Liveaboards: Diving in the Maldives Islands

General Information

We are the pioneers of liveaboard diving in the Maldives, we know all the best dive sites and continue to discover more. We do not operate fixed itineraries; instead each trip is planned based on local conditions, the seasons and our years of experience.

Diving is not limited; three ocean dives are planned each day, and additional dives, including night dives, are available from the main vessels. All dives are preceded by a thorough dive briefing from our instructors/Dive Masters and the guides are there to ensure you enjoy every aspect of your dive.

Our daily diving schedule is planned as follows:
07:00 Dive 1
11:00 Dive 2
15:00 Dive 3
Night diving where and when conditions permit.

Our pages on diving will give you more information on the types of dive sites in the Maldives and our FAQ pages should help you with any other questions you may have about the liveaboards.

Diver entering water, Maldives Scuba Diving

Requirements to dive

All divers need to hold full certification with any of the main dive training agencies. To dive deeper than 18m Maldivian Government legislation requires all divers to be certified to PADI Advance Open Water or equivalent.

We encourage all our guests to be qualified to a minimum of PADI Advanced Open Water or equivalent however, if you are not yet certified to this level, our instructors can offer a PADI Advanced Open Water course during the trip.

The Maldivian Government advise that Sport Diving should not take place below 30m.

We ask all guests to bring their log books and diving certificates. In addition, all passengers must provide evidence of a valid diving insurance policy.

Divers do not need to provide all their own dive equipment, we do have regulators, stab jackets and dive computers available for hire.

Dive Support Boats

Our carefully designed 14 and 16 meter dive support boats offer great comfort and safety for our guests. All diving takes place from these vessels which have their own dedicated crew and carry all the dive equipment and compressors. Tanks are filled in place on the tank rack so guests need only assemble their BCD and regulator once at the start of the trip. Under the bench seating, guests have their own stowage boxes for their dive kit.

Each Dive support boat has two K14 compressors fitted into the hull, which means they operate silently and can fill 16 tanks in 60 minutes or so. Air is filtered through two P41 filters and through additional carbon filters for added safety.

We carry back-up electric compressors aboard the mother ships. Often, the best diving in the Maldives is to be found in the narrow channels between the ocean and the atoll rim and it is important to have a boat that is easy to manoeuvre and with a shallow draft to ensure the safety of divers during pick-up. Our dive support vessels offer this essential safety platform.

Technical diving

Nitrox
Both the MV Sea Queen & the MV Sea Spirit offer Enriched Air Nitrox diving and courses. We use a partial blending system and we fill to Nitrox 40%. Nitrox 32 % is charged at US$8 per fill.

Enriched Air Nitrox is air that has had more oxygen added and divers use enriched air to extend the no-decompression limits beyond air no-decompression limits. This gives extended bottom time. However, due to the toxic effects of oxygen at depth, diving on Nitrox 32, for example, does restrict your depth to 40m.

Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) Courses
These nitrox courses are available on both the MV Sea Queen & MV Sea Spirit. We have the following options:
Nitrox Try Dive - A short technical briefing followed by a dive with a Nitrox fill and use of a Nitrox computer US$25.
Full Nitrox Course - This includes a lecture, 3 hours of self study and 2 Nitrox Dives. Equipment, use of course materials and Nitrox gas included - US$159 + US $35 certification fee. Manual costs US$21.

Rebreather Diving
Using our partial pressure filling stations, we can offer pure oxygen fills up to an average of 130bar. This allows us to offer support facilities to divers with their own rebreathers. Scrubber material is available - please call us for the latest price. Any guests who book onto our liveaboards should notify us in advance if they intend to use rebreathers.

Dive Courses

Such is the nature of liveaboard diving, we do not offer any Open Water or beginner courses. However, for qualified divers we offer a broad range of PADI speciality courses which can be carried out during your trip.

Some of those available are:
PADI Advanced Open Water - US$239 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Deep Diver Specialty - US$149 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Underwater Videographer - US$179 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Underwater Photographer - US$179 + US $35 certification fee (includes use of camera)
PADI Drift Diver Specialty - US$99 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Fish Identification Specialty - US$99 + US $35 certification fee
Nitrox Diver - US$159 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Navigation Specialty - US$129 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Underwater Naturalist - US$99 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Project Aware - US$79 + US $35 certification fee
PADI Night Diver Specialty - US$129 + US $35 certification fee (includes torch is required)
PADI Coral Reef Conservation - US$129 + US $35 certification fee

Please let us know in advance if you would like to do any of these courses and we can notify the boats accordingly.

Rental Equipment

Guests should have their own masks, fins, snorkels and wet suits. We have Regulators, BCDs and computers available for hire. The cost of these items is US$50 per item for 7 day trips and US$100 per item for 13 day trips.

Safety

The safety of our guests is paramount. Both liveaboards and the dive support vessels carry a comprehensive first aid kit and pure oxygen. Both boats also have ship to shore radio/telephone and GPS. All divers are given the use of a personal dive safety flag which straps to their dive tank. These are not bulky items and they give additional security to guests surfacing from a dive.

There are two decompression facilities available in the Maldives and we are, as a rule, always within communication range. In an emergency, evacuation can be arranged by Sea plane or speed boat.

Respect For Our Marine Life

The marine life of the Maldives is among the richest in the world and it is a privilege to dip into the ocean for an hour at a time to observe the wonderful creatures that live there. Our guides on board give thorough briefings before each dive and in certain areas where we see mantas and whalesharks we ask our guests to follow guidelines in order to cause as little disturbance to these wonderful creatures as possible and also to remain safe while doing so. Below are two such examples:

Whaleshark Alley, South Ari Atoll
If a whale shark is spotted the boat will be positioned no less than 25 meters away from the shark.

Snorkellers must get into the water as quietly and as orderly as possible following the guide to the whaleshark.

For your own safety, never find yourself alone, always stay with the group or at least with one other snorkeller.

Once passengers are clear of the boat, the boat must carefully move away from the area, keeping a good distance from the shark and snorkellers but still in contact so as to offer safety cover for the snorkellers. The boat crew must keep constant observation of its party at all times.

Once in the water and near a shark, stay at least 3 meters away from the shark and a strictly no-touching policy is enforced. Anyone found touching the shark will be asked to leave the water.

It is to your advantage never to swim directly in front of the shark, as this behaviour invokes it to dive and therefore finishing the encounter. Also do not swim over the top of the shark as this has the same effect.

Keep your body position flat on the surface, try not to tread water close to a shark. Be mindful of your fins not only towards the shark but also toward the other guests in the water with you, a knock on the head from a vigorous fin stroke can hurt a lot.

If a shark swims towards you and you cannot easily move away lie flat on the surface like a starfish, arms and legs spread and do not fin or move until the shark has passed you. Please do not duck dive or free dive, stay on the surface.

Photographers , please remember that you have zoom facility if you want a closer shot. Please respect these guide lines and do not get too close. Remember life exist outside your view finder.

It is important to note that you will be swimming in the open ocean and there is no convenient reef to hang on to. Should you get tired or exhausted, stop swimming and rest, it is hard work swimming alongside an 8 metre whale shark moving at 2 knots ! Don’t over exert yourself.

You should be confident in the water and at snorkelling, always assess the condition of the weather and sea state and enter only if you feel comfortable with the conditions and your own ability.

If you want or need to exit the water move at least 30 metres away from the shark and other snorkellers and signal to the boat with one arm held high, then the cover boat will approach you. It’s very important when the boat approaches that you always stay on the surface, never duck dive in front of the boat or swim towards the boat, the boat will come to you. Stay as close together as possible to any other guests exiting the water with you so the boat has just one point to approach.

Hanifaru Lagoon, Baa Atoll
This a wonderful place to dive and snorkel with manta rays and occasionally to see whalesharks. The best time to visit this area is the south west monsoon period between May and November. During this period the lagoon acts as a trap for oceanic plankton and this tiny lagoon can at times host a feeding frenzy of 100+ mantas including a few whalesharks. It is a very small area, about the size of a football field, with only one entrance and is approximately 20 metres deep in the middle. The already established code of practice should be followed ; mainly that boats should enter the lagoon slowly and anchor at the far end of the lagoon. Once anchored, and using the boat as a platform, divers and snorkellers should access the lagoon. Boats should under no circumstance move freely around the lagoon as this will be very dangerous to divers and snorkellers.

We ask that the same rule of encounter be applied to this area, although we respect that with fast moving manta rays it is harder to predict their movements. But they are amazingly intelligent animals and as long as the divers or snorkellers don’t touch them or try to ride them, they will be unaffected by your presence and long encounters can be enjoyed.

For the best observation, if diving or snorkeling, stay together as a group, don’t get split up.

If you are lucky you may witness a feeding “cyclone of mantas” where they all mass together and start an amazing circling effect; mouths wide open scooping in tons of plankton per hour. Please do not duck dive into the middle of this circle, this will break up the behavior and you will miss out on one of Mother Nature’s most spectacular underwater sights.

Above all we want you to have a fun, safe and enjoyable experience while watching these animals, we feel that with responsible behavior of both operator and tourists, there is plenty of room for us all.

If you wish to see and follow the whaleshark research that is been carried out in the Maldives, or wish to contribute or assist in the development, please see their website:

Maldives Whaleshark Research Program
www.mwsrp.org/research
email: info@whalesharkresearch.co.uk

Manta Ray & Diver, Hanifaru Lagoon, Baa Atoll