MALDIVES NEWS, SPECIAL OFFERS AND SPECIAL DEPARTURES
Click on the links below for an itinerary and further information.
Diving News | Far North Trips | Far South Trips | Manta Activities and trips | Island News | Reef Project/MCS/BBC |
Sea Queen is being preparing to depart on her exciting tour to the far south of the Maldives. She will be based in Huvadhoo Atoll from the 12th May to 12th June '08 and will be running a number of trips which you can join by flying down south on the local airline Island Aviation from Male. This will give you the best of the south without the unnecessary steaming time. So, maximise your dive time in the South, Huvadhoo Atoll has hundreds of uninhabited islands and superb thilas and channels offering fantastic coral, huge fish numbers and very exciting diving with plenty of big stuff… We have some places still available, so if you always wanted to dive the remote southern atolls please call the office and get yourself booked up…
We will be preparing a new scheduled for Sea Quest following the success of the 14 night trips to the far North. Yes, that's right, we could go no further or we would be off the Maldives map ! We found great new dive sites and encountered dives with hundreds of sharks and mantas, and even a new wreck.... We will be running these from Mid-February '09 until mid-April, we are just sorting out the final arrangements before releasing the exact schedule.
These exciting tours are very much for the adventurous and you should have a good level of experience. We can’t wait to get down south on the Sea Queen, next week, I myself, with Dave and Lisa will be leading the trip down, hope to see you on board.
Aboard Sea Spirit, they are looking forward to the combined Marine Conservation Society Marine Reef Survey departing on the 31st May - again, there are spaces still available on this trip so give us a call if you are interested to know more. There are 7 and 12 night options available.
We have been advised by Emirates that, with immediate effect, they will no longer extend an additional 10kgs free baggage allowance for scuba equipment. Please be aware that your free luggage allowance in economy is 20kgs per person.
The will be lots of good diving to be enjoyed with every trip you choose and we look forward to seeing you all on board !
Happy Diving,
Rob Bryning.
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FAR NORTH TRIPS - Sea Quest
Sea Quest has run her first season of special trips that took her right up to the very north of the Maldives, an area little visited by tourists let alone divers, the trips were hugely successful and guests enjoyed really fabulous diving reminding us all that so much of the Maldives is still to be explored...take a look at the trip note from ST7 of 09-Mar-08 to get an idea of the kind of diving you might expect.
Matt and Anne Marie will continue to lead trips next year taking guests to exciting and wonderful dive sites. The Sea Quest will depart and return to Male, so favorite central atolls dive sites will also be visited and you can be sure of a fantastic holiday to a very remote and undiscovered part of the Maldives. Please contact the office if you are interested in our 2009 departure dates.
REMOTE SOUTH ATOLLS - Sea Queen
The diving in Huvadhoo Atoll, just 23 miles north of the Equator, is some of the best the Maldives has to offer, there are currently no resorts here and the dive sites are rarely visited. Huvadhoo is well known as a “Big Fish” atoll with lots of sharks in the channels and manta cleaning on the outer reef cleaning stations. The corals are in excellent condition and the reefs offer great snorkelling and diving. It is one of the biggest atolls in the Maldives and has lots of beautiful uninhabited islands and hundreds of diving opportunities.
Sea Queen will be based here from May through to Mid July, so if you want to dive the best of the Southern Maldives, then now is your opportunity.
SQ249 10 May 08 - 18 May 08 - 7 Day North to South Huvadhoo Atoll Special
SQ250 17 May 08 - 30 May 08 - 12 Day Huvadhoo, Laamu Atoll Special
SQ251 31 May 08 - 08 June 08 - 7 Day Huvadhoo Atoll Special
SQ252 7 June 08 - 20 June 08 - 12 Day Huvadhoo, Laamu Atoll Special
SQ254 21 June 08 - 29 June 08 - 7 Day Huvadhoo Atoll Special
SQ255 28 June 08 - 11 July 08 - 12 Day return from Far South Trip
This is not the place for beginner divers, so experienced divers only please (50+ dives).
These trips promise to be a lot of fun with plenty of diving and great adventure so please call our team for advice and availability on 01284 748010.
Come and ID our Mantas!
Having researched the manta populations of North Male and Ari over the last two seasons Anne-Marie and Matt aboard the Sea Quest will lead a number of 7 and 14 night trips that will combine the manta cleaning stations in North Male Atoll and Baa Atoll to further the research. We know of active cleaning stations in Baa Atoll during the October/November months and our aim will be to identify if any of the southern population migrate to the northern atolls during these months. Each week there will be one day dedicated to our really exciting "dawn-to-dusk" manta vigil.
The trips are great fun and really worthwhile and will give you a fantastic 3 dive a day program visiting all the super sites along the way. You can join these departures for 7 days, but why not combine two dates and survey both North Male and Baa Atolls on a 14 day itinerary for the discounted price of £2300 plus taxes £67.
ST10
5 Oct 08 to 13 Oct 08 - Manta Special North Male and Ari Atolls - 7 days £1455 plus taxes £67
ST11
12 Oct 08 to 20 Oct 08 - Manta Special Baa Atoll - 7 days £1455 plus taxes £67
ST12
2 Nov 08 to 10 Nov 08 - Manta Special North Male and Ari Atolls - 7 days £1455 plus taxes £67
ST13
9 Nov 08 to 17 Nov 08 - Manta Special Baa Atoll - 7 days £1455 plus taxes £67
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Manta Research Reports
Our manta research trips are proving to be very popular and we would like to thank so many of you for helping us in the studies of these wonderful animals. We do see mantas all year round on our trips and had a 98% record of seeing them last year. We now have two years of data to consider having just completed our second Manta departures in July this year.
The manta survey reports with results as a spreadsheet format can be down loaded here. It makes for interesting comparison and we remain commited to running these manta projects in the Maldives so if you are interested in joining one of the trips next year, please contact us on 0845 1307210.
Below are the Manta Reports from the last two years, which we have made available here to download as a PDF. There are also further PDFs, one for each of the two days we ran the dawn-til-dusk observations, and these show the times and duration for individual mantas that came on to the station to be cleaned. For more information take a look at the Manta Research itinerary details.
Manta Massing report
Manta Ecology Project Report July 2006
REEF PROJECT WITH THE MCS - Sea Spirit
Join the Sea Spirit for 7 or 12 nights and take part in our ongoing reef project studying the corals and fish stocks of the wonderful Maldives. You will get to dive at all our regular fantastic dives with our Mantas and, if you are lucky, our Whales sharks. With 3 dives a day visiting different sites, the trip will offer you fantastic diving and the added value of our guest marine biologist from the Marine Conservation Society, who will offer informal marine ecology fish and coral identification talks.
We will also be joined on the trip by a radio journalist who will be making a radio broadcast about the trip and the conservation program we at MST and the MCS run, monitoring the wonderful reefs of the Maldives. It promises to be great fun with tons of great diving so why not join in and make a difference.
This is a relaxed way to take an active part in marine conservation and to learn more about the reef systems of the Maldives and the world. The research input is purely voluntary and if you are not interested and don't want to take part in the actual surveys it will in no way interrupt a normal 3 dive a day liveaboard itinerary. During each week we visit one of our selected ongoing monitoring sites. Divers interested are asked to do a simple count of fish types and number they see during their dive. Others will be asked to take a 100m tape measure down and place this over the reef making notes of coral types and the general health of the coral within it. This data is collected and added to the dataset of survey data going back to 2005 - the year after the Indian Ocean tsunami. We use this information to assist with the overall protection of the Maldives reef systems and the MCS, as the regional co-ordinator of Reef Check, has other teams collecting data in the Maldives. It is fun and worthwhile and as an added bonus all divers joining the trips will get a free year’s membership to the MCS.
SS 226a 31 May to 8 Jun, 7 nights £1395 plus £67 UK departure taxes
SS 226b 31 May to 13 Jun, 12 nights £1995 plus £67 UK departure taxes
Price per person in Pounds Sterling includes economy class scheduled flights from the UK with Emirates or Sri Lankan Airlines, airport to liveaboard transfers, full board accommodation in an air-conditioned, en-suite twin/double cabin, canned soft drinks, teas, coffees and snacks, drinking water, all diving, use of tanks and weights and various excursions, a coral reef CD, and one year membership to the marine Conservation Society.
Click on the MCS trip note below for more details.
Click here for the MCS trip note details
Click here for the MCS Maldives Reef Status Update Report 2006
Download the MCS report from previous trips 2005
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NEW ISLANDS
Those of you who have received our latest price list will see there are some new and exciting islands we are representing that are not yet in the island section on this website. We are in the process of updating this but we do have all the details for you in the office - just give us a call! The new islands we have include:
Anantara: Absolute 5 star luxury!
Medhufushi: A welcome return to our portfolio - one of our favourites and back after full refurbishment
Maayafushi: Another great divers island that was always very popular with our clients
Reethi Beach Up in the remote Baa Atoll and similar to the much loved Filitheyo
Mirihi A wonderful and unique little island hideaway
Meeru A wonderful and unique little island hideaway
Vilu Reef Great resort with lots of facilities and a great all round feel
Meedhupparu: The only resort in the north and remote Raa Atoll
Paradise Island: A beautiful 5 star resort just minutes away from the airport with lots to offer
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