Diving started early in the morning with wake up at 5:30. We jumped shortly after the sunrise to Rasdhoo Madivaru.

Unfortunately the dive ended without seeing a single hammer head, despite this, in general the diving and underwater encounters for this week were outstanding.

(Rhinomuraena Quaesita)

After coming back to Hulhumale’ all the divers went off to Male’ the capital city visit for about 2 hours and returned back to Sting Ray for dinner.
The check out was at 08:30 on Sunday morning. All the divers left Sting Ray and Maldives with promise to return back soon.

This season diving was outstanding in both the quality of dives and the underwater encounters. Whale sharks, Mantas, Gray Reef Shark were commonly seen while the small species like Frog fish, nudis, leaf fish and others were also seen on regular basis from Dega Thila and other sites.

Diving began this morning at Makaru Thila also called Hafza Thila. It’s been few weeks that Makaru Thila remained very quiet but today was packed with action. We saw Gray reef sharks a bit away from the Thila just circling back and forth while tunas were chasing Fusiliers at mega speed.

The second turned out to be a productive dive at Bathalaa Maaga Kan Thila in terms of fish life. The stronger out-going currents brought more gray reef sharks, white tips and other large pelagic.

Gray Reef Shark

We moved to Rasdhoo atoll for the third dive and did Rasdhoo Madivaru. Here the current was mild, and gave us the chance to dive under very relaxed condition while exploring the caves at the ocean side all the way to the tip of the extended bridge, and inside the sand dune area and finished off at the coral bummies inside the channel.

Tomorrow morning early morning hammer head dive will be the last dive of the trip and will be heading back to Hulhumale’.

Diving started this morning at 6:30 from Dhonkalo Thila Manta Point. The current was running out which is the proper current for good sightings at Dhonkalo. Despite the strong current we managed to see 3 mantas for about 50 minutes.

Second dive at Fesdu Wreck, considered as one of the best wrecks around here and it hold the title because of its excellent coral growth. From black coral bushes to different varieties of soft coral and sponges, there is ample assortment. In terms of fish life this wreck is famous for seeing frog fish and leaf fish.

Third jump was to Maaya Thila, at around 15:00 and the visibility remained poor. Apart from these conditions the rest was perfect. Gray reef and white tip sharks, eagle ray and many more fish species were among the highlights.

The last dive was in the evening at Maaya Thila for a Night Dive. This is one of the best sites, and also the dive everyone looks forward to. Everything from white tip sharks hunting the fusiliers, turtle resting in caves and stingray feeding on the top reef makes this dive one of the top ranking night dives.

Today,  for the first dive we went to Dega Thila, which is uniquely formed and home to thousands of invertebrate’s. This reef has  lately been famous for seeing Frog Fish, and today we found 4 frog fish. Despite the poor visibility close observation on sponges and black coral bushes offered a great variety of small stuff to see.

The second dive was to Maalhos Thila, considered as one of the best in terms of hard coral and soft coral varieties, offers one of the best coral dives in Maldives. The jumping time couldn’t be any perfect, with almost no current we managed to do an enjoyable an easy dive.

Leopard Shark

The third dive was planned for Dhonkalo Thila but the current was running in, and after a brief explanation to the divers about the poor current direction, we decided to dive Dhonkalo Thila tomorrow morning and switch today’s third dive to Ran Faru.

Located on the north side of Maalhos Thila, this reef is a common site for a third dive when current conditions are poor. The main attraction here is the caves and the chunk of coral block near the corner. These areas are covered with different colors of soft coral and the hard coral growth is average. Due to the sandy bottoms here, Leopard sharks visit this dive site to rest on the soft grounds, and seeing one here will be an unforgettable experience.

The first dive began today at 06:30 and we went off to Kuda Rah Thila. After checking the dive guide announce that there are strong currents, we let the divers know that a quick descend was necessary in order to get the best vantage point. We jump a few meters away from the Thila and began navigating to the reef.

The action of the up current created poor visibility but it was clear enough to see the giant dog tooth tunas that were chasing the school of fusiliers at the up current.

Whale Shark

After the dive, during breakfast, the Sting Ray sailed to the outer reef in search of whale sharks. Before the search began everyone agreed that we would make only 2 dives and gave more concentration on the search. About 3 hours in we found the first whale shark near Holiday Island Beyru Faru.

Everyone got to snorkel with it while divers who had cams could snap photographs and shoot videos of the massive fish.

For the third dive we moved to western side of the atoll to Raidhigaa Island and dove at Dhigaa Thila. The visibility remained poor on this dive too, but when we observed the caves and overhangs closely we managed to see loads of small stuff.

On returning from the third dive and after a snack everyone went of f to the barbeque feast on an uninhabited Island.

This morning at Kandooma Thila the current was running in at medium to strong, so we decided to begin the dive from Cocoa Corner and cross the channel and finish the dive at Kandooma Thila.

We jumped to Cocoa Corner and once all the divers were underwater we began to swim towards the corner and by facing the current we swam all the way to the middle of the channel and drifted inside the channel and finally ended at the Thila.

Many Gray Reef sharks were lingering at the channel entrance, while a few white tips congregated near the Thila and a school of eagle rays were also among the highlights.

Eagle Rays

The second dive we did at southern Ari atoll, Omadhoo Thila, with almost no current. This was not good for a big fish dive, but it was a rather relaxing dive with heaps of small fish instead.

The third dive was to 5 Rocks where the current was very strong, but all the divers managed to make a quick descent and get the protection of the reef. We saw a few white tips from the up current including dog tooth tunas and tons of fusiliers. After some time we drifted into the tiny channel and swam through it all until the shadow.

The visibility was poor in both the atolls but the dives turned out to very enjoyable. The weather is great with calm seas and the temperature remains at a sunny 30 degrees Celsius.

Tomorrow is a big day because we are going for a whale shark search after the first dive. For today our final anchorage is Dhangethi lagoon, and after the dive some of the divers went off to the island for an excursion.

Sting Ray embarks with 15 divers today on their last cruise for this season. The divers this week are British, French, German, Japanese and Singaporeans.

Having collected all the guests by mid day we headed to south Male’ atoll Guriadhoo Region and the orientation dive was made at Villivaru Giri.

The plan for this week is to move to south Ari atoll tomorrow after the first dive then to north Ari atoll and to finish it at Rasdhoo atoll.

Will keep all the reader updated on Sting Ray’s encounters and other activities as the week progresses.

Day 3 after over night at Guraidhoo diving started from:

Dive 1: Cocoa Corner
Channel crossed to southern Ari atoll
Dive 2: Omadhu Thila
Dive 3: Kahanbu Thila.
Highlights of the day: Gary Reef Sharks, Napoleons, Eagle Ray.

Day 4
Dive 1: 5 Rocks
Dive 2: Ari Beach Beyru
Dive 3: Thinfushi Ethere Thila
Highlights of the day: Whale Shark at Ari Beach Beyru.

Day 5

Dive 1: Kuda Rah Thila (Protected Marine Area)
Dive2: Rangali Madivaru Manta Point
Dive 3: Raidhigaa Thila
Highlight of the day: Kuda Rah Thila was fantastic as usual and was full of fish probably ranked as the best of this week. 3 Mantas at Manta Point an excellent dive.

Day 6

Dive 1: Dega Thila
Dive 2: Dhonkalo Thila
Dive 3: Maaya Thila Night Dive
Highlight: Unfortunately no mantas at Dhonkalo Thila but we had a great night dive – an all included fish life package.

Day 6

Dive 1 and the last of the week was Makaru Thila also called as Hafsa Thila.
Highlights of the day were Gray reef sharks, white tip, tunas and jacks.

After a productive week of diving all the guests checked out and departed on morning of the 21st. Overall this was a great week of diving especially because of the manta rays and the whale shark. After accomplishing an outstanding season of diving, the Black Pearl ends the season on a high note.

Fish Head,  Mushimasmigili Thila was the first dive at 06:30 with strong current and poor visibility. Couple of Gray Reef sharks and Napoleon were among the highlights.

We crossed the channel after the dive to south Male’ atoll and at 11:45 we dived at Kandooma Thila. Here we saw more gray reef sharks again, eagle rays and lots of other fish.

Our last jump landed us at Guraidhoo Corner. By then the current had changed to strong incoming with very clear visibility.  The dive began from the south corner and after hanging near the entrance of the channel we drifted inside where the current effect was like washing machine.

The final anchorage was at Guraidhoo and then next day, first thing in the morning, we started towards hulhumale’ and visited the capital city Male’

This was the last cruise of this season and Adventurer 2 will be going to the dry dock for maintenance.

In summary this season was very productive for diving. The north east monsoon provided good current and amazing fish life not to mention the number of whale sharks and mantas seeing compared to last years.

Adventurer 2′s blog will continue when the cruising resumes.

After a week of having no guests, the Black Pearl embarked with 14 divers yesterday and after the orientation night dive at Himmafushi lagoon, all divers were readied and approved for the first dive tomorrow at 06:30.

For the first dive we went to Nassimo Thila, and after that, we moved to south Male’ atoll to the dive site Embudhu Express. At Emdudhu Express the current was mild which led to a poor fish life plus the usual long drift.

The second dive was to Kuda Giri Wreck which was an enjoyable dive, and during the dive the Black Pearl moved to Guraidhoo Region for final anchorage.

Third dive of the day was at Lhosfushi Kandu the tiny channel south of Guraidhoo Island. Diving began from the southern corner. We then crossed the sandy shallow channel and ended up at the northern corner of Guraidhoo Kandu. We saw a school of Masked Banner fish, in the clearing of blue water, away from the reef. We were able to catch a glimpse of a few white tip reef sharks and different species of moray eels including a honeycomb moray.