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Lateral Lines Issue 1 :: February 2004
Lateral Lines is the newsletter of Maldives Scuba Tours,
MV Sea Queen, MV Sea Spirit and Scuba Tours Worldwide.

A message from Sam & Rob

Happy New year to you all and we hope that 2004 has got off to a good start.

2003 was a fantastic year for the Maldives and our liveaboards Sea Queen and Sea Spirit were really busy. We’ve seen a huge amount of repeat business with clients aboard for their third, fourth and sometimes tenth and eleventh trips. We really appreciate this loyalty from you and you can be sure that our emphasis is on maintaining and improving our service. It is our customer care and knowledge of the Maldives that sets us aside from our competition and it is these elements that we are constantly striving to improve.

Already this year we have had a succession of emails from the crews telling us of whale shark sightings. It’s been a truly remarkable season for the big spotty beasties and long may it continue. And if it sounds too good to be true, take a look at our whaleshark news page for some amazing pictures!

If you came on holiday with us in 2002 or 2003 and didn’t have a chance to write up your log, check-out our trip reports that give a write up of every trip we have run since July 2002.

2004 promises to be a big year for us with a major expansion of our worldwide side to offer a more comprehensive choice of the world’s best diving. We’ve big plans for the Maldives too….so standby for further news there. We still have some availability for March and April and we are running a variety of other trips through the year – Give us a call for dates !

Happy diving and we hope your enjoy our e-zine Lateral Lines !

WHALESHARKS & MANTA SPECTACULAR

2 years ago we started to see higher numbers of whale sharks. At first we thought it was good luck, but after 19 consecutive trips seeing whale sharks we began to think that this was more than just luck ! We now believe that these sharks are present in the Maldives throughout the year and we are learning to predict their migrational movements.

From our manta dives we know that mantas stay as family groups in the Maldives from one season to the next. We see them migrate with the currents from the east to west side of the atolls depending on the season and we strongly believe that whalesharks behave in the same way. It is early days for us to predict precisely where the whalesharks will be, but we are building our experience and we have a very good hit rate ! Throughout 2003 we saw whalesharks on a huge number of our trips.

Both Sea Queen and Sea Spirit have hosted many a happy guest who has enjoyed their whale shark encounters. We have now introduced our own whale shark ID program which, given time, will hopefully start to answer more of our important questions. We would like to find out if the sharks we see week in and week out are the same ones ? Are they the same sharks year in and year out ? There are many questions to be answered but for the moment the sharks are an awesome sight to be enjoyed by our clients.

Our most successful encounters with the sharks are when guests are snorkelling. We find the sharks are often on the top of the shallow reefs in 5 meters or less and they seem not to be put off by our presence. We believe the sharks are moving slowly over the reef tops being cleaned by cleaner wrasse in the same way as our mantas are cleaned.

Throughout 04 we will be hitting the dive sites of the mantas and whalesharks. Book now – we only have 12 places on each boat !

Chase this link for pictorial evidence.

SUMMER SPECIALS

We are offering a discount of £135 on selected trips in the summer. Late May is the wettest and often the most unsettled time of year in the Maldives but by June and July the South west season has set in and we often enjoy wonderfully calm days at this time. You should certainly expect some rain but the diving remains superb and it is a good opportunity to take advantage of the lower rates and a quieter time in the Maldives to get yourself some of the best diving in the world ! And, of course, it’s a great time for mantas too.

Take a look at our sailing schedules for more details of the discounted dates.

CALLING ALL DIVE CLUBS AND GROUPS

If you are a member of a dive club and would like us to come along to your club evening and give a talk, we would be delighted to do so. Our club talks involve a slide presentation, a video, a quiz at the end of the talk and some prizes for the winners. It’s fun and informative and if you are planning a trip to the Maldives why not meet us face to face.

Remember we offer one free place for full boat bookings – this is a saving of £165 per person in the summer months. Please contact us for more information. info@scubascuba.com

NEW ATOLL EXPEDITIONS

In August and September we are planning some 12 night trips to explore the northern and southern atolls previously closed to divers. These trips will involve a large amount of exploratory diving.

• Sea Queen 15th August – 28th August : 12 nights Southern Atolls
• Sea Queen 12 September – 25 September : 12 nights Southern Atolls
• Sea Spirit 4 July – 17 July : 12 nights Northern Atolls
• Sea Spirit 1 August – 14 August : Northern Atolls

Please contact us if you are interested info@scubascuba.com

WHALE AND DOLPHIN TRIP

This year we are running our popular Whale and Dolphin Trip from 19th April – 1st May aboard MV Sea Spirit and we still have some spaces available.

We know that during late April and early May, when the sea temperature is at its warmest, regular sightings of whales and large dolphin pods are often seen by local fishermen working the inshore coastal waters. This charter combines our diving programme with the opportunity to explore for whales and dolphins in the ocean channels between the atolls. The species we would hope to see are sperm whales, short finned pilot whales, melon head whales and pygmy killer whales. We also hope to encounter pods of bottlenose, spinner and risso’s dolphins.

Contact us on info@scubascuba.com for more information.

AVAILABILITY FOR 2004

We have a small number of places available in March/April as a result of rescheduling and some cancellations. Please contact us if you are interested in these places:

MV Sea Queen
• 22nd March – 3rd April : 12 nights
• 5th April – 17th April : 12 nights
• 19th April – 1st May : 12 nights

MV Sea Spirit
• 22nd March – 3rd April : 12 nights
• 5th April – 12th April : 7 nights
• 12th April – 19th April : 7 nights

Other departure dates can be seen on our web site on the liveaboards schedules page. and check out our Special Offers page too!

PHOTOGRAPHY TRIP

Linda Dunk hosted a fantastic Photography Week at the end of September. It was rather a windy week but this did not defeat the photographers and they enjoyed good diving. Samantha Bean’s photo of a Blackfooted clownfish won the onboard photo competition and it and other photos she took onboard, went on to win the British Society of Underwater Photographer’s award for Beginner’s Portfolio. Well done Sam!

We are running another 7 night photographic trip aboard MV Sea Queen in 2004 hosted by Linda Dunk. We are delighted to welcome Linda aboard again and this trip offers budding and experienced photographers the chance to develop and improve their photographic techniques.

1st August ’04 to 9th August ‘04 for £1,385
For more information take a look at the itinerary page on our liveaboards schedules

WORLDWIDE EXPEDITIONS

Throughout the year we arrange departures to a range of exciting destinations offering some of the best diving in the world. Here are some of the dates we currently have planned:

Cocos Island Cost Rica – Island of the hammerheads

• 4th September – 17th September for £2,800 per person aboard Sea Hunter
• 20th October – 2nd November for £2,800 per person aboard Sea Hunter
• 2nd November – 15th November for £2,800 per person aboard Sea Hunter
Famous for it’s schools of hundreds of hammerheads, Cocos is an ocean oasis – a unique destination offering high adrenalin diving. Check out our Worldwide pages to download the PDF file on Cocos.

Galapagos

• 27th October – 8th November for £2,900 per person aboard Mistral
A 9 night cruise that will take in the very best of the Galapagos including 4 nights at Darwin and Wolf hoping to dive with the hammerheads and whalesharks. Enjoy a programme of superb diving together with fascinating land tours. Dive with sea lions and see marine iguanas, penguins and turtles. Check out our Worldwide pages to download the PDF file on Galapagos.

Red Sea

• 17th June to 24th June : Marsa Alam, Ras Banas, Rocky Island, St John's reef , Elphinestone.
• 24th June to 1st July : Marsa Alam, Elphinestone reef, Little brother, Big brother, Daedalus Reef, Elphinestone.
Following our very successful trips last summer, we are planning two more June trips departing from Marsa Alam aboard the Royal Emperor. Price for both trips is £1170 per person including flights, full board accommodation and airport transfers. Nitrox is also available on board. Please contact us for further information info@scubascuba.com

Seychelles

• 1st August to 12th August for £1995 per person plus departure taxes.
Based on our success at seeing whales sharks in the Maldives, we are chartering the liveboard "Indian Ocean Explore" in the Seychelles for a Whale shark Monitoring program. It promises to be a really exciting week with a micro-light aircraft to help spot the beasties ! The trip is 7 nights on the liveaboard and a further 3 nights in the Berjaya Hotel resort right on the beach. Check out our Worldwide pages to download the PDF file on Seychelles.