there on the spot you realize the channel is not so narrow, it is rather several hundred meters wide.

BA chart 3323

Diving Nassimo thila

This morning we headed North for Nassimo Thila that was awarded four stars by Tim Godfrey back in the day when he wrote the book and is lauded as the best "thila" in North Male' atoll. The weather was a bit choppy and we jumped ourselves to the divesite that is next to Lankanfinolhu Island. The Island houses the swanky "Paradise" resort next to the "Soneva Gili" resort on the Lankanfushi Island (1000+ USD/ night).

BA chart 3323

Diving Kuda Haa

Looking at divesites Tim Godfrey have mapped out in his good book I settled to go to the Kuda Haa "thila" as it was the only one we had not yet visited. It was as far as Lion's Head at Thilafushi but a bit more north inside the atoll, just next to the Giraavaru Island. The reef is actually 8m underwater so finding it without a positioning system is not the easiest task. Actually we found it by seeing fish jumping out of water, it was a bit windy and waves were abt 50cm high so one could see the reef only when you were next to it.

BA chart 3323

Diving Lion's head

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Diving Club Med corner

My deckhand Pardeep had not been here and we decided to revisit this site. This time though we swam South instead of inside the atoll so we started near the corner. We weren't disappointed, met with Napoleon Wrasse & turtles plus the host of the small fish in the coral garden. I must have seen the biggest grouper ever in my life when I peeked under a rock formation, it sat there for awhile until it noticed it was observed and then it hid better out of sight. I managed to get a picture but it is obscured by the soldierfish, if you look closely you can see the eyes and mouth in the dark background...

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Hans Hass place

As we had tallied through the closest dive sites we ventured now a bit further afield, not going overboard but staying inside Male' atoll. We headed southwest from our anchorage towards Viligili Island and next to it is a reef named Gulhi Falhu. It is now being reclaimed from the West. In the middle of the reef on the Ocean side is the "Hans Hass" diving spot that is designated as a protected area. When I was in Maldives earlier my local guide told me that this will house the existing industries on Male' and they will be relocated on Gulhi Falhu.

Anyway, we arrived again early morning and found another dive boat there already but there is aplenty at sea so we made ourselves ready and jumped in. The current was against us and a bit heavier than expected but to agree with the diveplan we kept on going West as instructed our surface boat. There was plenty of pelagics, saw also a Napoleon Wrasse in the distance but the most impressive sight was the overhangs, especially the last one that when I looked under it it gave the impression of a cathedral.

BA chart 3323

Diving off Hulhule

As we were running out of dive sites close by we decided to give Hulhule a go even-though Tim Godfrey had awarded the site only one star in his guide book. Off we went a bit NE of the entrance to the atoll and headed south. There was no current to mention about but I could feel the wave surge down to 20m. The surroundings were rocky and I could see a lot of groupers hiding under the formations. We swam along and just about when we were about to ascend as we were down on air to 50bars I saw something in the distance. After a few seconds a school of Humphead parrotfish appeared with some ten fish in the school. These huge fish were very shy and did not come close, I managed to get off a few shots but then we had to go up. Definitely the highlight of the dive.

BA chart 3323, inset

Walking in Male'

Saturday night fever and nothing much to do we decided with Dubey to walk around Male' Island, the Capital of Maldives. Said and done we took the ferry over and from the landing we headed straight South. First we passed some park like area with a communal swimming pool connected to the sea and then we came to a beach called Surfers Paradise. I guess this is the only place where the waves break in order surf properly.  I could see some boys on boards far out catching the waves that rolled in. They broke their surf quite far away from shore and I don't wonder why as the shore was not sandy, it was sharp coral edges galore, not for beginners...

Surfers Paradise

Diving Maldive Victory

As my other deckhand had not experienced the wreck we decided to have another go at it and so we went down south of the airport. This time there was hardly any current so the visibility was much poorer but then again there was much more fish present. Did the same tour as before, down the mast, go fwd, then aft, circle the poop deck, go to the bridge, look into the funnel. As we still got air left we swam at mast height forwards again and back before going up.

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Maagiri caves

As the previous day we had missed the caves we decided to make another attempt, this time we would start on the Eastern tip of the reef and go along the northern edge in 15m depth to make sure we don't miss it. As soon as we went in I spotted a Napoleon Wrasse but it quickly made itself scarce in face of the intruders. We drifted along the wall and about halfway we hit the jackpot. There was a big cave with sort of a canyon in between from broken off rock. As soon as I entered the cave I saw a white tip shark scuttle away and several big groupers. I managed to corner one at the farthest end in the cave so I could get some decent shots but it was just showing me his tail side, oh well. The caves were magnificent diving and a lot of big groupers and other fish abound.

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Protest day on Male'

As it was Thursday I wanted to go and buy some essentials before the Muslim day off on Friday and I took the ferry over to Male'. Little did I know they had protests against the government going on the same afternoon. Lot of people were out and about and the powers that be had cordoned off the "sensitive" areas of the Capital with road blocks and Police was equipped with riot shields and protective gear.

Maldivian "gas carrier" at Hulhumale'

Diving Maagiri caves

This time we decided to go to the right spot and so we went with map and all. Went into the water about in the middle of the north side of the reef and hit one cave, after that there a few small holes and the rest was just wall dive. When going in there was a about 1kt of inflowing current so we drifted along until we came to the West point of the reef where the current was not felt. Saw nothing much in between the cave and the end. Once we started ascending we spotted a small manta ray and a Napoleon wrasse.

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Diving Furanafushi West

Here we actually thought we were going to the Maagiri caves but eventually came short of one reef as we did not have our guide book with us. Nevertheless, not a bad reef dive, at times good corals at times no corals. Pelagics were present. A lot of traffic could be heard as the channel into the resort was just south of us as well as I think other boats pass here on the way to the more northern resorts and Islands.

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Black coral reef

Went to the Feydhoo Finolhu where there is according to the Tim Godfrey "Dive Maldives" guide the Black Coral reef. Black coral is semi precious and used for jewellery. Weather was excellent and we went to the Island and discovered there is a resort nowadays so we plonked in the drink a bit west of their entrance and swam west. The reef is a vertical wall, not so much coral there but the wall looks more "rocky" like on the outside of an atoll. Saw nothing spectacular except the normal pelagics and we surfaced at the Western end where there is a wreck in the middle on the reef.

BA chart 3323, inset

Walk on Hulhumale'

Kalizma at anchor

Diving under Kalizma

On the 25th morning we tried diving the Furana North divespot but after 2 attempts we just had to admit that the circumstances were not in our favor. The inflowing current was too strong for us to be able to stay at the reef and to do a drift dive without a dive marker was too hazardous as the waters above were so turbulent that the surface boat would have lost our bubbles (and us).

Cathodic anode before

Diving Bandos Island

Went in the NE corner and ventured East with the strong current in the beginning. The visibility was quite good but as the current became less, when we rounded the Island, the visibility deteriorated. At the start we "bumped" into a reef shark, the high light of the dive.

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Banana reef

As my other deckhand hadn't yet seen Banana reef we went here again. Good dive and lots to see.

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Club Med corner

We ventured out of the atoll and went for the Club Med Corner, actually the NE end of the Hulhumale' & Hulhule airport Island & reef. It was a nice dive, hardly any current and many things to see. At the end when we came up a huge school of dolphins passed us by and I had still my goggles on so I could watch them below surface for the first time of my life. I think I could even hear them talking in their high-pitched squeaks.

BA chart 3323, inset

Diving Maldive Victory

This day decided to go and dive the Maldive Victory. She was/ is a general cargo ship that sank in full cargo upon arrival Male' in 1981. For divers delight the wreck is still standing upright so it offers a lot to see. I have quoted the Maldives Victory history text below from here.

BA chart 3323, inset