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 docks at Hulhumalé island in the Maldives after a great week of diving…

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The Black Pearl liveaboard, whose mission is to comfortably transport divers to the Maldives’ best dive sites, has returned to Hulhumale’ island of the North Male Atoll after a great week of diving.

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s final dives were performed at the Northern Ari Atoll (also called the Alif Alif Atoll), which boasts some of the Maldives’ most magnificent dive sites. The Southern Ari Atoll also features an area of beautiful diving destinations, including Broken Rock and protected marine area Kuda Rah Thila.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives to Lhamiyaru Gaa Thila & Maaya Thila

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s initial dives took place at Lhamiyaru Gaa Thila and Maaya Thila.  The dive at Maaya Thila was an especially wonderful dive, where the current were very weak and the divers had the opportunity to closely observe the Malidves’ fish without much effort, such as Clownfish and Oriental Sweetlips.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Maldives

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s third dive was planned as a night dive to Maaya Thila. However, the dive was cancelled for safety reasons due to poor weather conditions.

Black Pearl Liveaboard Dives to Makaru Thila

The Black Pearl liveaboard‘s last dive took place at Makaru Thila, where grey reef sharks and juvenile white tips were seen up close.

The return trip to Hulhumale’ island began right after the last dive at Makaru Thila.

All the divers checked-out this morning.

The new groups of divers arrived this morning and right now the Black Pearl liveaboard is getting ready for the check dive.

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Rasdhoo to North Ari atoll

Early morning Hammer Head dive took place at Rasdhoo Madivaru on Thursday, the underwater condition was poor mainly because of visibility. Only few divers got to witness 4 Hammerhead Sharks.

Anchored at Maayfushi lagoon and went off for second dive at Maaya Thila which turned out to be an amazing dive.

Much more action on Maaya Thila during the night dive, the current condition was strong which led to heaps of White Tip Reef sharks and many other fish.

(Big Nose Surgeon Fish)

Moving South

Out of 3 dives which took place on Friday, Mushimasmingili Thila (Fish Head) ranks first and interesting dive, clear visibility with average current and tons of fish including 4 Gray Reef Sharks.

The second most interesting dive holds Raidhigaa Thila, again with very clear waters, displaying colorful soft corals and many Gray Reef Sharks.

Whale Shark search

Saturdays first dive to Angaga Thila, the visibility remain unchanged but its resident Gray Reef Sharks and Tuna’s were missing due to inadequate current.

The same story repeated on the southern border and didn’t catch sight of whale sharks too and the visibility on 3rd dive at 5 rocks remains very poor.

(Gaint Squirrel fish)

Mantas at Dhigu Rah Lagoon

On returning from the dive to main boat the dive guide spotted Mantas inside the lagoon from Dhigu Rah. Having enough time before sunset, everyone decided to go for snorkeling with Mantas.

MV Sting Ray will be heading to south Male’ atoll tomorrow and will perform the top dive sites including around south Male’ before the trip comes to an end.

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.

On the 12th we made our first dive at Nassimo Thila. At 6:30 we began with good visibility and strong current. This week our divers got to witness this oval shaped Thila (reef that rises sharply to the surface of the water) located in the north Male’ atoll. Rising up to 10 – 12 meters from the surface, the main attraction of Nassimo Thila is the series of scattered coral chunks in deeper depths.

These coral blocks are covered with pastel colors of soft coral. The abundant fish life, like lagers pelagic and the invertebrates makes this Thila one of the top dive sites in Maldives.

For the second jump we took the divers to Boduhithi Thila at 10:30, which is located on the western side of the north Male’ atoll. The thila rises up to 8 meters below the surface of the water while the sides of the Thila slope down to a sandy bottom at 30 meters deep. The sand bays on the top reef provide cleaning stations for manta rays. We were lucky and saw seven manta rays during the dive.

After returning to the Adventurer 2 we started to cross the channel heading to the north Ari atoll. We aimed for Maayafushi lagoon and were able to take a night dive at Maaya Thila.

With almost no current and a notoriously amazing fish life during the night, Maaya Thila once again held its reputation.