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Travel and diving in the Maldives

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Travel Story, scuba diving in the extreme south of the Maldives with a live aboard in the Indian Ocean

Great group of divers on the ship Princess Rani in the Maldives

Where are the Maldives?

Info about the Maldives in the Indian Ocean:

The Maldives are located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives consist of 1190 coral islands, grouped in 26 atolls. The largest island is Kuramathi that's only 5 square kilometers. Malé, the capital of the Maldives is 1.7 square kilometers. From the 1190 islands, only 202 are inhabited, only 90 of these islands are open for the public. The islands are spread over an area of about 90,000 km2, of which only 298 km2 land. Maw offers a lot of opportunities to go scuba diving. None of the islands is higher than 3 meters above sea level. They are protected against waves of the Indian Ocean by natural breakwaters, formed by reefs. On the Maldives you won't find mountains, rocks and rivers. However, there are submarine mountain ridges, which allow coral to thrive. Most of the islands are overgrown with palm trees, coconut palms and mangrove forests.

The Maldives is mainly known for the white sand beaches, clear blue sea and the ideal water sports facilities. The most popular sports on the Maldives are diving and snorkelling. The islands have a beautiful underwater world with colourful coral reefs and a wide variety of fish species you can dive with. Think of: snappers, pufferfish, parrotfish, sweetlips, squirrelfish (holocentridae), doctor fish, trumpet fish, clown fish, perch, barracudas, morays, turtles, different types of stingrays, mantas, jacks, butterfly fish, humphead parrot fish, whale sharks, different types of sharks, etc. Our advice is to regularly check the blue during your dive, to see e.g. mantas. Don't limit yourself to the reefs. The underwater visibility when diving in the Maldives is variable. The water is rich in nutrition for the underwater world, hence the chance of a large number of fish.

The Maldives offer very luxurious hotels and apartments, some of which are built on the water. These are often visited by tourists with a large budget and couples on their honeymoon. The population is very welcoming and lives of tourism, diving sales, fishing and shipbuilding.

Map of the atoll of the Maldives

Ship Princess Rani in the Maldives

The ship Princess Rani in the Maldives was built in 2008, offers 11 cabins and can accommodate up to 22 guests.

Pictures - Photos of Princess Rani in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

We opted for a cabin on the lower deck of the Princess Rani, because next to that it comes with a double bed, it also had an extra bed, which is very useful to throw all kinds of stuff on. The downstairs cabins (5 in total) only have a tiny window, which keep the room quite dark, all day. We thought of this as an advantage, because this meant we didn't get disturbed by the rising sun in the morning. The cabin is equipped with adequate lighting. The air conditioning though, isn't powerful enough to keep the room at the desired temperature. Fortunately, the deck offers the necessary wind to cool down.

Each cabin of the Princess Rani comes with a private bathroom with spacious shower, sink and toilet. At the start of the trip, a large bath towel per person gets hand out. In the middle of the trip, they fortunately get swapped this for a fresh one, but if you ask for an extra towel earlier, the crew is happy to provide you with one.

We were assigned to room 2 on the lower deck of the Princess Rani. This room is closest to the engine of the ship and has therefore the most noise pollution. The room smells quite stuffy, probably due to the drawn in moisture in the wooden furniture. We therefore left the small windows open continuously, so that we no longer got disturbed by the scent.

Pictures - Photos of a cabin on Princess Rani in the Maldives

Furthermore, the Princess Rani features a big common room with flat screen TV, a separate seating area on the stern and right at the top a large sun deck with deck chairs and cushions. The ship also has a Jacuzzi, which unfortunately doesn't get used.

Pictures - Photos of the common spaces on Princess Rani in the Maldives

All dives occur from a smaller dinghy, where as well, all the diving equipment during the trip gets stored. Which means, no hassle with wet material in the room, after diving!

Pictures - Photos of the dinghy of Princess Rani in the Maldives

Travel Story - scuba diving in the Maldives:

After more than 10 years, the classic dive location Maldives wasn't yet on our records. Time to change that. We didn't choose for the traditional route around the Ari or Male Atoll, but for the more challenging dive sites in the deep south of the Maldives (Addu and Gaafu atol), which are located around the equator.

Friday 12 and Saturday 13 December 2014:

From Brussels to the Maldives

Around 19.00pm we check-in at the Etihad counter in Zaventem. With a short delay we take off around 21.30pm for our flight to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The comfort of this flight is lightly disappointing, because the leg space is limited and the chairs are a bit upright, which leaves us quite uncomfortable. Fortunately, each passenger has its own entertainment screen and can choose from a reasonable range of films and TV series. Since we're on a night flight, we feel tired, fairly quickly and against all expectations, we catch a few hours sleep.

After a flight of more than 6 hours we land in Abu Dhabi, where we have 2 hours of transit time for our connecting flight to Male. This doesn't give us a lot of time to nose around in the duty-free shops.

Around 10.00am local time, we set off to the heavenly Maldives. This second flight takes about four hours and around 15.00pm local time we arrive in Male, the capital city of the Maldives.

Since we now have a transit time of over eight hours and there is little to nothing to do on Male airport, we decide to get a hotel room to catch up on some sleep. As usual, tourists get scandalously extorted, because the prices of the hotels on the Hulhule Island are extraordinary (up to 200 USD). In the end we choose for the 'cheaper' Crown Reef Hotel and get charged 90 USD for a room (including transport to and from the airport).

After a great power nap and a refreshing shower, we get picked up by the driver of the Crown Reef hotel at 21.00pm, who takes us back to the airport (domestic flights). Since we're only allowed 25kg per person on domestic flights, some divers of our party have to pay extra for their heavy diving equipment, but the additional cost is reasonable.

We just have enough time to grab a bite in the adjacent bistro and a little after midnight we take off towards Gan in Addu Atoll, where the ship; Princess Rani awaits. After an hour, we make an unexpected stopover on another island to drop off and pick up two man and a horse's head. During this transfer, it starts to rain cats and dogs, which gets the crew and airport staff on the tarmac soaking wet. It does not augur well!

Finally, it's still half an hour before we reach our final destination. In the meantime, it's 2.00am and due to our naps in between and the four-hour time difference, or biorhythms are a little disturbed. Fortunately, when we land, some representatives of the Princess Rani await to accompany and lead us to the boat. Here as well, we get welcomed with some heavy downpour!

After we've put all bags in the trailer of a Camionette, we get told to take place in the trailer ourselves, as well. We first think that it's a bad joke, but none seems to laugh and we soon find out, they're dead serious! With the 10 of us, we creep into small and uncomfortable trailer and after a bumpy ride in of ca ten minutes we get to the Princess Rani.

Once arrived on the ship, we first have to unload our diving equipment and make it ready for the next day. A little after 3am, we can finally go to bed. In total, we've now travelled for 30 hours from the cold drizzly Belgium to the warm rainy Maldives!

Sunday 14 December

First day on the Princess Rani and diving in the Maldives at the Addu atol

At 6.30am we get up for the first dive of our holiday. A painfully early start, as we've only had a few hours sleep. The life of a diver is clearly not always about roses! Unfortunately, the weather gods aren't with us today either, because the sky is totally grey and it's raining cats and dogs. It's clear that this will retain the rest of the day!

After the first check dive on Aagala Thilla in the Addu Atoll, where there's only little beauty to find, it's time for breakfast. Who would like to, can ask for a freshly baked egg and there's even chocolate milk on the table!

Then there's an extensive meeting with the rest of the group (20 people in total). Most of which are Flemish or Dutch, with the odd German, Frenchman and a Chinese couple that don't speak a word of English.

The dive at 11.00am on Kuda Can'du is a big disappointment. We start with at wrong dropping point and due to the different currents, we don't get to the point where we need to be, to spot the mantas.

Eventually, we focus our last hope on the last dive of the day at Maa Kan'du, but unfortunately we don't see any manta or big fish here either and need to do with a sea turtle and some dolphins that accompany our doni during the way back.

Monday 15 December

Crossing from the Addu atol to dive in the Gaafu atol

Around 2.30am we nearly fall out or beds, by the bouncing ship engines of the Princess Rani that get turned on. We have a long way to go to the Gaafu atoll, that's located just above the equator. As the crew warned us the previous night, that this could be a 'rough trip', we take a pill against the seasickness, but ultimately everything runs smoothly and we get rocked back to sleep by the gentle waves.

Around 6.30am we are woken for the first dive of the day at the nearby Foammulah Mulaku Beyru Island. When we get back on board, the breakfast table is set up and we can dig in.

Since we still have four hours to sail before we reach our final destination in the Gaafu atoll, everyone looks for a comfortable spot in the sun or in the shade to relax.

Due to this long crossing, we make our second dive in the salty water at 13.00pm at Vaadhoo Corner. Our third dive is a night dive on Araigatha Thila.

At night, many of us notice that the hot midday sun defaced our pale skins firmly. By the cooling sea breeze, nobody felt that we gradually burned and started to look red as a cherry. This is going to hurt for a while!

Tuesday 16 December - Wednesday 17 December - Thursday 18 December

Food, sleeping, diving and repeat

These are three classic days on a liveaboard. We are usually waked between 5.30am and 6.00am for our first morning dive, subsequently we have breakfast, followed by a siesta. Between 11.00am and 12.00pm we go for our second dive, return to linger and relax and around 16.00pm or later we go for the last (night)dive. After this last dive coffee & tea with biscuits are laid out on the long table and around 19.30pm the bell for our evening meal rings. The evening meals especially are fun, as the topics constantly change and we share the same humour and jokes. Finally, we have a few beers and usually between 22.00pm and 23.00pm everyone disappears to their cabin to enjoy a well-earned rest.

Anecdote: after dinner, most people stay for a little chat at the long table on deck, the high beam lights are lit to attract the fish and whoever likes to, can troll a fish. On a certain evening our Chinese travel companion decides to take the plunge and throws out the leash, and when a fish bites, he begins to pull back the line. At exact the same time a whale shark of ca 7 à 8meters shows up from under our boat, which makes Liguo think the whale shark bite his leash. He is frightened and violently starts to scream and shout in Chinese. We obviously don't understand a word of what he says, but his facial expression speaks volumes, which make the whole group laugh as never before. Although, thanks to Liguo, everyone did see the only whale shark of this dive trip!

Friday 19 December

Last dive, flush and round trip on the island

Today we only make one morning dive as we're flying back tomorrow afternoon and we therefor need to insert at least twenty-four hours of decompression time. The group decided to take the gamble and make the final dive a channel dive. Unfortunately, the current is against us again and no big fish are spot. We're not very lucky this trip!

After breakfast, everyone makes themselves ready to rinse the diving equipment and lay it out in the sun, to dry. This last day on board is mainly used to catch up on some sleep, read, look at photos, etc. Around 16.00pm interested parties can go for a round trip to the nearby island, but for us it is too hot and we prefer to laze and relax on board.

For this last evening meal, the kitchen team has been extra busy. The whole table is laid out with delicacies and for one last time, we dig in the delicious homemade dishes. Our taste buds are spoiled to the max!

Saturday 20 December

Last day on the Princess Rani

Our last day on the Princess Rani starts with grey clouds and the corresponding small squalls. Fortunately, the temperature is always pleasant.

After breakfast, everyone gets their last luggage ready and around 11.00am, we make our way on the doni, to the entrance of the local airport on Kooddoo Island. We are more of less the only passengers and there are only two gates. Duty-free shops or eateries are totally out of the question. Fortunately, we have our Dutch friend, Harold with his jokes to liven things up!

With some delay, we take off direction Male, around 13.00pm. Where we after a long hour get back on land. Since our connecting flight to Colombo - Sri Lanka doesn't depart till 20.45pm, we decide to leave our luggage at the airport (US $5 per bag) and take the ferry to the city centre of Male (US $1 per person).

As expected there is very little to do or visit in Male. The island isn't very large, but it's densely built-up with ugly apartment blocks. Next to that you must be careful to not get hit by the many mopeds.

We walk almost directly from the quay, looking for the presidential home. It takes a while before we find the building in the narrow streets and it's actually not that spectacular. Furthermore, we come across a mosque and walk along the embankment to the local vegetables and fish market. The fish here, gets stacked on the counter, without any ice or other cooling support. Occasionally, the fish gets filleted on-the-spot and the blood and guts drip of the table. Tasty!

Pictures - Photos of Male the capital of the Maldives

Since we can't immediately find an inviting eatery in Male, we take seat on the ferry to the airport, where we have a delicious greasy hamburger at Burger King. Subsequently we pick up our luggage, wander around in the Duty Free shops and patiently wait for our next flight to Colombo, which fortunately leaves on time.

Description of the diving and dive sites in the southern Maldives

Sunday 14 December 2014:

Diving on Aagala Thilla in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives

On Aagala Thilla in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives you go diving on a sandy plate, which gently goes down to the depth. Here and there in the shallower zones are small pinnacles covered with coral. Colonies of sand eels live in the sand between the pinnacles. Diving on Aagala Thilla in the Addu Atol is very simple. This dive site is especially suitable for novice divers. You can continuously remain on the sand, so that no damage can be caused to coral and the divers can't injure themselves. The dive site in the Addu Aagala Thilla Atol is also suitable for a check dive. Although these perks, there's very few fish or other life to be found. Also, rays, which you'd expect on a sandy plate, are not very present. This is a very poor dive site and absolutely not recommended for experienced divers.

Diving on Kuda Kan'du in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives

The dive site Kuda Kan'du is a strait in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives, which opens out into the open Indian Ocean. Kuda Kan'du has a strong current. The intention is to hang and look around at a depth of 26 à 30m, for about 10 minutes in the strong current at the point of the strait. Subsequently the diving is continued to the shallower sloping shore. A reef hook is here absolutely necessary. Photos can only be taken with a very small device, because the rest will get blown away by the strong current. According to our dive guides Kuda Kan'du in the Addu atol offers many large fish, but except for the two white tip sharks in the distance we don't spot anything else. This dive site is only suitable for very experienced divers. This is a poor dive location and not recommended.

Diving on Maa Kan'du in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives

The dive site Maa Can'du is a strait of the Addu Atoll in the Maldives, where many 'washing machine places' are present. This means that the current at times is against, and other times with you. In accordance to the dive guides you would get to see many mantas and sharks in Maa Kan'du in the Addu atol. The two turtles, a school of 30 barracudas in shallow water and a single coloured school of fish were the best life we got to see here. You better dive on 11 à 15m depth, so you get the chance to admire the beautiful coral with its many small reef live. With this, everything has been said about this dive site. Experience is necessary because the current can suddenly change direction.

My conclusion: the dive guides have no experience on this dive sites on the Addu Atoll in the Maldives. I was therefore disappointed. They had to prepare better or gone scuba diving with their competition to gain experience. Palming against the strong current isn't fun for anybody. They could have made it a dynamic dive, what would have been much easier.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

Monday 15 December 2014:

Diving on Mulaku Beyru to the island Foammulah

At the crossing from the Addu atol to the Gaafu atol in the Maldives, you pass by the island Foammulah. In front of the island of Foammulah, you'll find the dive site Mulaku Beyru. The diving on Mulaku Beyru includes a drop off and a piece of oblique sloping ground. The drop off is approximately 50 à 60m deep, after which the soil is inclined at an angle of more than 200m depth. Depending on the direction in which you dive, the drop off goes on a sloping ground. The drop off is meagre vegetated and doesn't show much life. The plot of the oblique sloping ground, is overgrown with lots of coral and the corresponding reef fish. We also see a turtle. On this dive site, white tip sharks and tiger sharks are regularly spotted. Sadly, we don't get to see any. The current at this dive site is almost nil. Beyru Mulaku Foammulah is an easy dive site, as long as you find proper trim.

Diving on Vaadhoo Corner south of the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

To dive on Vaadhoo Corner you must enter the water from either the Indian Ocean or around the corner of the island, all depending on the current. We start from the island and swim with the current to the open Indian Ocean. On 24m you get sucked to the depth and the centre of the canal. I choose to diagonally swim against the current towards the island side to not having to fight against the current at a later stage. The dive provides a sandy bottom, throughout the dive and except for an eagle ray swimming against the current, we don't get to see anything here. At a depth of 14m to 5m are very many large stone coral plateaus. As many and as big as these, I've never seen before on any of my diving trips. Two black tip reef sharks, two Napoleon fish, a school hogfish, a turtle and two eagle rays pass by. On the stone coral plateaus are many reef fish. What's remarkable is that this reef fish here are much bigger than usual. Vaadhoo Corner in the Gaafu Atol is an easy dive site, as long as you allow yourself to swim with the current and don't go too deep.

Diving on Araigatha Thila in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

The intention was to go for a night dive at Araigatha Thila in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives. While we're sailing, our dive master however decides that this site is too far and we should dive in front of the island we've just passed. This dive site it totally new to the dive master. He doesn't have any knowledge about the soil structure, depth, current or other affairs. This is very irresponsible behaviour of the dive masters, with which we obviously, weren't very happy. We entered the water too early, as it was still light. Only at the last 15 minutes you could really speak of a night dive. The dive site was fortunately not too bad. The soil was 60° inclined and overgrown with different types of coral. In certain places, there's some broken coral but that's rather limited. Various fish were getting ready for the night, while other types awakened to go hunting. This diversity is the beauty of night dives in general.

My conclusion: the dive guides appear to have no experience on this dive sites on the Gaafu atol in the Maldives. Their preparation has been insufficient, something you wouldn't expect from of a professional diving school. Polling and research could have been the least they could do. Another option was to obtain experience with another diving school in advance or dive with a local dive master in the area with the requisite experience. This way, chances to experience beautiful dives in this region would increase massively. Instead they went for a lot of experiments and the associated failures. Because of this, our group consisted of a lot of disappointed divers.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

Tuesday 16 December 2014:

Diving on Mareha Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

On Mareha Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives we dive in the channel that opens out into the open Indian Ocean. The intention is to spot sharks. This is why we do a current dive, we go deeper than normal, have 3 minutes deco and must take our reef hook. Jump into the water and immediately go down to the bottom, was the message. The soil is a sandy plate with here and there a stone that is soft inclined toward 41m. The view is quite limited. At 38m depth is a level difference of 2m with a small cave in which thousands of glass fish hide. On the edge of the Gaafu Atol on 41m depth, is a not overgrown drop off to 200m. Except for a school of jack fish we see nothing. And our greatest disappointment: the sharks again, remain absent. Diving on Mareha Can'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives is not worth the effort to jump into the water.

Diving on Mareha reef in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

Normally we would dive on Mareha Kan'du again, hoping we do spot sharks this time. The current is against us and we need to opt for a different site. The choice is the Mareha reef around the corner. The reef is an oblique slope of approximately 60° where on 15 à 20m depth you'll find and spot many different types of coral, very many small reef fish and schools of small fish. In some cavity, we see a sleeping turtle, that doesn't really appreciate the paparazzi. Sharks again remain absent. Yet, this is a reasonable beautiful dive site to see small reef fish and coral.

Diving on Vilingili Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

On the dive site Vilingili Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives, we literally dive at the place where the sewers of the island egress. The wave beat faces the island and the visibility is limited to 5m. In the beginning the bottom leans at an angle of 45° and nearly goes into a drop off, to eventually diagonally end at an angle. In the beginning, there is no coral or life to be seen, only at the sewer outputs is some fish. After a while, we see a little bit of coral with a few reef fish. The coral with reef fish however, makes place for sand and broken coral, very quickly. A Napoleon fish of 1.5m and some batfish are the only life we get to see. This dive site is absolutely not recommended!

My conclusion: the dive guides don't know this area in the slightest. They just go with the flow, hoping they spot something interesting.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

Wednesday 17 December 2014:

Diving on Vilingili Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

According to our guides, the best way to dive on Vilingili Kan'du in the Gaafu atol is to go with the incoming current from the Indian Ocean. That's why we have to get up at 5.30am already and dive with the rising sun. But as predicted, the current, again, is against us. The guides now want to go to the same dive location as yesterday, the left direction with the sewer outputs. After some protest from the group they give in and we go diving at the right side of the channel. Because the visibility is limited here, the guides tell us to remain together. Though, they swim straight onwards, without looking at the group once. The result is therefore that we lose each other in no time, certainly the photographers get behind very quickly. The bottom on the right side of the outgoing channel, slopes down to the open Indian Ocean to a depth of 31m. Then there's a drop off right down to 200m depth. The bottom consists of only sand with here and there a small table coral and a few small stones. We see a small school of barracudas, two rays and a small mobula. Some divers of our group also see a few white tip sharks at the bottom. The bubbles exorcize the white tip sharks immediately and because the group has become too fragmented, the latest divers, unfortunately miss out. When we come up, we're all very far removed from each other, which obviously raises many questions about the safety and the quality of the guides. This dive site is not a success. The guides even less!

Diving on Maamendo in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

The dive site in the Gaafu Maamendo atol in the Maldives is a strait which opens out into the open Indian Ocean. There is no vegetation and except for two white tip sharks we see nothing. The strait is 30m deep and on the side of the Indian Ocean you go down with steps of 4m. On the edge of the island we dive on a sloping sandy side, where unfortunately no vegetation or life is to be seen. This is a trashy dive site!

Diving on Nigiri Thali in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

After the group has complained about the last nugatory dive sites, we can convince the captain to sail to another location to and we dive on the beautiful pinnacle Nigiri Thali in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives. The pinnacle starts on a sandy plate on 30m depth and ends 1 à 2m below sea level. The Pinnacle is completely covered with many types of coral that are in good condition and a lot of reef fish is present. In terms of macro life, we spot some slugs and banded coral shrimps. This is a recommended dive place for coral and reef life lovers. Unfortunately, the guides leave us to our fate and don't point out, nor shows us anything!

My conclusion: the guides don't follow their own agreements. They dive where and whenever, hoping to spot something interesting. They hope the hour to pass by fast or reach the 50bar as quickly as possible. It's as they've never heard of safety and literally leave everyone to it. Fortunately, our diving group forms solid buddy pairs and shows much more knowledge and experience than the young dive guides.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

Thursday 18 December 2014:

Diving on Mouddoo Kan'du in the west Gaafu atol in the Maldives

At the joint request of the group we set sail to the west Gaafu Atol. The dive site Mouddoo Can'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives is a strait which opens out into the open Indian Ocean. Depending on the flow it's recommended to start around the corner and go with the flow. Depending on where you enter the water, you get via the sloping to the bottom on 18m depth, overgrown with table coral only, then there will be a piece of sand and finally back on the other side, another hill with table coral. Here you get the feeling of diving in a soft V-channel. At the corner the hill disappears into a depth of 26 à 32m, angled downwards. At the bottom you'll find sand, and possibly rays. The reef life is present but not abundantly. Under the table corals, in the sand you possibly find some white tip reef sharks. This is a moderate dive site.

Diving on Hithadhoo Faru in the west Gaafu atol in the Maldives

On Hithadhoo Faru in the west Gaafu atol in the Maldives we go for a reef dive. Up to 12m depth, the reef is nicely overgrown and there is a lot of life to find. When you go deeper than 12m, there's a drop off and steep rocky and sandy bottom, which is barely covered with vegetation. On 20 à 30m there's only sand. The highest point of this reef is the fully overgrown beautiful stone coral plateaus. A torpedinidae is one of the few fish we encounter here. This is a moderate dive site.

Night dive on in the Gaafu Nigiri Thali atol in the Maldives

Since our last dive, the previous day so was beautiful and we have to sail back in this direction anyway, we go for a night dive on Nigiri Thali.

My conclusion: under pressure of the group, our guides decided to go other dive sites than originally planned. As it was a live aboard trip, you can't stay at one place only. Otherwise, you may as well stay at a resort. It seemed to be the right decision to sail to the west of the Gaafu atol, because the dive sites were a lot better than before, but still not amazing.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

Friday 19 December 2014:

Diving on Vilingili Kan'du in the Gaafu atol in the Maldives

For our last dive, we chose to return to the channels to dive on sharks. Unfortunately, this was a disappointment.

Pictures - Photos of diving in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean

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Useful information about the Maldives:

Medical information about the Maldives:

Always refer to your doctor to get your vaccinations looked after: e.g. Hepatitisch A - B, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, typhoid.

Sun protectin is in the Maldives is absolutely necessary. The UV index is much higher than in Belgium. Even if it's cloudy, you can still burn. The use of sunscreen with a high protection factor is absolutely necessary in order to protect the skin against incineration. Use an extra high protection factor with trips on sea, where the sun is reflected even more. A good pair of sunglasses to protect the eyes and hats may not be missing here.

Dengue (also called knock fever) is caused by the aedes mosquito (Asian tiger mosquito) that occurs during the day (especially at sunrise 09-11 hours and sunday 13-17 hours). Dengue is a viral disease. Symptoms of viral disease dengue are: start to start with fever, headache and joint pain (tuberculosis), major muscle aches (including lean aches and pain around the eyeballs), which explain the stiffness of the sick. Sometimes there is a dry cough, and the heart rate is relatively slow relative to the fever (relative bradycardia). Classical (but not always!) Progresses the disease according to a biphasic pattern: after 3 to 4 days fever occurs a transient improvement, around the 5th to 6th day the fever rises again. At that time, a red flaky skin rash (similar to measles) may appear. After a few days, the fever disappears, but there may be a long period of difficult recovery, characterized by asthenia, muscle aches and allergies. There is no specific treatment, the condition heals itself. One should not use aspirin in the treatment of dengue fever, but only paracetamol for fever. However, there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the viral disease viral disease. Always consult a doctor immediately.

Hyperbaric Chamber and emergency contacts in the maldives:

Recompression Chamber in in the Maldives are in some atolls and hotels:

Alidhu Resort Haa Alif Atoll tel: +960 6505500
Bandos Resort North Male Atoll tel: +960 6640088
Kuramathi Resort North Alif Atoll tel: +960 6660527
Kuredu Lhaviyani Atoll tel: +960 6620337
Shangri La Seenu Atoll tel: +960 6897888

The medical infrastructure in the Maldives is weak. Next hopitals are in Malé:

IGMH (Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital
Tel: +960 3335351 / +960 3316647
Website: http://mhsc.com.mv.en

ADK (Abduarahman Don Kaleyfan) Hospital
Tel: +960 3300330
Website: http://www.adkhospital.mv

Some medical services are in private hospitals in Malé: AMDC Clinic (Azmi-Naeem Medical & Diagnostic Center)
Tel: +960 3325979
Website: http://amdc.com.mv

Emergency Numbers:

Ambulance: 102
Fire Department: 118
National police: 119

The climate in the Maldives:

Climate table of the average degrees in the Maldives:

Maldives	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Min degrees Celcius	25	26	26	27	27	27	26	26	26	26	25	25
Max degrees Celcius	29	30	31	32	31	31	31	30	30	30	29	29
Average days rain	5	4	7	8	12	10	10	12	12	15	12	11
Ocean degrees Celcius	27	28	28	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	28

The time difference in the maldives t.o.v. Belgium:

During the Belgian summer, the time in the Maldives is 3 hours later and in winter there's 4 hours difference

Language:

In the Maldives is the language Dhivehi, but the most speak also English.

Electricity:

The Maldives is equipped with 220V. Some plug models are European, Engels or Indias. Make sure to bring Engelse and Indiase adapters and prevent yourself for unpleasant surprises.

Gratuities:

The service 10% and taxes 5% are usually not included on the menu of hotels and restaurants but are some added to the bill. The roomcleaning expected 10 USD for a week, suitcases 1 USD each. Waiters and bartenders expected 5 USD for a week.

Clothing:

Airy clothing is the most courant. When visite the capital Male or with an excursion to an island, womans clote the arms en knee for respect of the residents.

Traffic:

They drive on the left side. Be careful when crossing, approaching roundabouts and driving into streets.

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