March, 2011

Maldives

The best diving. Beautiful coral, an abundance of sea life, an incredible variety of fish, warm clean water, and warm people. I spent 9 days on the live aboard, Manthiri, with 11 great people on a trip organized by Mass Divers in Natick, MA. The crew of the Manthiri is fantastic, headed up by Moosa, one of the most knowledgeable and friendliest, divemaster you are likely to find and a great photographer as well. The highlights of the trip were the whale shark and the manta rays. The was a plethera of anemone with their resident fish. The soft coral in blues, yellows, pinks and whites was beautiful. Turtles, eels, spinner dolfins, sharks, octopus, ... basically each dive (of which there were 3-4 per day) was an adventure. Mark Potter of Mass Divers did a nice job of organizing the trip insuring that everything ran smoothly for leaving Natick to returning there 14 days later. The getting to the Maldives and back was the only downside. Over 24 hours travel time each way was not fun but worth it.