Christmas has jingled its last jingle for 2001 and 2002 is marching on as if it didn't have a care in the world, so it must be time to start organizing the diving calendar for 2002 and getting deposits in for the eagerly awaited trips.
Dates & Prices for your Diaries.
|
9th -10th March |
Wales 2 boat dives/2 nights B&B |
£80.00 |
| 31st March - 7th April | Sharm El Sheikh - Egypt Return flights/ 5 days boat diving/ 7 nights B&B |
£564.00 |
|
12th – 15th April |
Cornwall 3 days boat diving/3 nights B&B |
£189.00 |
|
4th – 6th May |
Norfolk |
TBA |
| 18th - 25th June |
Malta |
£349.00 |
|
3 th - 4th July |
Portland Camping or B&B available/2 boat dives |
£50.00 |
| 12th - 14th July |
Pembrokeshire |
£189.00 |
| 2nd - 5th August | Cornwall 3 days boat diving/3 nights B&B |
£189.00 |
| 30th August - 7th September |
Scapa Flow |
£369.00 |
| 27th - 30th September |
Oban |
£209.00 |
| 12th – 19th December |
Dahab - Egypt |
£499.00 |
After the initial disappointment of the last-minute cancellation of the dive trip to Manado, Indonesia, six of us were keen to find a suitable alternative destination. Eventually an all inclusive package was arranged through Hayes and Jarvis to go to the Vilamendhoo Island Resort in the Maldives.
Departure from Heathrow was on time in an Air Sri Lanka Airbus, which offered plenty of elbow and knee room. All of us took advantage of the 30 kg baggage allowance per person in the hold. The flight was direct. The seat touch control television monitors kept a few amused, with benefit of 16 film (not one of which was showing the 'Runaway Bride') and comedy channels and also options for front and rear facing outside cameras; take off from Heathrow was watched by most from the front facing camera.
We quickly went through immigration and customs at Male airport, and were then split into groups for our destination resort. After a short minibus ride we arrived at the Maldivian Airways Terminal for the 30 minute seaplane flight. This offered the best views of the many small reef structures and islands which predominate in the atoll area and gave us a taste for what we might expect when we reached our destination.
The Vilamendhoo Resort is on an island no larger than about 700 metres long and 300 metres wide. The fact that you could walk round it in about 20 minutes didn't stop us taking a wrong turn, especially in the first couple of days.
The Resort itself consisted of a central reception, bar and dining facilities, along with dive centre, a sunset bar area at the tip of the island, and then just slotted in from the beach some 150 chalet style rooms which encompass the island. The accommodation was more than adequate for our needs, with air conditioning and fan, along with minibar. A novel feature was the partial open-air arrangement of the toilet and shower facilities, linked to a small walled garden area.
All main meals were taken in the dining area, with buffet style catering offering an excellent range and variety of dishes. Afternoon tea and cakes were taken in the sunset bar area, a means of winding down after the day's diving. This quickly became established as part of our routine.
The diving operation is German and despite initial evidence of a rigorous and thorough attitude to safety we soon found out that some of the practices were a bit lax.
We all had to complete a check dive before being allowed out on our own on the reef. This comprised an individual buoyancy check, and then once down at 10 metres on the guide ropes, mask removal, and octopus recovery. Beginners, classed as those with fewer than 40 dives, were under more direct supervision on the boat dives, but little attention was paid to qualifications, with Open Water divers allowed to go down to 30 metres.
Briefing on the boat was comprehensive, but it was only at this stage on our first boat dive that we realised that, unlike just about everywhere else we've dived, all divers other than beginners were left to their own devices to get to the reef. It would have helped if entry into the water was at the intended entry point, as on several occasions this was not the case. On one occasion the briefing indicated we should go down to around 15 meters when the current would take us into the reef. With visibility at around 10/12 metres, we couldn't see the reef and there proved to be little or no current. We decided it was best to abort the dive, especially as Jacquie’s computer was having fifty fits!! (It had been knocked the afternoon before onto the nitrox setting for 20 metres!). That said, we had some wonderful experiences - white tip reef shark on our first dive and a host of spotted eagle rays on the second, culminating in close encounters with mantas, turtles and black rays. None of this could, however, top snorkeling with a whale shark! Fantastic.
We alternated boat diving with diving the house reef. This was accessed at 6 entry/exit points through the coral reef. Depending upon the prevailing tides, the dives were either a very leisurely meander along the reef, or alternatively as a drift dive in a moderate current. Despite the fact that the reef had suffered damage, Fish life on the reef was abundant. There was also evidence of new coral growth coming through, and several very pretty patches were evident with various coral formations. Visibility was variable, sometimes as good as 20/25 metres, at other times as low as 10/12 metres.
On most dives we saw morays, unicornfish, trevallies, snappers, emperors, fusiliers, anthias, groupers, oriental sweetlips, wrasse, angelfish, butterflyfish, parrotfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, anemonefish, clownfish, goatfish, lionfish, trumpetfish, soldierfish, squirrelfish and pufferfish could be seen. Occasionally other species could be seen, such as black tip reef sharks, cube trunkfish, reef paperfish, scorpionfish, porcupinefish, cardinalfish, green turtle and spotted eagle ray.
On some of the night dives on the reef sand eels and an octopus could be seen, as well as cleaner shrimps and crabs, this in addition to an array of other species detailed above. Jacquie's favourite was definitely the sleeping parrotfish.
Boat dives gave the advantage of diving some of the prettier reef formations, called tilas. Dive boats left the island at 9.00 am and 2.30 pm, with the dive sites between 8 and 55 minutes away. Water visibility was variable, as too was the current. On all, the fish life was prolific. Bat Fish Reef was inhabited by dozens of large batfish and Kudarah Tila had a shoal of thousands of blue lined yellow snappers. For the keen amateur naturalist, over 175 different species of marine life were seen (Hazel's the owner of the anorak), far higher than over a similar period in Sharm, Caribbean or Thailand.
Unless you have an interest in either snorkeling or scuba diving, then island resorts like Vilamendhoo will have little to offer, apart from offering the opportunity to relax in the very hot sun, work on your tan and catch up on your reading.
If, however, like us, you want a holiday where you can dive everyday if you wish, then Vilamendhoo is to be recommended. We had a great time. Highlights have to be the whale shark, Hazel snorkeling off with a young manta ray, John for taking over a dozen underwater films, Les and his video camera with many marvelous scenes, Janice for being the most sun-tanned of the six, Peter for chalking up his first hour dive, and Jacquie for the number of times her SMB was deployed on the boat dives. Most of us achieved twenty or more dives.
John and Hazel Belchamber
Les and Janice Mitchell
Peter and Jacquie Morton
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