Dive Maldives - Onboard Nautilus 2
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By Justin Dean in Diving Published: Sunday, 28 September 08 - 11:48 AM (GMT) Last Updated: Sunday, 28 September 08 - 12:42 PM (GMT) |
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I have just returned from a very relaxing and enjoyable week in the Maldives. The trip was arranged by Tony Backhurst on board the liveaboard Nautilus 2. I travelled with my friends Ben and Ros, and we flew with Emirates via Dubai.
We had a lovely time with many positive experiences. We saw some beautiful wildlife including Eagle Rays, Whale Shark, Great Reef Ray, White Tip Sharks, Grey Reef Shark, Leopard Shark, Green Turtles, Moray (and honeycombed Moray!) as well as the usual array of reef fish including Anenome Fish, Titan Trigger Fish, Unicorn Fish, Batfish, Lion Fish, Oriental Sweet Lips, Yellow Snapper, Blue Fin Trevali, Octopus etc etc. We stopped on a deserted desrt island one evening for a BBQ, which was lovely, but the memory of the week for me has to be the most fantastic night dive I have ever done. We were completely surrounded by swimming Moray, Green Turtles and Feeding White Tip Sharks for the entire dive. It was truly amazing!
Emirates is a very good Airline. For a change there were no problems at check-in or bagagge reclaim and I was hugely impressed.
Despite the positive experiences, sadly this liveaboard did not stand out as anything special for me. I think the Nautilus 2 could offer so much more. I am not going to write a long post about the whole experience, but will leave these brief notes for any other divers considering a booking.
----- Lots more photos can be found here -----
Although we enjoyed the week the general feedback on the liveaboard quality was distinctly average. The biggest problem was that guests arrived and departed over a period of two days which essentially means that everyone looses a day diving. In addition the dive guides have to provide several introductory briefings and not all information is provided to all guests, and quite often we were left feeling completely confused with what was going on. It also didn't help that Tony Backurst was not the sole agent responsible for arranging the trip. What they don't tell you when you book is that Nautilus 2 is Austrian owned and half the guests seem to be British and the other half Austrian. It seemed that the whole dual agency thing was the cause of most of the confusion. The itinery was not focussed on finding what we had come all this way to see - a Manta Ray. The boat dived a majority of easier dive sites inside the Atols, and didn't reach Ari Atol for several days. Nitrox fills were free but random - anywhere between 23% and 32%.
Compared to other divers experiences of liveaboards in the Maldives it seems that Nautilus 2 can not be recommended until their organisation improves. I am writing to Tony Backhurst to let them know my thoughts, and will post any replies here. In the meantime if anyone is looking for a good Maldives liveaboard experience I would try http://www.scubascuba.com/ who I intend to use for a return visit.
2 Comments so far: |
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| Nice pictures you have there. Wish I cou (...) | Ces | 09/29/08 |
| Thanks Ces | Justin Dean | 09/29/08 |
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Top | Reply to this Author: Ces (http://ces.terapad.com) Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 10:45 AM (GMT) Nice pictures you have there. Wish I could dive too. 
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Top | Reply to this Title: Thanks Ces Author: Justin Dean 
(http://justindean.terapad.com/)Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 11:06 AM (GMT) I hope you start doing some lessons so I can dive with you when I visit the Philippines :-) |
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