Hurry and take advantage of this extremely special price on the Black Pearl liveaboard.

50% OFF – JUST US$588 FOR 7 NIGHTS

September 20 – 27, depart from Male.

Just US$588 for 1 male guest on a 7 night diving safari on the comfortable and stylish Black Pearl in the Maldives.

NO on board charges appears.

Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to book!

Comfortable & Stylish Black Pearl Liveaboard

Check-in & Check–out:

Please check in for cruise no later than 14:00 in Male on Sep 20th and check out by 10:00 on Sep 27th.  Please take these times into account when booking flights to and from the Maldives.

Black Pearl liveaboard sets sail, commencing a new week of diving adventures in the Maldives!

Black Pearl live aboard performed its last dive of the week to Maaya Thila, North Ari Atoll. Once the dive was finished, the Black Pearl started heading back to Hulhumale’ of the North Male’ Atoll.

Maaya Thila Dive Site

The Maaya Thila dive was one of the best dives last week with regards to Maldives marine life. Although the visibility was below average, there was an abundance of fish life, where highlights included grey reef sharks, dogtooth tuna and white tip reef sharks.

Grey Reef Shark at Maaya Thila

Visiting Male’,  Capital City of the Maldives

It took about 3 and a half hours to cross Alihuras Kandu, the channel that separates Ari Atoll and Male’ Atoll. During the crossing, the sea remained calm, allowing for an extremely pleasant and enjoyable cruise back to Male’. The clear Maldivian weather was an added bonus. After reaching Hulhumale’, the anchoring process began. Once fully anchored, the guests took off for their visit to Male’, the capital of the Maldives.

Guests Departure and Arrival

Black Pearl‘s guests from the UK departed on the morning of the 23rd, the same day the new diving group arrived, which was a total of 12 divers from Switzerland. The orientation dive began after lunch.

Farukholhu Fushi Beyru Faru, aka Faru Beyru, Dive

Mobula Rays in the Maldives

The orientation dive at Farukholhu Fushi Beyru Faru (also called Faru Beyru) turned out to be a very exciting check dive for everyone. We saw 10 mobula rays…Absolutely unbelievable! The orientation dive to Farukholhu Fushi Beyru Faru, aka Faru Beyru, was a great start to the week! Mobula is a genus of ray in the family Myliobatidae (eagle rays). Their appearance is similar to that of manta rays, which are in the same family. The devil fish can attain a disc width of up to 5.2 meters (17 feet) and probably can weigh over a ton, second only to the manta ray in size. Despite their size, there is little known about this genus. Black Pearl recently spotted a mobula, also called devil fish, at Kandooma Thila dive site.

The Black Pearl Liveaboard performed dives at popular Maldives dive site Kandooma Thila, later crossing over to the South Ari Atoll…

Yesterday, the Black Pearl live aboard performed Kandooma Thila for the first dive. With a strong current flowing from west to east and visibility at around 10 to 15 meters, divers managed to spot 6 grey reef sharks.

Scuba Diving Tips for Kandooma Thila

While diving at Kandooma Thila when the currents are strong, there are few points to consider in order maximize your bottom time, reduce drifting and ensure a safe dive.

Scuba Diving Tip #1 for Kandooma Thila – Strong Outgoing Current

Firstly, if a strong outgoing current is present, then get ready for a negative entry, making sure that you have deflated all air from you BCD and that your weight belt is on. As soon as you hit the water, start your descent head first and swim to deeper waters, allowing the reef to protect you.

Scuba Diving Tip #2 for Kandooma Thila – Drifting

Secondly, don’t drift all at once. The reef is no more than 350 meters in length and you don’t want to run out of reef and abort the dive. Make a habit of stopping or hooking the reef every now and then to observe your surroundings.

Bat Fish, Platax Teira, a fish from the Indo-West Pacific

Scuba Diving Tip #3 for Kandooma Thila – Reef

Thirdly, don’t swim away from the reef when the current is strong since you might not be able to get back to the reef. The current pushes you away from the reef when they’re strong.

Scuba Diving Tip #4 for Kandooma Thila – Surface Balloon

Lastly, be sure to carry a surface balloon and start inflating it as soon as you start your ascent or reach shallower water.

After diving, the guests snorkeled, followed by a tasty lunch. During lunch, the Black Pearl liveaboard began crossing the channel to the South Ari Atoll.

Present location of the Black Pearl live aboard is the Dhangethi Region, Southern Ari Atoll.

Guests aboard the Black Pearl Liveaboard dive at Nassimo Thila and Kuda Giri in the Maldives…

The Black Pearl liveaboard began the day’s first dive from Nassimo Thila, which is considered to be one of the Maldives’ best dive sites.

Nassimo Thila Dive Site

During your next diving holiday in the Maldives, Nassimo Thila is a must! Nassimo Thila is an oval-shaped Thila displaying a good variety of colourful, soft corals. The most interesting aspect of Nassimo Thila is the randomly scattered pinnacles.

Nassimo Thila features scattered coral blocks rising from the ocean floor up to 23 meters, as well as caves and overhangs where divers can swim around and observe the beauty of this oval-shaped thila.

Tubastrea

Gulhi Island, South Male’ Atoll

The weather conditions improved, allowing the Black Pearl liveaboard to cross over to the island of Gulhi in the South Male’ Atoll.

Kuda Giri Dive Site

The second dive was performed at Kuda Giri as night dive. Kuda Giri is one of the ideal locations around the Male’ Atoll for to perform an easy night dive site. This small Giri offers everything from beautiful coral growth to interesting reef dwellers during the night.

Caves and overhangs are filled with a species of sponge called tubastrea, also known as sun coral. Marine life includes leaf fish, scorpion fish, moray eels and nudibraches.

The Black Pearl, a Maldivian liveaboard, sets sail once again, and is currently at the Himmafushi island of the Male’ Atoll…

This week, the Black Pearl liveaboard set off with 11 divers from Switzerland. Following the check-in orientation dive, the diving team headed to the outer reef of the Farukholufushi unihabitated Maldivian island. Learn more about the liveaboards offered by Maldives Dive Travel here!

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives at Banana Reef

This morning, the first dive took place at Banana Reef, where visibility was fantastic, allowing us to see a large collection of Maldives marine life, such as Clownfish, Whale Shark, Reef Shark and Manta Rays.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives at Lankan Manta Point

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s second dive was to the Lankan Manta Point, truly a top of the line dive. The diving group saw 7 manta rays, 4 of which were happily parked at the cleaning station of Lankan Manta Point. Throughout the dive, the other 3 manta rays periodically glided through the Lankan Manta Point’s cleaning station.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives at HP Reef

Manta Ray at Lanka Manta Point, North Male Atoll

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s third dive was to HP reef, where divers spotted a sting ray and a couple of eagle rays.

North East Monsoon Transition Period

The North East Monsoon transition period has begun, which has caused less-than-optimal weather conditions during the past week, such as isolated showers and gusty winds, where the average wind speed is 15 – 25 mph, gusting up to 45 mph. However, this Maldives weather is limited mostly to the central and southern Maldivian atolls.

Current Diving Conditions

Weather: Widespread rain with isolated heavy showers and thunderstorms will be experienced over the country. Get up-to-date Maldives weather here!

Winds: South-west / westerly 9 – 17 knots in northern atolls and 13 – 22 knots elsewhere. Winds may increase 35 – 43 knots during showers.

Visibility: 10 km, becoming 3 – 1 km during showers.

State of the sea: Generally rough.

Wave Height (open sea): 5 – 7 feet.

“Although the week started off with shitty weather the crews were so dedicated to treat us with fine dive sites and great spotting and delicious food that it turned out to be a great week.”

Many Thanks -Joris & Tineke-

26th August 2009

“How do you empty the black pearl of all its guests?

Shout: whale sharks

Dive – eat – sleep all fantastic on the pearl. Big thanks to all the crew”.

Many Thanks -Markus-

“Thanks for the great hospitality & great dive crew. Food was tremendously well prepared and diving sites were well guided. A must see for an adventure.”

-Anton- 24th August 2009

“Lovely week on the boat, thanks to all the crew to a fantastic week. I look forward to the next visit”.

-Michelle-

26th August 2009

“What a wonderful start to our honeymoon thanks to all the crew for the excellent food, dives and hospitality. It’s been unforgettable and can’t wait to be back.”

-Becky & Lukas-

26th August 2009

Poor Visibility, but Cool Sharks Nonetheless

This morning everyone woke up while the Black Pearl was moving from Maayafushi lagoon to Bathala Maaga Kan Thila and diving started at around 06:45.

We have noticed today and in the past weeks that the visibility is deteriorating.  These are the typical signs of monsoon seasons changing.  With less than 15 meters of visibility and medium / strong current still we managed to see gray reef sharks, white tip and the uncommon but occasionally seen silver tip reef shark.

Today’s second dive was at Hafsa Thila (also known as Makaru Thila) which is further inside the atoll near Maaya Thila. We had the worst visibility that we have experienced so far out of all the previous trips; Only 5 to 6 meters of visibility!!!!!

High Visibility Allows for Excellent Sightings

We moved to Rasdhoo atoll for the third dive at Rasdhoo Madivaru. With no current, but much better visibility, we were able to have a great dive. White Tips, Gray reef sharks and Mobula Ray were among the highlights at Rasdhoo Madivaru.

In spite of poor visibility today, we got to see a fantastic display of sharks, and most of all seeing silver tip reef sharks was totally worth it.