September 26th - AIP
Ready for our next holiday adventure. Kuredu tasted like more, so we were eager to return to the Maldives. Finding a good and affordable option how ever wasn't an easy task. Final we found it: 1) Flying with Tyrolian Air, from Düsseldorf and via Vienna. 2) Vilamendhoo FB via Travelbag. So flights booked in Austria and hotel in The UK (long live internet!) provided the cheapest option. Downside (the catch) was the long stop-over in Vienna: 6 hours.
On arrival the airport was dull and dark. Route indication was bad. No trolleys. We decided to head for our gate. Long empty corridors with one X-Ray machine at the end (and a funny looking guy). And then ... a normal looking airport with the expected facilities (so strange).
The flight was quite empty. I could lay down! Not that I slept a lot, but okay. The arrival in Male was smooth and quick. Luggage all present. On our check in at the VIP Lounge the form stated AIP (All Inclusive Plus)?! Only 30 minutes later we are on our water plane. On arrival at Vilamendhoo we are still noted as AIP (?!). If that isn't corrected than our deal turns from good to super.
Time for a walk around and lunch. Sashimi, grilled fish, curry, etc ... very good. Also in the restaurant we are recognized as AIP. Later in the afternoon, at the bar: "are you AIP?". As I didn't want to lie I replied: "that's how they checked us in at reception this morning". "Let me check", "Yes, AIP".
On our walking tour around the island we were surprised. The ugly spots from a few years ago, were now looking nice. Last time's good spots now had ugly sand bags. Seems the sands moves around quite a bit (depending on the season?). So nice to see all the baby Black Tip Reef Sharks in the lagoon. And a bigger one ... no that's a baby Nurse Shark. What a joy.
Less joyful is that the only Dutch we see are our neighbors (attached). Luckily they return home tomorrow :-) The thing that isn't leaving are the clouds. Hopefully we will have sunshine to enjoy the coming two weeks.
And yes, a fruit basket, a bottle of red wine, and - ring ring - the roomboy with a (half size) bottle of champagne. How long will this AIP continue?
Getting ready for dinner: Maldivian night tonight. Yummy, curries! Tomorrow time to check in at the dive shop, and relax (that's the plan).
// Kuredu may be more gorgeous due to its long stretch of beach at the side we had our room, but Vilamendhoo's restaurant is nicer, without the hassle of making daily reservations. And the food is on par ... at least, maybe even better. So from a price performance point of view Vila beats Kuredu, for sure with our good deal! And ... you can walk around the island, something we missed at Kuredu. //
September 27th - Beautiful Day
We wake up, to our own surprise, due to the alarm we had set. It's 8 o'clock in the morning, and we fell asleep immediately, so we slept 10 hours straight. Aahh that feels soo good (normally my back wakes up after 7 hours tops). When we look outside we have a good reason to get up: the weather is lovely. Blue sky, a few scattered clouds and a nice sun. We hadn't expected that yesterday.
Time to check in. Matthieu (French) checked us in. "Did you dive with Eurodivers before?" "It's 15% discount, but than I need to see the stamps in your logbook." Opening my logbook I noticed I added the 2003-2008 logged dives, but forgot the 2008-2012 ones, which was the time we were at Vilamendhoo before. Luckily Hussein still recognizes us, pfew. On top of that, due to having more than 400 dives each, we didn't have to do a check dive (which is for free at Vilamendhoo, but we rather pay and skip the mask routine).
After lunch I go for some snorkeling. The viz is not very good, but it's so nice to see the baby Blacktip's under water. I just had to put them on video.
Tomorrow we will start our dives with a nice, just the two of us, on the house reef. Perfect!
September 28th - Slow start
Sunday, so champagne at breakfast. Better not as we go diving today. Maybe next week.
As we have learned over the years, it is best to give your holiday a slow start. Get used to the time zone, the climate and the diving. So we'll only do one dive today: the House Reef. As expected, from yesterdays snorkeling, the viz is not too well. We go down slowly, as clearing the ears needs some time. And there they are, the beautiful fish. A Picasso Triggerfish, a Titan Triggerfish ..... and YES, an Eagle Ray! A few Giant Moray Eels, a Scribbled Filefish and a few Nemo's. End of the dive. There is some current, so we did Exit 4 (at the dive shop) to Exit 1 (the last one, at the Asian Wok).
Jos: 61 [min] / 22.4 [m] | Petra: 61 [min] / 22.0 [m]
Just leave the tanks there, walk back to the dive shop to sign out and back to our room to take a shower. The staff picks up the empty tanks. Nice. Time for lunch, and oh boy is it good. Yes, life is good!
Time to take a nap on the sunbed at the ocean, and enjoying the view as well.
Bummer. The bill at the bar is including all drinks. When checking with the waiter he replies: "according the system you are on half board sir." I know we booked FB and not AIP, but HB?! Time to go to reception and clarify. After some back and forth phone calls they confirm they checked us in as AIP by mistake and our booking is confirmed as being FB. So, unfortunately, as of now we need to pay our bills :-)
It was also too good to be true, a super deal AND a free upgrade.
September 29th - Wind and Rain
I thought we had left the ventilator on during the night, but Petra said I must have dreamed that as it had been very windy during the night. When I looked outside I knew she was right. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, it was still a bit windy and it rained. But we are going to dive, so we are going to get wet anyway.
Today we are going to Nufeney Giri, which means invisible reef. Like our dive guide, we had seen reefs that were harder to spot from the boat. Once in the water the visibility wasn't brilliant. But the reef was very nice, with lots of fish. Petra even spots a White Tip Reef Shark.
Jos: 61 [min] / 22.0 [m] | Petra: 61 [min] / 22.0 [m]
Back on the boat our dive guide tells us we should expect similar visibility on the 2-Tank tomorrow. Maybe it is normal to have such low viz this time of the year (just like on Filitheyo). We'll see. According AccuWeather the weather will improve as of Wednesday, so we can maybe do a 3-Tank Whale Safari later this week.
Relaxing, strolling around the island, enjoying the view, the sunset and the beautiful light. Topped up with an excellent cocktail.
September 30th - Rain in Paradise
After a restless night the weather seemed to be not so good today. Grey skies and rain. Not what you wish when you are in paradise. But there is nothing we can do about it. Petra discovered yesterday that we could have an early (7:00 - 7:30) breakfast in the other restaurant, next to the dive shop, when your on a 2-Tank or Full Day. So we need to get up a little earlier, but no need to rush.
The dive staff is already there and tell us that there will be a "change of plan". The sea is too rough to go to Seventh Heaven, so they changed it to Vilamendhoo Thila, just around the corner. Okay.
There are two persons on the boat that had signed up for the "Specialty of the Month", being the "Drift Diving Specialty". Part of the course is to check the current ... no way, we will not sign up.
// Specialty of the Month: free course, only the certification fee needs to be paid //
The first dive was as expected. Lots of current. But also very poor visibility. Nice and strenuous, but - due to the viz - not very memorable.. At the end of the dive there is three of us? The dive guide (Adria) thought we were following her she explained us later on? During the safety stop we lost her again. Rejoined on the boat.
During the safety interval we had a chat with the guy from Switzerland. He had booked Wakatobi in March next year. Hope he sees a lot more fish than we did .... no worries about the reefs, they are gorgeous.
Jos: 58 [min] / 29.6 [m] | Petra: 58 [min] / 26.5 [m]
The second dive was even worse. Ripping current and bad viz. Reef hook out and hang was all we could do. Luckily I decide to move a little further from the group, due to that we saw two Whitetips passing by. Then Petra takes my arm and checks my deco time? Plenty of deco time (15min) left. Shit, now I see why she is checking my computer. She left her computer in air mode, so she already reached her bottom time. I sign her we should go up. Not so easy with a current pushing you down. After some drifting we ascent for our safety stop. Petra has 4 min mandatory stop. Nothing to worry about and they passed quickly.
Man man ... I what a hassle with my safety buoy. The rope is all around me, and than catches the rope of the reef hook, which is stuck around my camera .. . Man, I must look so stupid. Petra is laughing so hard that her goggles are flooding. I don't think it is funny.
Jos: 52 [min] / 22.9 [m] | Petra: 52 [min] / 23.5 [m]
As we had to go up so early due the computer incident we were very surprised we - again - entered the boat last?!
Hopefully the visibility will get better soon. I looking forward to a blue sea.
October 1st - Lucky
For today we only booked a single dive in the afternoon. So we can have a long sleep in and a long breakfast. The weather has improved a lot. So nice to see and feel the sun. The 10 minutes of rain doesn't impact the good vibe at all. Relaxing until lunch.
[John Legend, Satisfaction, keeps 'playing' in my head]
Today's dive is "Lucky Rock". Guides are Coleman and Eddy. Holger (Austria) and Christian, with his son Noah, (Switzerland), are on the boat again. The visibility is getting better .... bit by bit, we're getting there. I can take a nice pic of a Longnose Hawkfish (German name is so funny: Langnasen Büschelbarsch). A few Whitetips and a hunting Tuna. Back in the dive shop I am glad to see someone had picked up my reef hook.
Jos: 59 [min] / 30.5 [m] | Petra: 59 [min] / 26.5 [m]
Time for a nice cocktail at the sunset bar. A nice dinner, And than time to tuck in as tomorrow we have to get up early for our 2-Tank dive.
October 2nd - Mixed Emotions
Hardly any wind, and the sun is out. Signs of a beautiful day to come? After the early breakfast we are on the "Marina" to head south. Guides today are Coleman and Michelle. But they will be busy with a course, so not much of use to us. Matthieu - despite it being his day off - is on the boat as well . The current is okay, but the viz is still less then wanted. Unfortunately. I am sure there was a lot of action in "the blue", but with such viz you can't see it. All in all two very nice dives, both of which Holger joined us ... at least the safety stop. It seems he is just diving alone and circles a bit around us?
Jos: 61 [min] / 31.1 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 28.5 [m]
Jos: 61 [min] / 26.2 [m] | Petra: 62 [min] / 24.4 [m]
Another two memorable moments:
- Christian lost his camera. I see it going up to the surface and signal him where to look. After instructing his son to stay put, he ascents and picks it up.
- The first dive I mastered the Safety Buoy, But the second one was drama again. The rope grabs my octopus and the buoy pulls me up. After I have disentangled the rope the rope breaks and the buoy leaves on its own to the surface. Bye. [luckily the boat crew saw it and picked it up]
[Jamiroquai, Seven Days in Sunny June, keeps 'playing' in my head]
Let's check at the dive shop for Saturday's dives. The plan is to go to Lucky Hell (neighbor site of the previously cancelled 7th Heaven) and Vilamendhoo Thila. Hopefully the 1st one is on this time, and maybe we are lucky and see Eagle Rays at the 2nd. Let's give it a try.
The sun sets. We're halfway now. I hope the 2nd half isn't going faster then the 1st half of the holiday. I am nowhere ready yet to jump on the treadmill again!
October 3rd - Cancelled
Hmm. It's six in the morning and the wind is blowing hard and the sea is rough. When I want to go outside I can hardly open the door. Not really looking forward to sit on a boat half a day or more for a 2-Tanker with this weather. Petra has the same doubts and is glad I am too, rather than pushing to go. So ... time to cancel. Adria is already at breakfast and tells me I can give it a thought until 8 before finally cancelling it. "Maybe it clears up in an hour" she says, But she actually doubts that herself very much as well. No need to give it a thought, sorrywe're cancelling.
Holger also walks in to cancel. He knows what is going to happen. They won't go to Lucky Hell, and he doesn't like to do a 'just next to the island' 2-Tanker. Later I find out that this is his last day. Tomorrow they fly home. He gives me a tip for a next holiday though: he liked Mauritius a lot. Something we haven't done before. Maybe next time.
Later in the morning it does start to clear up and the wind lays down. So we decide to sign in for the afternoon dive: Miyaru Thila. Good choice as this was a nice dive. And visibility is getting better! Let's do the afternoon again tomorrow, and a House Reef in the morning. Entrance we'll decide later.
Jos: 60 [min] / 31.1 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 29.4 [m]
// Later we found out that all but 2 cancelled their 2-tank dive this day, so finally the 2-Tanker was completely cancelled //
October 4th - Return of the Sun
During the night I had seen stars, so I had good hopes for the weather to improve. The wet terrace when we left the room in the morning was not a prediction for the rest of the day, luckily. It's afternoon now and the weather is brilliant. Amazing how a few hours of sun makes you forget tons of rain so easily.
The dive on the House Reef this morning was very nice. We entered at exit 8, turned towards 7 a while and than returned to exit at 10. It all looks so much better under water now the visibility is improving. Hopefully this heralds a magnificent second week. AccuWeather is predicting all good until Tuesday at least. Fingers crossed.
Jos: 65 [min] / 26.0 [m] | Petra: 64 [min] / 23.7 [m]
We had already seen this morning that little people had signed up for the afternoon dive, Would it be on, or cancelled? It was on. But with only 3 divers it was a close by one only: Vilamendhoo Thila or Ranvelli Thila. We opted for the first one as the viz on the House Reef this morning was quit good. So it was the 1st half of the dive, after that the visibility became poor again. Coleman was in for a deep dive it seems. Only after 30 minutes we ascended to above 25 meters.
Jos: 60 [min] / 31.1 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 29.7 [m]
As the viz is still not super and Petra had some ear issues, we cancelled tomorrows 7th Heaven and decided to do a House Reef. Just the two of us.
October 5th - Messy Dive
Two dives on the menu today: House Reef in the morning and a boat dive in the afternoon. We go back to do the North Side again, and this time Petra sees the Leaffish. Such a beauty!
Jos: 69 [min] / 24.7 [m] | Petra: 67 [min] / 22.3 [m]
The afternoon dive is not so nice. Coleman advises "left shoulder" during the briefing, And since the current is small we can swim up and down to the swim through, he claims. NOT. Way too much current, so we all end up at the wrong - ugly - side of the Thila with no other option than hang or swim back and forth a bit. Horrible dive.
Jos: 59 [min] / 27.1 [m] | Petra: 59 [min] / 26.8 [m]
// Christian and Noah have dived 2 hours with Manta's on today's 2-Tank dive. So they are around. Actually we also saw two from the boat when heading to Hudhu Thila //
October 6th - Mobula
We had signed up for the 3-Tank Full Day to the North Ari Atoll tomorrow, so we plan a more quiet day for today with only one dive. The plan is Camel Rock, but Coleman and Marie (new German guide) had also brought the plan for Coral Hills along, as they had seen Manta's there yesterday. The plan: "We go to Coral Hills, do we see Manta's on the cleaning station than we do a dive there. Do we see them on our way .. than we snorkel there. If we don't see them we dive plan A, being Camel Rock". No Manta's to be seen at Coral Hills, but we all decided we wanted to give it a try anyway.
We descent to the cleaning station. Someone bangs. Looks like a group of Eagle Rays. To far and to quick gone to point them out to Petra. After waiting for 15 minutes without any Manta's showing up, we decide to continue our dive following the beautiful reef. Visibility is really good, which helps.
Cling, cling, cling. 4 Mobula Manta's "fly" over. I try to keep up and film them. I can only keep up for so long. Still trying to catch my breath I return to the group. So nice. It had been years we had seen Mobula's. And are they gorgeous when they fly by. Such a beautiful dive makes you forget all bad viz dives of the passed days in a blink of an eye.
Jos: 60 [min] / 19.5 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 18.2 [m]
The rest of the day we just totally relax, enjoy the weather and the view. Not a bad thing, taking a holiday during your holidays .. ha.
[Bob Marley, Rainbow, on my mind. Petra has I save the day of Roberto Jacketti and the Scooters on hers ?!]
// Later that day, when I look at my pictures and zoom in I see that those "Eagle Rays" at the beginning of the dive actually were the same 4 Mobula's //
October 7th - North Ari Atoll
The sun is shining, the boat sails smoothly over the ocean. We are on our way to the North to do the famous three: Maayaa Thila, Hafza Thila and Fish Head. Despite having 13 divers joining there is only one guide: Michelle. Even before we arrive the weather starts to change. Rain and wind again. Plan for today: "Anything can happen" on Maayaa Thila. Grey Reef Sharks on Hafza and some more on Fish Head. And ... watch out for Eddy, the baby Eagle ray, on Maayaa.
To our big surprise the "anything" on Maayaa was Grey Reef Sharks. No Eddy though. An hour later on Hafza Grey Reef Sharks again. More of them and they were coming in close. WAUW.
Jos: 60 [min] / 27.1 [m] | Petra: 60 [min] / 25.9 [m]
Jos: 64 [min] / 16.5 [m] | Petra: 63 [min] / 16.2 [m]
On our last dive - it's 15:30 already - we really dive into Shark Soup. At least TEN Grey Reef Sharks, two White Tips and a nice Eagle Ray to top it up. They keep on cruising and turning right in front of us. And they keep on returning and returning ... for an hour with no pause! Who cares the rain and choppy sea, Man this is awesome. [both if us not being seasick helps of course].
Jos: 62 [min] / 19.8 [m] | Petra: 61 [min] / 19.2 [m]
On our way back the weather turns from bad to worse and it starts gushing rain. We survive without any issue. 18:30 we are back on Vilamendhoo from a FANTASTIC day!
October 8th - Reethi
Despite the forecast the sun is shining nicely this morning. So we start the day with a nice stroll around the island. So nice, let's do a 2nd one after breakfast. O no, rain again.
We start with a House Reef dive. 5 to 1 (no, not a Doors song - exit 5 to exit 1). The visibility is amazing, but apart from a few remarkable sightings (leave wrasse) there is not so much interesting. What does show out is the enormous sand "dune" in front of our room. I think we found the beach! At the end the current picks up so we can gently fly to the last exit.
Jos: 66 [min] / 21.3 [m] | Petra: 66 [min] / 19.5 [m]
And than it's that time again: the last dive of the holiday. It will be Reethi Thila. Michelle explains during the briefing that "Reethi" means "beautiful" in Maldivian. No surprise that this spot is also called Paradise Rock. And yes, this name is not a joke. What a beautiful Thila! The good visibility helps of course. We both don't want to end the dive, but I am running out of air ..... so we have to end the dive. Petra, like the rest of holiday, still has plenty of air.
Jos: 56 [min] / 30.0 [m] | Petra: 56 [min] / 27.4 [m]
// Reethi Thila is quite a deep dive, and looking back it was our deepest of the complete holiday with an average depth of 19.8m over a total dive time of 56 minutes. //
The last 3 days of diving make up a lot for the the rest of the dives. We wonder whether we should have come 1 or 2 weeks later. But as we know, you can't plan nature.
When the evening starts the rain disappears. It's a Full Moon. Very low tide. A perfect time to do our planned second stroll around the island. Oh, this is so nice. Strange, the beach is empty, are we the only ones enjoying this? The beach is wider than ever and the balmy air is lovely.
// A delicious bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Chili to accompany dinner //
October 9th - Gift
As so often the last day turns out to be a very slow one. A few rounds around the island. Dreaming on our sunbeds. Staring over the ocean. Etc etc. AccuWeather predicts rain rain rain, but is - luckily - far off. The result is the last day being exactly that: a gift.
// I had Bob Marley's Rainbow on my mind already for a few days. I never told Petra, so it was a little scary she started singing it spontaneously on the jetty this evening //
October 10th - Tring Tring
Last nights announcement from the hotel through the mail: wake up call at 5:25 (yes that early), vacate the room at 5:55, breakfast and than fly at 6:55. The alarm starts ringing at 5:15. And again. And again. We had already seen 2 day offers to Vakarufalhi, so we guess they are pretty full (overbooked), and try to vacate rooms as soon as possible?!
Knock knock. "Is your luggage ready?" But to be fair. We could enter our room immediately in the early morning when we arrived and had the best positioned villa on the island. So no reason to complaint!
In the meantime we are on our plane to Vienna. Maja, Loeki, tonight we are home again!
*********************************
If you can't get enough of shark video's here's another 3 unedited movies from our North Ari Atoll trip .... .
[Maayaa Thila]
[Hafza Thila]
[Fish Head]
