Bristol Aerospace Sub Aqua Club - Maldives 2001 Vilamendhoo

Maldives 2001

Vilamendhoo

February 11th-26^th2001

by some of those who went

Bounty Bar Island | Moore Images | Vdhoo @ The Maldives | Lets be Frank! | Links

On a cold, wet, windy day in February, we set off to Gatwick on the first leg of our long awaited holiday in the Maldives. At the airport we were to meet up with the rest of the party, some 30+ in total from the Bristol area. For this Hayes & Jarvis holiday had been arranged through the proprietor of a local dive shop - Chris Charles of Extreme Marine.

There were 15 from our club - 11 divers and 4 non divers. Some of the group knew one another from a previous holiday to Cuba, some had met briefly for one evening in a pub for a pre departure get together and briefing, some had never met before. So off we all set on a very long journey to our island in paradise - we hoped.

Following our arrival at Male (pronounced Mah-lay - the capital of the Maldives), after a very long wait, we boarded our sea plane - great fun - you should try it if you haven't already. Copyright © 2001 Mary Hartigan

For most I think it's fair to say from that point on the holiday exceeded all expectations. The island itself was covered in lush green vegetation, ringed by fine off-white sandy beaches lapped by an azure blue lagoon teaming with life with the coral reef and drop off beyond. Quite honestly it was just like something straight out of a Bounty Bar advert - a true tropical paradise.

What about the diving I hear you say? The diving was,.... was..., oh, words fail me - brilliant, phenomenal, I want to be back there now! It ranged from very gentle ambles along beautiful, picturesque reefs, (or tila's as they are locally known) to the extreme of being pushed about in very exciting and exhilarating fast strong currents from all, and I mean all directions, and oh yes....... whirlpools!

Abundant life - big, very big! and small - some with teeth! Okay, I admit it, yes there was coral bleaching, and it probably is nothing like it used to be, but it's still pretty damned good!

See what I mean? I didn't take this photo, but I was diving for 80 minutes budied with the lady who did. Nice one Jo!

Because we were such a large group we were assigned our own boat - The English Boat - as it was to be known, with our own very dedicated dive guide, Jens Kruger. Though it was nominally ours we didn't have to go on the English Boat because if you fancied a different dive site, perhaps without whirlpools, there were always some other boats you could join going to other places. We even let the odd stranger join us too sometimes.

In addition to the fabulous surroundings, what made the diving such an overall success was the combination of the skill and local knowledge of the boat crew with the dedication, expert knowledge and enthusiasm of our excellent dive guide - Jens.

The only down side, there always has to be a down side, was our group did seem to have more than our fair share of ear infections. One of our number tripped and cracked a rib or two. The net effect was that diving for a few in our party was brought to a very disappointing premature end.

As for the non divers in our group, 4 from our club, 3 of which had never even snorkeled in the sea before. Well..... they all soon learned to snorkel and went on to snorkel most days. 3 even booked themselves on a try dive! Now, back in the UK, 2 are actually learning to dive! A very expensive holiday that turned out to be - for some!

The menu to the left will take you to a collection of individual views and images from some of those who went. Why bother? Well not only does it capture some very happy memories for those of us lucky enough to go, but hopefully it will be a useful source of material for those looking for ideas for a potentially brilliant holiday in the future.

Vilamendhoo, is on the South East reaches of the Ari Atoll, in the Maldives. It is situated approximately 3°38’ North of the Equator. The island itself is cigar shaped and it took approximately 45 minutes to stroll around.

Being on such a small island it is amazing how quiet everything is. You quite often hear the arrival of a seaplane, or the distant chugging of the native fishing boat. The tranquility is only broken by the splash of a surfacing fish.

The images you remember are sitting on the beach by the bar, sipping your G&T, watching the sunset at the end of another strenuous day.

On Vilamendhoo, there is a reception area, where details of your excursions can be found, and safety deposit boxes are kept for all your valuables. It is not necessary to carry any money with you on the island as it is ‘all inclusive’ and any souvenirs bought in the shop can be added directly to your room bill. Next to the souvenir shop is a jewelers store, which many of the ladies in our party took a fancy too. There are two bars, a restaurant area and a TV lounge, if you so require.

The island has to be self-contained, generating its own electricity, de-salinating the water for use in the bathrooms, laundry facilities etc. This is all contained in a central area, and as bad as it may sound, this certainly does not interrupt your stay. The only thing that was a nuisance was the ‘mossie’ man, who came round with this perfumed smoke to keep the mosquitoes at bay. When you are sat on your open-air toilet, you soon finish your business when the ‘mossie’ man comes by.

Being in the tropics as you are, you expect plenty of sun, warm, balmy evenings and beautiful sunsets. That you do. However, on the other hand you can receive tremendous down pours which can soak you in a matter of seconds. During our recent visit to Vilamendhoo we were fortunate enough not be subjected to one of these storms. Our dive guide was telling us that if you are out in the boat and are caught in a storm, sometimes you cannot see more than 5 metres away, severely restricting the visibility of the boat crew and making it very difficult to find surfacing divers.

If a storm is approaching, the boat handlers will strike the ladder to the boat several times indicating that a storm is approaching. Under such circumstances you must surface immediately so that all the divers can be retrieved safely. This did happen to us on one occasion and it took us some time to recognise the distant ‘ringing’ sound. Once aboard we could see the deep, blackening clouds approaching, however the wind blew the storm away from us.

We did not experience the full fury of a tropical storm, however we did have some ‘light’ showers, and beware of the very localised showers. On one occasion we were having our evening meal enjoying the excellent choice of Maldivian food, when we had one of those ‘light’ showers. We were safely under shelter so there was nothing to worry about , in fact it was quite a relief, as the rain brings a refreshingly cool breeze. After we had finished eating, the rain had stopped and we were going to enjoy the nightly entertainment – a shot of tonic and a bottle of gin. Venturing out of the restaurant, we waited outside for the stragglers. Once outside there was an exclamation from one of our members – to avoid any embarrassment I’ll change their identity to Ray (tenuous link). “Why are we stood out in the rain, lets get under some shelter”. Somewhat bemused the rest of us could not understand this statement, because it was not raining. Unfortunately Ray was standing underneath a section of guttering that had no down pipe and so was getting soaked.

Madivaru was about 2½ hours due west of Vilamendhoo by boat. It was also known as Manta Ray Point. Up until our visit, recent trips that had been to Madivaru had been unsuccessful in finding any Manta Rays, to the extent that the trips were no longer being conducted. Our dive guide, Jens, had been in touch with another resort who regularly visited the site and had been told that there had recently been brief glimpses of these shy creatures. The whole group wanted the chance to see these wonderful creatures and accepted that it would be a days trip and it was not guaranteed that we would see any, but having traveled such a long distance that risk was worth taking.

The pre-dive briefing highlighted 3 cleaning stations where the Manta Rays generally came to feed. The best of these was at about 10 metres and there was a 4 foot overhang which gave a superb location from which to view any Manta rays. Manta rays can be scared very easily and there were some general rules to which we should abide – do not use flash photography, stay as still as possible and do not touch.

Once we had reached the dive site, had our briefing and kitted up, we entered the water. Madivaru is a shallow reef (~10m) and beyond that there was a steep drop off out into the big blue yonder. In order to prolong the dive we limited our selves to the shallow reef.

As we made our way past the first cleaning station this large dark shape appeared and we all instantly froze. The sight of this manta ray was awe-inspiring. It was such a graceful creature, circling directly over our heads, literally a few metres away. It must have had a span of 20 foot, and that’s not a divers 20 foot, that’s real 20 foot. It circled for about 10 minutes before moving on. It was a mesmerizing experience.

After an excellent buffet lunch our second dive was to be the same site as the first. On reaching the second cleaning station we settled ourselves down to wait for the Manta rays, and we were not to be disappointed. Two manta rays appeared with their entourage of remoras, and spent the best part of 15-20 minutes feeding directly over us. We could turn around and look over the drop off to find more swimming below us. It was an amazing experience. When they departed we tried to follow them, but could not find them. We spent our time swimming between the cleaning stations, and on our return to the second station, where we had spent our time watching the rays, we found one feeding in the very depression in which we had been in earlier.

Personally, those dives will always be remembered with fondness, not just because of the manta rays but also for the look on people’s faces whilst watching these wonderful creatures. It’s not often you can have a 70 minute and an 82 minute dive, and be entertained for the whole time.

On approach to the island it hit me that it was very green, full of palm trees and bushes giving plenty of shade which would be very welcome as it was very hot before. Hot towels & ice cold drinks greeted us as we arrived along with the warm friendly smiles from the staff who would be looking after us during our stay on this wonderful Island. The accommodation was first class and we were lucky enough to be placed as near to the beach as you could possible be. Soft white fluffy sands with the crystal clear water rippling gently to the shore, what a welcome. A couple of minutes away we discovered the Sunset Bar which after it’s name sake was to give us the most spectacular views of the sunset.

The welcome briefing was given regarding the diving and everyone was asked to attend a compulsory dive check at the dive centre. All around the island the house reef was not far from the shore and it sloped down to about 30 meters. On entry for our check dive I was very surprised to find at 10-15 meters a slight current, which meant that we all had to hang onto a rope which, was tied from the surface to the seabed. About a dozen divers were having our check dives done at once and you couldn’t help laughing at the strange site it gave. All of us were hanging on in a line onto this rope taking it in turns to take off our masks, clear them take out our demand valves and to do a recovery. The dive guide had to wrap himself around the rope also to stop him from being taken by the current. This left his arms free so he could hold onto us in turn to allow us to do the required disciplines. I’m pleased to say that we all completed this without any mishaps.

Once this was over we had a look around the house reef which to my surprise was full of the most colourful fish and corals, plenty to see for all the snorkelers in our party as well as us divers. With this in mind after lunch we decided to take in the non-divers to give them a crash course in snorkeling so they too could enjoy the beauty from beneath the ocean. It was a pleasing sight knowing that the whole party would enjoy the capture of this enchanting Island Vilamendhoo I knew from this moment that we were all truly in paradise!

The flight from Male to Vilamendhoo in a twin engine float plane was another first.
The facilities and accommodation were first class and the people friendly a wide variety of excellent food all helped to make an enjoyable holiday.

After 39 years of diving, to experience some of the fastest currents I have ever swam in with such good visibility, then to surface and find the boat not far away with a helpful boat crew to help you back on board was brilliant. The German dive centre was well run and our Dive Master, Jens, was very good particularly when he finished our diving with a trip to see the Manta Rays! what a privilege to be entertained for an hour to such a graceful display by such a large creature, it put having my ear nibbled by a small cleaner wrasse into insignificance along with having my finger bitten by a small moray eel.

All that remains to be asked is where are we going next year?