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.

The Black Pearl liveaboard explores the Kandooma Thila, Vaagali Thila & Medhu Faru dive sites in the Maldives…

The Black Pearl Liveaboard, one of the Maldives’ finest scuba diving vessels, concludes yet another successful week of adventurous scuba diving and fun in the sun!

Kandooma Thila Dive Site

Kandooma Thila is one of the most renowned dive sites in the South Male / Guraidhoo region.  Kandooma Thila features healthy coral growth and an abundance of fish life with the right currents.

With around 10 to 12 meters visibility, the dive at  Kandooma Thila turned out to be a fantastic dive. The divers had the chance to swim with grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks and, of course, schooling jacks at Jack’s Corner.

Vaagali Thila Dive Site

The Black Pearl Liveaboard‘s second dive was to Vaagali Thila. Vaagali Thila is located southeast of Vaagali, an uninhabited island, and is the perfect dive site for spotting sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, fusiliers and jackfish. Furthermore, schooling snappers are often seen at Vaagali Thila as well.

Medhu Faru Dive Site

The Black Pearl Liveaboard‘s third and last dive of the day was to Medhu Faru, located south of Guraidhoo Island. Medhu Faru offered an easy, relaxing dive where white tip sharks and napoleon wrasse were the highlights.

Second Dive at Kandooma Thila

The Black Pearl Liveaboard ends the week in South Male’ Atoll, with another dive to Kandooma Thila, which ended up being a superb choice.  The current conditions were really good with a medium-strong current. Highlights at Kandooma Thila included white tip sharks, grey reef sharks and, to our delight, a mobula, also called a devil fish

Mobula, or Devil Fish

Mobula, also called devil fish, is a genus of ray in the family Myliobatidae (eagle rays). The appearance of a mobula 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 tip the scales at over a ton. The mobula is second only to the manta in size. Despite their size, the mobula remains one of the lesser-known ray species.

Mobula rays in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) have been reported to breach as high as 2 metres above the sea.

A mobula breaches, or jumps out of the water

Black Pearl Liveaboard Concludes Another Week of Diving

The Black Pearl Liveaboard will leave their guests at the airport  and resume diving on Monday morning.

The Black Pearl liveaboard explores the underwater marine life around the Maldivian North and South Male Atolls…

Fortunately, the weather in the Maldives brightened up, allowing the Black Pearl to perform three spectacular dives. Check out special offers for the Black Pearl liveaboard here!

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives Miyaru Faru

The Black Pearl‘s first dive was to Miyaru Faru, meaning Shark’s Reef. North of Black Pearl is a channel dive, where divers can take advantage of the island’s best currents, which generally bring lots of fish feeding on plankton. The current was not as fast as usual, though there remained an abundance of Maldivian fish life. Divers saw white tip sharks and napoleon wrasse during their dive at Miyaru Faru.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives Kuda Giri Wreck

Kuda Giri, in the South Male Atoll, possesses two dive sites: the giri, or pinnacle, and the small, 10-year-old wreck, which sits upright on the sea floor. The wreck can be explored from its bow at 18 meters all the way down to its stern at 30 meters.

Kuda Giri Night Dive

The Black Pearl dove the giri, or pinnacle, at night, discovering a large variety of noctural fish life, such as the nocturnal squirrel fish.

Kuda Giri Wreck Dive

The Kuda Giri wreck is a small fishing trawler, which was scuttled (or sunk deliberatively) at the south western side. The 25 meter long fishing trawler is home to many species, including beautiful sponges, seasonal school of glass fish, shrimps, nudibranches and many more.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives Kandooma Thila

Shaped like a teardrop, Kandooma Thila is one of the most spectacular dives in the South Male Atoll, for scenery as well as for prolific fish life.

During The Black Pearl‘s dive at Kandooma Thila, there was little current, though divers spotted a couple of white tip reef sharks.

Three Dives

After a superb dive at Kuda Rah Thila (Protected Marine Area), Sting Ray headed towards Omadhoo Thila for the day’s third dive.

At Kuda Rah Thila the current was extremely strong but displayed plenty of fish. On the up current were Yellow Back Fusiliers and Thin Lined Fusiliers. The caves were filled with blue stripped snappers exhibiting a yellow cloud.

The current faded to a milder version on the second dive but didn’t change the fish life. More white tip reef sharks and other pelagic were seen.

For the third dive Sting Ray crossed over to South Male’ atoll and dived at Medhu Faru in late afternoon. Among the highlights were Giant Trevallies that gathered near the fallen coral blocks and leaf fish.

The visibility remained poor both at Southern Ari and South Male’ atoll and the current were flowing out of the atoll most of the time.

Yellow Back Fusilier

Last dive of the trip

Fortunately the current was flowing in to the atoll early morning at around 6:00. This gave the opportunity for the diver to begin their dive at Cocoa Corner and cross over to Kandooma Thila to the end of the dive and the divers witnessed heaps of Gray Reef Sharks.

For most divers or for the shark lovers this is a must to do dive but can be a very strenuous dive as divers might have to swim across /against the current and spend dive below 25 to 28 meter. This is the best method to see the channel entrance and observe gray reef sharks, white tip and lots and lots of pelagic.

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.