Cybercaptain

Captain's Blog Feb/ Mar 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:35:50 PDT

My vacation had been spent and I was instructed to go to Maldives and relieve Saini for vacation before returning back to Indian Empress. Kalizma was sitting at anchorage in Hulhumale' together with m/y Linse and there was a skeleton crew maintaining both boats.

I came onboard on the 15th Feb and met with Saini and we expedited the handover. Nothing much to say as we both know the boat very well, merely I was updated on ongoing works, the accounts and local customs. We discussed the future plans of the drydocking in Sri Lanka for April. Then I cooked a Thai spicy curry for Saini before he left and then I was left in charge.

My first thought was what to do in Maldives to keep oneself from sinking into apathy and fatigue. You can't walk around as everywhere is water, the surrounding Islands are discovered in a day by foot. Shopping has never been my hobby and is not worth here either. The locals are very isolated and keep to themselves and I have never been very active in socializing with complete strangers. I'm more of an observer and I participate in discussions when I know what I am talking about.

There are no bars or restaurants close by, with the two exceptions of the Hulhule airport bar and Bandos Island. I have in 2007 been to the airport bar and did not recall anything that would keep me going there night after night. Bandos Island I prefer to call "Bandit" Island as they charge 20USD only for entry to the Island, then depending what you want they charge you through the nose for mediocre food and drink. No thank you. Besides, Maldives is not really a party place, most tourists here are couples and newly weds that have come here for own privacy and R&R.

So, that left me with the remaining options, fishing and diving. I was mostly working daytime and did not have the interest to go fishing in the mornings although I had done this a lot during summers when I was a kid. This left me with diving that is one of my passions, the underwater world. In addition it also gave me much wanted exercise that I was in need of as I had decided to lose some unwanted weight that had accumulated lately.

Said and done I gave my instructions to Dubey and every morning almost without fail we explored one of the dive sites explained by Tim Godfrey in his dive book or just by looking at the local chart and trying out "unlisted" sites. During the time here I have now clocked 25 dives in total. The crew is also trained/ updated for surface support as well as are knowledgeable of the current situation and locations of different dive sites around Male' as it seems next high season will be Maldives for Kalizma. It has also been an educating experience for myself as well trying to identify the different species of fish I have trapped in my camera lens as well as working out techniques of getting the best picture by using flash.

Some of you may wonder which place was the best and it is hard to say. Every site had it's good points and highlights, it all depends on what you are looking for. I am usually going down with no expectations but keep my eyes open and my camera ready for anything spectacular the nature may want to throw at me. My favorites were definitely the Kuda Haa thila, Club Med corner and Maagiri caves if I'd have to name a few places. Of course the Maldive Victory wreck is awesome too.

Divesites in red and Kalizma in blue (BA chart 3323)

For those interested I have linked all published dives down below so you don't have to go looking in the archives, each post has an individual map of the dive location:
16th February Warm up dive S of Banana reef
17th February Furana South
18th February Kudakalhi channel
19th February Banana reef
20th February Hulhumale North
21st February Wreckdiving
22nd February Club Med corner
23rd February Banana reef
24th February Bandos Island
25th February Kalizma bottom
28th February Black Coral reef
29th February Furanafushi West
1st March Maagiri caves
2nd March Maagiri caves
3rd March Wreckdiving
4th March Hulhule
5th March Hans Hass place
6th March Club Med corner
7th March Lions Head
8th March Kuda Haa thila
9th March Nassimo thila
10th March Reef West of Aarah Island
11th March Furana South
12th March Driftdive down Club Med corner
12th March Nightdive S of Banana reef

Diving South of Banana reef

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:22:12 PDT

This was my last dive for this tour in Maldives as I'm flying to Abu Dhabi to take over as Master on Indian Empress so I need some surface time to be able to fly. To make it special I decided to do a night dive. Had all gear in the boat by sunset and off we went to check out Banana reef. The rising tide was still several knots too strong to do the dive at this location so we decided to go back a step down south and do it the next reef. At least there it looked to be no current.

BA chart 3323

So, then it was attempt number two and in we went with the last rays of the sun. The current was non-existent and we were having torches and a dive marker for the boat to follow. Off we went from the NW corner and headed West. Saw snakes and other creatures that I've never seen during daylight. E.g. could see appendages extending from within and under corals onto the sand waiting for a passing morsel to trip on them... Got a really H.P. Lovecraft like "Ctulhu" feeling of things when I saw them....

Last daylight

Otherwise fish was moving much slower and could get really good shots and saw some fish that I had not seen daytime. Spotted a small stingray & sand eel. Also the lively parrotfish was sitting nicely for a picture. I had forgotten how fun night dives are. As the sun had gone down there was a clear moment when there was nothing in the water but then it starting to get fuzzy as all the micro-organisms wriggled out from their hidey holes and the corals started letting out there stuff. After an hour my divebuddy Dubey was in the red zone but I still had 90bar left but up we went as the torches started fading too. Good dive.

Whitespotted grouper

Bluebarred parrotfish

Yellowmargin lyretail grouper

Dash-dot goatfish

Lieutenant surgeonfish

Starry rabbitfish

Oriental sweetlips

It appears to be a grouper (?)

Eyestripe surgeonfish

Snake eel (?)

Turtle

Vermilion rock cod

Two-lined monocle bream

Electric ray

Dusky parrotfish

Lionfish

Trumpetfish

White-spotted sharpnose puffer

Cardinalfish (?)

Feather star on coral

Klein's butterflyfish with odd white spot

Diving Club Med corner

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:35:18 PDT

This morning we saw there was a strong ingoing tide on Kudakalhi Channel so we decided to do a drift dive from the corner into the atoll as we had not yet dived this particular segment of the Club Med corner. We went an ample distance along the Ocean side of the reef to gear up and once ready we simultaneously jumped in at 10m depth.

BA chart 3323

The current was not very strong there and we took our bearings and checked everything was ok and started slowly drifting along the reef towards the Kudakalhi Channel. Here we could feel the wave surge as we had watched huge breakers were crashing against the reef on top.

Oval butterflyfish

Yellowhead butterflyfish

As we kept on drifting the current was getting stronger. I was expecting to see some fish action like Reef sharks or Jackfish preying on fish near the entrance but so far did not see anything but a lone Napoleon Maori wrasse and a Turtle. Both going against the current like it was nothing to it.

Oval butterflyfish and Peacock rock cod

Forster's hawkfish

Coral rabbitfish and Powder-blue surgeonfish

Chevron butterflyfish

Orangespine unicornfish

Watch the knives om the tail of the unicornfish

At the same time the visibility was going down as there was more debris in the water. It was not like flying blind but from the usual 20-25m it was 10-15m. We stopped from time to time to watch the surroundings but it was the same every time, seagrass was slaked against the bottom and the current was trying to rip our grip off the rocks we were holding onto.

Collared butterflyfish

Imperial angelfish

Bird wrasse (?)

There was a noise in our ears from all the things grinding and chafing against everything due to the current. We let go again and just floated away in 15m depth, the feel is exhilarating as everyone knows who has done a proper drift dive, it is like flying. We must have been doing 2 knots at best.

Turtle swimming against current (see the seagrass)

Fan coral

Yellow boxfish

Bullethead parrotfish

Giant moray's

At the entrance of the Kudakalhi Channel the current slacked off and turned downwards. I saw a huge overhang at 20m depth but there was nothing interesting underneath it. We swam against the weak downward current inside the channel and suddenly all went quiet. All the background noise had gone.

Big school of snapper

Blacktip grouper

Sleek unicornfish

Clark's anemonefish

Turtle in the distance and a Titan triggerfish

We had entered somekind of eddy with no current at all. The visibility was down to 10m and everything was rocky like in a moon landscape and covered in powdery sand. Several Titan triggerfish swam around chasing each other I guess because having nothing better to do. I saw a turtle emerge from the white "fog" and swimming lazily out towards the Ocean.

Clark's anemonefish

Lionfish

Trumpetfish

Queen coris (?)

We were almost down in the red and we knew our surface boat had lost us as we could not hear the engine noise so we hoisted the orange sausage and surfaced. The boat was a couple hundred meters away looking the wrong way but after blowing the whistles on our BCD's we got his attention and were picked up. Good diving again.

Diving Furana South

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:35:29 PDT

My diving days are soon over for awhile as I'm due to return back to Indian Empress in a few days. This morning decided to revisit the Furana south site and we started well inside the Kudakalhi Channel as the current was slightly outflowing. Earlier diveboats had tied a white canister to the reef as a marker so we tied up there and geared up. Down we went just South of the Full Moon Maldives resorts lagoon and started heading East.

BA chart 3323

After awhile at 15m depth we came to a huge cave that had a swimthrough. I went inside to have a look and there were huge groupers hunkering inside. Of course my flash decided to give up the contract when I was needing it the most and after some fiddling I got it to flash again. The sound inside the cave was awesome, one could hear the reverberating noise of waves crashing onto the atoll.

Madagascar butterflyfish

Cave dwelling grouper

Cave dwelling grouper, see the friend behind

After a few shots I swam out to the other side of the swimthrough. There were more groupers and a shy Stingray that went straight for the bottom once he saw us coming. I also got a few shots of a 2m Giant Moray that was wrapped around the rocks in front of the cave.

Divebuddy Dubey

White spotted grouper

Yellowfin surgeonfish (top) & Harlequin sweetlips (bottom)

Further down the Channel we came into another overhang/ cave kind of thing and I got some more shots of big fish cowering inside the darkness. After this it was pretty much a vertical wall dive with coral becoming more scarce due to us approaching the edge of the atoll and the Ocean. Now we were down to our last 50bars and we did our ascent, we had reached the corner of Furana South.

Blue-faced angelfish

Feather stars on a Fan coral

Kashmir snapper

Black-spotted puffer

Imperial angelfish and Banded shrimp om right

Regal angelfish

Lionfish

Grouper

Raccoon butterflyfish

Maldive anemonefish

Giant moray

Midnight snapper

White-spotted grouper

Redmouth grouper (below) and Vanikoro sweeper (right), Whitetip soldierfish (top left)

Klein's butterflyfish and Threespot angelfish

Threespot angelfish

Lobster

Titan triggerfish

Bicolour cleaner wrasse

Gold striped emperor

Big eye bream (top) & Philippine damselfish (bottom)

Giant moray

Slender grouper

Divided wrasse

Brown-blotched sandperch

Diving reef West of Aarah Island

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 07:17:08 PST

For this mornings dive we chose to go to an unnamed reef West of the Aarah Island. There are 2 reefs next to each other and in between there is a narrow channel. Once you get there on the spot you realize the channel is not so narrow, it is rather several hundred meters wide.

BA chart 3323

Google earth

The reef that was our target has on the west side an opening inside the lagoon and it was not very shallow either. We went in the channel to the opening to the lagoon to test the waters and discovered a South going current so we decided to drift south and keep to the south of the reef.

Philippine damselfish

Axilspot hogfish, juvenile

In we went and the dive started. The bottom was mostly sand here and the current grabbed us and we were gently floating by the reef in a Southerly direction. After awhile the corals became more plentiful and fish was more but not really ever abundant. The visibility was good but started to deteriorate once we got out of the channel current.

Humbug dascyllus

Cardinaldish (?)

After awhile the current more or less subsided as we were in the lee of the reef and the visibility got worse as the current was pushing sand off the reef and it was almost like snowing. Also the corals got less and less and were more of the dead variety although there was still living patches and fish around. I saw a turtle shortly but he swam further away so was not able to make an acquaintance.

Weird red fish I saw only when I looked at the picture afterwards

Blue-green chromis

The dive was not an impressive one for an experienced diver but I could say a beginner might enjoy this. We spent 70 minutes underwater as the average diving depth was 11m and I still had 20 bar left to red margin. What I also saw a lot was many different Cod and Black saddled puffers and some Emperors. To my surprise I did not come across Moray eel but that does not mean there weren't any around.

Gold-striped emperor

Meyer's butterflyfish

Gold-striped emperor

Blue-and-yellow grouper

Diana's hogfish

Spot-tail sandperch

Golden chromis

Broad stripe fusilier

Bullethead parrotfish, juvenile, down left

Orangestripe spinecheek

Slender grouper under the rock

Black saddled puffer

Dash-dot goatfish

Black saddled puffer

Mushroom coral

Little fish

Threadfin butterflyfish

Yellow saddled goatfish

Lobster

Yellow saddle goatfish, up and Epaulette surgeonfish, down

Graeffe's seacucumber

Yellowhead butterflyfish

Humbug dascyllus

Diving Nassimo thila

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:31:19 PST

This morning we headed North for Nassimo Thila that was awarded four stars by Tim Godfrey back in the day when he wrote the book and is lauded as the best "thila" in North Male' atoll. The weather was a bit choppy and we jumped ourselves to the divesite that is next to Lankanfinolhu Island. The Island houses the swanky "Paradise" resort next to the "Soneva Gili" resort on the Lankanfushi Island (1000+ USD/ night).

BA chart 3323

The reef was easily identifiable as we got closer we could see the reflection from the sun. The current seemed slightly to be outward bound. Anyway, we geared up and made our descent on the West side of the 10m depth curve. We landed in the middle of the 10m thila plateau. Our first encounter was with a big stingray that seemed annoyed by our presence as it started letting out loud clicking noises it made with it's gills, after a while it realized we are not fazed by his clicking so it decided to blow this pop stand and swam away.

Mangrove whipray

We continued against the current in abt 15-20m depth and came to various pinnacles and caves, on the way we passed a Napoleon Wrasse. Fish was not so abundant as described but maybe it was because of the current, the swimming against the current was heavy and air consumption went up. Then we reached the NW corner of the reef and we drifted back south on the Western side.

Kashmir snappers

Lone Indian bannerfish with Kashmir snappers

Here we also saw many small caves and plenty of vegetation and a few big overhangs but the caves below did not house any surprising life. Did not see anything special except a few prowling Jacks. Back on the SE corner of the thila we were effectively out of air and we saw a big turtle munching on grass it ripped off the reef. The turtle was not shy at all and let me take some good potshots. Then it was time to make our ascent.

Maldive anemonefish

Giant clam

When we surface I could see a sports fishing boat nearby that is maybe testimony why the fish was not so abundant anymore. A bit surprising as this thila is also defined as a protected nature area. Definitely a good dive but I think yesterdays Kuda Haa had more to offer or maybe we just dove at the wrong time...

Oriental sweetlips cowering under an overhang

Brown+blotched sandperch

Clark's anemonefish and Threespot dascyllus

Napoleon Maori wrasse in distance

Frontal shot of a bannerfish

Longnose butterflyfish

Schooling bannerfish

Chocolate-dip chromis (?)

Maldive anemonefish and Threespot dascyllus

Magnificent firegoby

Saddled sharpnose puffer

Emperor fish veering away

Lots of small fish

Turtle

Diving Kuda Haa

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:50:14 PST

Looking at divesites Tim Godfrey have mapped out in his good book I settled to go to the Kuda Haa "thila" as it was the only one we had not yet visited. It was as far as Lion's Head at Thilafushi but a bit more north inside the atoll, just next to the Giraavaru Island. The reef is actually 8m underwater so finding it without a positioning system is not the easiest task. Actually we found it by seeing fish jumping out of water, it was a bit windy and waves were abt 50cm high so one could see the reef only when you were next to it.

BA chart 3323

Well, as we had arrived we ascertained the current direction that was slightly to the East and we plunged in at the Western point of the "thila". I descended to 15m off the top and started going East with the current, the reef was actually like 2 hillock with a saddle in between so at one point there was no current. Fish was aplenty and I could see preying Barracuda and Jackfish patrolling the waters around us, no wonder the fish was a bit jumpy.

Saddled sharpnose puffer

I think at the Western end I found a cave and inside I was chasing a big Emperor who ran away without me getting a good potshot of it and when I turned around I almost shat myself as I was looking at a monstrous grouper that was huddled in the back and gaping at me gaping at him. I managed to squeeze of a a few shots and then he swam away.

Yellowmargin moray

Giant moray

Undulated moray

As another curiosity I saw probably the biggest pufferfish I ever seen in my life, it must have been more than 50cm in length. There was also plenty of Emperor and Sleek unicornfish around including the usual pelagic small fish. I think we managed to circle the "thila" about two times before we ran out of air and had to abandon Neptunes Kingdom.

Double-saddled butterflyfish

Madagascar butterflyfish

Neon damselfish

Maldives anemonefish

Pardeepfish

Damselfish hiding behind corals

Black-spotted pufferfish

Two-lined monocle bream

Orange anthia

Bluebarred parrotfish

Midnight emperor

Huge Starry pufferfish

Pearl clams on a tree

Vermilion rock cod

Masked bannerfish

The usual aspect of fish I see

Brown-marbled grouper

Bluefin jack (Trevally)

Bluefin Jack (Trevally)

Sleek unicornfish

Butterflyfish

Threespot angelfish

Orange-stripe Emperor (?)

Great barracuda

Imperial angelfish

Orange-fin Emperor

Kashmir snapper

Diving Lion's head

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:59:32 PST

BA chart 3323

The day was calm and sunny so we ventured South again towards Thilafushi Island where all the rubbish handling in Maldives is done. There is also a number of industries there such as 3 shipyards a cement factory, fuel storage and other various workshops.

Thilafushi

Mushroom leather coral

As we were passing South of Thilafushi and going West along the shoreline we passed several open fires where rubbish was burnt. I guess the same style was in force since I was first time in Maldives in 2007, no incentive to burn in an incinerator when the smoke disperses so fast.

Black-spotted pufferfish

Sleek unicornfish

Anyway, we stopped short of passing Thilafushi and geared up to go explore Lions Head dive site. It is also a designated fish protection area. The current was slightly flowing East and off we went. We came to the first overhang at 12m depth and after that we encountered several at 15-22m. Can't say which one was the Lion's Head but the scenery was nice. I saw a shark far away but he was quick to disappear once he sensed humans about. Met also 2-3 turtles of which one was entangled in rope and we successfully freed him. The more East we went the more there was particles in the water and on the corals.

Black-and-white snapper

Spotfin squirrelfish

Gorgonian fan coral

Dubey at Lions head

Two-tone dartfish

Clark's anemonefosh

Indian bannerfish

Madagascar butterflyfish

Giant clam

Black Pyramid butterflyfish

School of Captain parrotfish (?)

Blue-faced angelfish

Blotched porcupine fish

Masked bannerfish

Varicose wart slug

Yellowmargin moray

Solander's sharpnose puffer

Black-spotted pufferfish

Trumpetfish

Entangled turtle that we freed

Turtle

Diving Club Med corner

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:35:26 PST

My deckhand Pardeep had not been here and we decided to revisit this site. This time though we swam South instead of inside the atoll so we started near the corner. We weren't disappointed, met with Napoleon Wrasse & turtles plus the host of the small fish in the coral garden. I must have seen the biggest grouper ever in my life when I peeked under a rock formation, it sat there for awhile until it noticed it was observed and then it hid better out of sight. I managed to get a picture but it is obscured by the soldierfish, if you look closely you can see the eyes and mouth in the dark background...

BA chart 3323, inset

Yellowback fusilier

Collared butterflyfish & Shadowfin soldierfish

Oriental sweetlips

Imperial angelfish

Lined surgeonfish

Shadowfin soldierfish

Moorish idol

Soldierfish, note the grouper in the background

Yellowhead butterflyfish, Powder-blue surgeonfish, Black pyramid butterflyfish

Regal angelfish

Seacucumber, Tiger cardinalfish, Moorish Idol & Soldierfish

Sailfin tang, Bullethead parrotfish (?)

Blacktip grouper

Gold striped emperor and a lonely Kashmir snapper

Orangefin emperor

Trumpetfish

Titan triggerfish

White-spotted grouper

Fish at table coral

Neon fusiliers

Diving Hans Hass place

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:23:49 PST

As we had tallied through the closest dive sites we ventured now a bit further afield, not going overboard but staying inside Male' atoll. We headed southwest from our anchorage towards Viligili Island and next to it is a reef named Gulhi Falhu. It is now being reclaimed from the West. In the middle of the reef on the Ocean side is the "Hans Hass" diving spot that is designated as a protected area. When I was in Maldives earlier my local guide told me that this will house the existing industries on Male' and they will be relocated on Gulhi Falhu.

Anyway, we arrived again early morning and found another dive boat there already but there is aplenty at sea so we made ourselves ready and jumped in. The current was against us and a bit heavier than expected but to agree with the diveplan we kept on going West as instructed our surface boat. There was plenty of pelagics, saw also a Napoleon Wrasse in the distance but the most impressive sight was the overhangs, especially the last one that when I looked under it it gave the impression of a cathedral.

BA chart 3323

An overhang

Whitetip soldierfish

Eyestripe surgeonfish

Vermilion rock cod

The wall

Diana's hogfish

Soldierfish above clam

Orange anthia, male

Orange anthia, female

Boomerang triggerfish

Duskyfin rock cod

Yellowtail wrasse

Lionfish

Yellowfin surgeonfish (?)

Napoleon Maori wrasse

Powder-blue surgeonfish

Checkerboard wrasse

Peacock rock cod

Powder-blue surgeonfish

Sailfin tang

Spotted unicornfish

Almost at the surface

Checkerboard wrasse

Yellowhead butterflyfish

Diving off Hulhule

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:52:41 PST

As we were running out of dive sites close by we decided to give Hulhule a go even-though Tim Godfrey had awarded the site only one star in his guide book. Off we went a bit NE of the entrance to the atoll and headed south. There was no current to mention about but I could feel the wave surge down to 20m. The surroundings were rocky and I could see a lot of groupers hiding under the formations. We swam along and just about when we were about to ascend as we were down on air to 50bars I saw something in the distance. After a few seconds a school of Humphead parrotfish appeared with some ten fish in the school. These huge fish were very shy and did not come close, I managed to get off a few shots but then we had to go up. Definitely the highlight of the dive.

BA chart 3323, inset

Hawkfish

Shadowfin soldierfish

Schooling Gold-stripe emperorfish

Yellow trumpetfish

Clark's anemonefish

Maldives anemonefish

Orange-striped triggerfish

White-spotted grouper

Slender sweeper

Vanikoro sweeper

Collared butterflyfish

Four-saddle grouper

Humphead parrotfish

Walking in Male'

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:51:41 PST

Saturday night fever and nothing much to do we decided with Dubey to walk around Male' Island, the Capital of Maldives. Said and done we took the ferry over and from the landing we headed straight South. First we passed some park like area with a communal swimming pool connected to the sea and then we came to a beach called Surfers Paradise. I guess this is the only place where the waves break in order surf properly. I could see some boys on boards far out catching the waves that rolled in. They broke their surf quite far away from shore and I don't wonder why as the shore was not sandy, it was sharp coral edges galore, not for beginners...

Surfers Paradise

Monument to honor the Japanese for sponsoring the Southern Breakwater (?)

Public swimming area on South side

As we strolled on we came on the South side of the Island and the road was lined with stalls selling areca nuts, tender coconut and other refreshments. I saw Red Bull was all the rage with the locals. The walking on the seaside was not bad as the pavement was wide, not like inside the Island where some places there were no sidewalks at all. Then we passed the powerstation of Male', I could hear the engines churning electricity. At same time we passed the southern port where I think the bunker barges fill up or vice versa for the power plant, at least there was a big manifold at the jetty and numerous bunker barges tied up in the port.

One of the older bunker barges

Male' Prison

After this we passed the Male' prison, I guess they nowadays need one as in olden days they had just banished the criminals to outlying Islands. Anyhow, the building was not very big but had those big metal clanging doors that you see in movies. After that we passed a big mountain of rubbish, I would think the highest point of the Island. Nearby was a recycling center. The stink was there despite the sea breeze. Further down the road we came to boat jetties taking passengers to other atolls, people were lining up for departing dhoni's. On the other side I think there was a military building as it was fortified like the jail but there was no sign saying what the building was for. It was bigger than the jail.

Rubbish recycling center

Male' main port

After this we started turning up North and approached the Male' main harbor that was packed with big and small cargo dhoni's loading goods for various destinations. I could see some of the dhoni's were actually owned by the resort. It takes a big operation to keep them going with staffs running in hundreds on the bigger ones. After the port we came almost full circle and passed the main market for fish, fruit vegetable, everything.

Cargo dhoni loaded with two 20' containers and other provisions

Northern entrance to Male' Port

Once the market was behind us we started passing the administrative facade of the Island on the North, the main mosque, President's Palace, major business buildings etc. On the seaside were more ferry jetties dropping off and taking on passengers for various destinations. Soon we were back where we started and had spent 1h 15 minutes walking and we bought our 5 MRF tickets back to Hulhumale'. What an exciting saturday afternoon.

Luxury apartments in male' with a seaview

Main market of Male'

Diving Maldive Victory

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:37:27 PST

As my other deckhand had not experienced the wreck we decided to have another go at it and so we went down south of the airport. This time there was hardly any current so the visibility was much poorer but then again there was much more fish present. Did the same tour as before, down the mast, go fwd, then aft, circle the poop deck, go to the bridge, look into the funnel. As we still got air left we swam at mast height forwards again and back before going up.

BA chart 3323, inset

Hold and masthouse

Masked bannerfish

Bigeyes were hiding everywhere inside the wreck

Sweetlip species (?)

Aft poop deck

Imperial angelfish

Not the way you'd expect your lookout to report for duty...

Gotta keep on rockin'

Forward mooring deck

Diving Maagiri caves

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:56:54 PST

As the previous day we had missed the caves we decided to make another attempt, this time we would start on the Eastern tip of the reef and go along the northern edge in 15m depth to make sure we don't miss it. As soon as we went in I spotted a Napoleon Wrasse but it quickly made itself scarce in face of the intruders. We drifted along the wall and about halfway we hit the jackpot. There was a big cave with sort of a canyon in between from broken off rock. As soon as I entered the cave I saw a white tip shark scuttle away and several big groupers. I managed to corner one at the farthest end in the cave so I could get some decent shots but it was just showing me his tail side, oh well. The caves were magnificent diving and a lot of big groupers and other fish abound.

BA chart 3323, inset

Napoleon Maori Wrasse

Honeycomb moray

Flora

Lionfish

Flora

Honeycomb moray, say "aaah"...

What do you mean "rent"?

Lionfish

Orange-fin emperor

White-tip reef shark

School of fish holding off against the current at the mouth of the cave

Indian parrotfish

White-spotted grouper

Black-spotted pufferfish

Protest day on Male'

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:36:02 PST

As it was Thursday I wanted to go and buy some essentials before the Muslim day off on Friday and I took the ferry over to Male'. Little did I know they had protests against the government going on the same afternoon. Lot of people were out and about and the powers that be had cordoned off the "sensitive" areas of the Capital with road blocks and Police was equipped with riot shields and protective gear.

Maldivian "gas carrier" at Hulhumale'

Protesters and Riot Police

Well, I did not let a few people deter me from doing my business so I set to walk around the demonstrators and Police in order to get to the shop I wanted to go to. At the local University was even more people and a female voice coming out of speakers that sounded very angry and I guess was shouting out demands for what their party were protesting against.

Protest at the University

The Prez was not having an open door day

After a while I think she ran out of demands or points and she reverted to the slogan that sounded something like "Male'allavaduhii", I have no idea of the meaning. People everywhere were taking things pretty calmly and just standing around watching things develop. After some time I could see people went away and the Police stood down and started dismantling road blocks, I guess the protest was over. Shops opened and I was able to do my stuff. Once finished I walked back towards the boat jetty and while I was passing the post office close by I could still hear the female shouting at the University, I guess her protest day was not yet over...

Traditional dhoni at Hulhumale'

Diving Maagiri caves

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:54:44 PST

This time we decided to go to the right spot and so we went with map and all. Went into the water about in the middle of the north side of the reef and hit one cave, after that there a few small holes and the rest was just wall dive. When going in there was a about 1kt of inflowing current so we drifted along until we came to the West point of the reef where the current was not felt. Saw nothing much in between the cave and the end. Once we started ascending we spotted a small manta ray and a Napoleon wrasse.

BA chart 3323, inset

Dubey in cave

Titan triggerfish

Maldives & Clark's anemonefish

Orangefin emperor

Longnose butterflyfish

Regal angelfish

Black-saddle coralgrouper

Small Manta ray

Napoleon Wrasse with Jackfish

Napoleon Wrasse

Diving Furanafushi West

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:32:29 PST

Here we actually thought we were going to the Maagiri caves but eventually came short of one reef as we did not have our guide book with us. Nevertheless, not a bad reef dive, at times good corals at times no corals. Pelagics were present. A lot of traffic could be heard as the channel into the resort was just south of us as well as I think other boats pass here on the way to the more northern resorts and Islands.

BA chart 3323, inset

Spotted boxfish

Saddled sharpnose puffer

Yellow boxfish

Moray eel

Diving Black coral reef

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:08:03 PST

Went to the Feydhoo Finolhu where there is according to the Tim Godfrey "Dive Maldives" guide the Black Coral reef. Black coral is semi precious and used for jewellery. Weather was excellent and we went to the Island and discovered there is a resort nowadays so we plonked in the drink a bit west of their entrance and swam west. The reef is a vertical wall, not so much coral there but the wall looks more "rocky" like on the outside of an atoll. Saw nothing spectacular except the normal pelagics and we surfaced at the Western end where there is a wreck in the middle on the reef.

BA chart 3323, inset

Flora

Clarks anemonefish

Yellow boxfish

Clam

Orange-striped triggerfish

Black-saddle coralgrouper

Moray eel

Lionfish

Circular batfish

Duskyfin rock cod

Clown triggerfish

Kashmir snapper

Soldierfish (?)

Oriental sweetlips

Damselfish

Maldives anemonefish

Titan triggerfish

The wreck on the reef

Walk on Hulhumale'

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:08:56 PST

Kalizma at anchor

I guess among Addoo atoll and Male' Island, Hulhumale' is the only other residential Island where foreigners can mingle or at least see how the local populace lives. On resorts you hardly find any Maldivians let alone get in touch with their culture, food, customs etc.

Our walking path beside the road

Boulevards of Hulhumale'

Resorts are just fantastic artificial make believe places with no other meaning than to make money out of the hapless tourist, or in case of Maldives usually just married couples or couples in general. Yet many people return to these places year after year. maybe the surrounding is so off their usual turf that it somehow inspires people to come or recharges their batteries. I for one would never pay to come to Maldives, it is just not worth it in my eyes.

Coming from Hulhule Island you are greeted with this sign

The guard post in Hulhumale'

Maybe I could consider a liveaboard dive boat as diving is my passion, but staying on an Island where everywhere you go you need to whip out your wallet for anything you do (or pay yourself halfway into debt for an "everything included" vacation). I'd go mad in a few days. Either way I'd develop cabin fever as discovering any resort Island does not take more than 10 minutes, tops.

The Ocean side beach

Local road

I still recall the looks on the tourist faces on Addoo atoll when they came cycling back from their daily tour. The faces were long and drawn and far from happy looking. Later I heard they had booked into the resort for 2 weeks and I think the daily room rate was abt 400USD/ night. If you don't dive or fish you run out of options in less than a week or perhaps some people can lie in the sun for days on end, not my cup of tea.

BA chart 3323, inset

From the already built buildings the whole plain is planned to be built

Well, that was my rant about resorts, lets get to Hulhumale'. The Island is quite large and is evidently planned to have a huge residential colony there. I could also see some industrial estates there as well as garbage handling too. The roads are pretty wide and will cater for any traffic that may be due in the future. In the bay we are staying is next to the landing jetty for the Male' ferry, you get a ticket for 5 MRF one way, the journey takes 20 minutes.

1000 units project, of course Chinese business men have their finger in the pie

The municipal swimming area

Upon landing at the Hulhumale' jetty we started walking south along the coast with Dubey. After a while you'll end up to a causeway connecting to the airport Island Hulhule. This Island was in olden times considered haunted by several "jinni". The causeway has barriers and a guard preventing anyone entering the Island I suppose on unnecessary grounds. One would not want the local populace or even the guest workers going to the airport bar and get sloshed and then wander back late at night and raise hell in the sleeping colony.

Someone's Fukuoka but driving on a spare tyre

"Please don't dump garbage"

Anyway, we continue past the Causeway on the Ocean side of the Island, now heading North. The beach is heavily fortified against erosion, a heavy duty mat has been placed on the sand and on top it something that looks like hardened cement bags. After a few minutes walking we enter the area under development and also pass a municipal swimming area. Dubey tells me that this area is usually full during Thursdays & Fridays (muslim weekend). Then we come to the northern end of the Island and there is a communal BBQ area and a view to the neighboring resort.

The communal BBQ area, Club Med in background

Pine trees of Hulhumale'

We walk around the northern tip and on the lagoon side is some big construction project going on and soutwards towards the jetty is actually the nicest part of the Island. The whole area is taken up by pine trees that gives a look of some greenery and nature. Finally we arrive to the point we started from and see that we spent about an hour walking.

The pine lined local jetty

At the jetty women are warned about wearing bikinis

Diving under Kalizma

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:41:34 PST

On the 25th morning we tried diving the Furana North divespot but after 2 attempts we just had to admit that the circumstances were not in our favor. The inflowing current was too strong for us to be able to stay at the reef and to do a drift dive without a dive marker was too hazardous as the waters above were so turbulent that the surface boat would have lost our bubbles (and us).

Cathodic anode before

So, we packed it in and motored back to Kalizma. As we still had plenty of air left in the tank I took a scraper and went down below to expose the propellers from seagrowth. After 3 months of sitting Maldives the growth was remarkable.

Center propeller before

Oysters the size of my hand and crabs in all sizes. Barnacles and seagrass. Well, staid under for the best part of an hour and cleaned all 3 props and the rudder while my dive buddy took care of the stabilizer fins and the bottom as far as the air let him do it.

Anode after

At least it beat the conditions of diving in Mumbai harbour with less than 30cm visibility with torches. There also a particular grass tends to grow on the bottom and it is like long fronds, like a beard. I remember when we tried to find the seawater inlets and scrape them free of growth, crabs were biting our fingers.

Center propeller after

In Goa at least we can see a bit and there I remember I came up with a small crab in my ear after a scrapping session. Luckily he did not like the surroundings and came out on his own free will.

Diving Bandos Island

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:55:53 PST

Went in the NE corner and ventured East with the strong current in the beginning. The visibility was quite good but as the current became less, when we rounded the Island, the visibility deteriorated. At the start we "bumped" into a reef shark, the high light of the dive.

BA chart 3323, inset

Lobster

Reef shark

Damselfish

Orange-striped triggerfish

Duskyfin rock cod (no flash)

Duskyfin rock cod

Scribbled filefish

Diving Banana reef

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:19:59 PST

As my other deckhand hadn't yet seen Banana reef we went here again. Good dive and lots to see.

BA chart 3323, inset

Some flora

Oriental sweetlips (juvenile)

Spotted boxfish

Sabre squirrelfish

Blue-faced angelfish

Turtle coming out of a cave

Turtle

Circular batfish

Sleek unicornfish

Moray eel

Pardeep

Diving Club Med corner

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:44:59 PST

We ventured out of the atoll and went for the Club Med Corner, actually the NE end of the Hulhumale' & Hulhule airport Island & reef. It was a nice dive, hardly any current and many things to see. At the end when we came up a huge school of dolphins passed us by and I had still my goggles on so I could watch them below surface for the first time of my life. I think I could even hear them talking in their high-pitched squeaks.

BA chart 3323, inset

Turtle

Blue trevally

Clown triggerfish

Honeycomb moray eel

Black-saddle coralgrouper

Napoleon Maori wrasse

Yellow boxfish

Eagle ray

Dolphin

Diving Maldive Victory

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:26:10 PST

This day decided to go and dive the Maldive Victory. She was/ is a general cargo ship that sank in full cargo upon arrival Male' in 1981. For divers delight the wreck is still standing upright so it offers a lot to see. I have quoted the Maldives Victory history text below from here.

BA chart 3323, inset

The ten year old 3,500 ton freighter, Maldive Victory, struck the Hulhule Airport reef at full speed on Friday, 13th of February 1981. All the passengers and crew survived, and what was a disaster for the shipping company soon became a bonus for the local diving industry, which was crying out for a wreck dive to add to the established dives of North Male.

Hold & booms at the mast house

Bags of old cargo

The cargo including two limousines and several thousand bottles of liquor where mostly recovered during a nine-month salvage operation that saw the wreck stripped of its cargo and anything else of value, though a few cassette recorders can still be seen on the deck. The ship sank in 35 metres of water and within moments sea life took up residence on this perfect artificial reef, the wreck lies upright on the sandy bottom with the bow facing north. The anchor hanging on its chain from the bow actually moves in the strong current.

Discarded radio

Bollard

The Maldive Victory, the most famous of Maldivian shipwrecks, was sailing to the Maldives capital, Male, from Singapore with a cargo of supplies for resort islands. When she sank panic spread through the island when it became known that the long awaited foodstuffs and the building materials were lying on the bottom of the ocean, and so a number of salvage teams quickly assembled, made up mostly of local divers but also by diving instructors from nearby islands.

Panama lead

Holds #1 & #2

They were successful in bringing a great deal of merchandise to the shore, but most of the goods had been ruined by contact with the salt water, and the financial loss was enormous. Sea water, which exerted so much pressure at the depth of 35 metres (115 feet), that corks were actually pushed back into the bottles, penetrated into thousands of bottles of wine and other types of liquor. Even two brand-new automobiles, which had been loaded onto the deck, were turned into useless hulks. Even today bits of scattered cargo are found in the hold of this 110-meter (360 feet) long wreck.

Sleek unicornfish

The bridge

The sailors and the few passengers aboard managed to make their way to the landing strip, only about thirty metres (a hundred feet) away; all were rescued, and none were even injured. The freighter was only ten years old, and hailed from Singapore; the holds were full of merchandise, chiefly for the tourist facilities.

Aft propeller still there

Pardeep going up

We went down from the buoy attached to the aft samson post. The current was outward abt 1knot. We pulled ourselves down the rope to the mast and from there in the lee of the current we made our way down to the deck. After that we examined the forward mooring deck and holds and made our way aft. Aft was another hold & the superstructure. We swam around the accommodation and ended up on the bridge. After this we were almost done with our air so we made our way back to the aft mast and went up the same way we came with a decompression stop.

Diving Hulhumale' North

noreply@blogger.com (Jari Lindgren) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:45:20 PST

This time went again to the Kudakalhu Channel but on the South side of it on the Hulhumale' Island reef. Went down about in the middle and drifted with the slight current into the atoll. Once inside the visibility turned quite poor but there was some caves, a few of them remarkably big, and lobsters hiding in their holes.

BA chart 3323, inset

Blue seagrass

Sleeping stingray

Stingray

Dhiraj & stingray

Clam

Lionfish