Maldives Escape

As the US went into a COVID Relapse, I slid out of the country to one of the other diving places open and running:  Maldives.  I've been here before and I know it is mostly about the big stuff, but I knew that there were many critters and nudis to be found as well.

Here is my itinerary:

Thursday, December 3

6:20pm Etihad Airlines flight 150 Departs Chicago 

Friday, December 4

5:45pm Etihad Airlines flight 150 Arrives Abu Dhabi

Hang out in airport for 8 hours 45 minutes

Saturday, December 5

2:30am Etihad Airlines flight 278 Departs Abu Dhabi

7:55am Etihad Airlines flight 278 Arrives Male

        Transfer from Airport to Samann Host Hotel

Sunday, December 6

3:00pm Transfer from Samann Host Hotel to Aggressor

12/6/2020 to 12/13/2020

Maldives Aggressor II

Sunday December 13

8:00 am Leave Aggressor II

ALL DAY Day Room at Samann Host Hotel

12/13/2020 to 12/20/2020

Maldives Aggressor II

Sunday December 20

8:00am Leave Aggressor II

ALL DAY Day Room at Samann Host Hotel

10:00pm Check in at Airport

11:45pm Etihad Airlines flight 279 leaves Male

Monday December 21

3:05am Etihad Airlines flight 279 arrives Abu Dhabi

Hang out in airport for 5 hours, 50 minutes

8:55am Etihad Airlines flight 151 leaves Abu Dhabi

2:00pm Etihad Airlines flight 151 arrives Chicago

I debated long and hard whether I was going to come but in the end I had the time and the money.  I got a COVID Test scheduled and it came back negative.  I was glad to have come diving but it really is such a strange time and everyone has to make the right choice for themselves whether or not to travel.

It turns out that there were ten other guests who were thinking just like me: Ron, Dennis, Wendy and Mark (from Chicago!), Liz, James, Anthony, David, Frans and Andreas.

We dive from a good sized dhoni (not a skiff) and it is quite a comfortable place to get suited up for the dives.  I got buddied up with Anthony from France who was a newer diver at the beginning of the week but he was a trooper diving with me always looking for small stuff and going slow.  He did really great on his air consumption and lasted with me until the dive time limit of 60 minutes was up.  He was not only a great diver but also developed a bit of an eye for spotting slugs and critters!

Knowing that not every dive was going to be ideal for small things, I also bought a new Go Pro Max that takes 360 degree videos.  They are quite stunning and take amazing interactive clips, but sometimes it makes me a little dizzy viewing them.  Here is a surface shot of Anthony and me after a dive:

The first day of diving was Monday.  Audrey was our cruise director but she had pneumonia recently and her lungs were seriously hurting her.  She was in pain just giving the dive briefings.  She did not dive with us at all.  Two local Maldivian brothers: Suju and Shaf will be our dive guides.  They are both so skinny!

On the very first dive, we encountered a Tiger Shark.  That was really cool!  Unfortunately, I didn't get any footage of it as I was still getting my act together.  It was massive and just slowly swam by.  I didn't stick around very long at all.

In the afternoon, I was able to take the new Go Pro Max down on a wreck and take some really cool footage. 

<post Go Pro Max wreck footage from 12/7>

We all sat on the sundeck before dinner and enjoyed the sunset.

On Tuesday we did a night dive on a town pier which sounds right up my alley, but it was all about the nurse sharks.  There were at least 30 of them and many of them were really good sized.  They even rubbed right up against our bellies so that was breathtaking, but I really wanted to find some macro stuff.  I did find a jeweled anemone hermit crab but that was about it.

We snorkeled with a Whale Shark on Wednesday and I found LOTS of nudis!  

Here's a 360 still.  Note my matching whale shark dive skin.

Dennis’ birthday so there was a delicious cake in the shape of a whale shark and we sang Happy Birthday to him.

After dinner I gave a short Nudis 101 presentation before we watched a BBC video about sharks.  I was lobbying for a regular night dive instead, but the crew insisted that there was nothing to see in this area at night.  Ugh.

On Thursday, I mounted the Go Pro Max on top of my head and took a time lapse of the entire dive.  It turned out fairly well, but it can be a bit boring in parts.

<insert time lapse here>

At 5pm we headed over to the island.  We strolled around it and I got some Go Pro Max footage.  The guys created a Manta and a Whale Shark in the sand that were really quite stunning.  

Then the guys played a little volleyball before serving the BBQ.  

After dinner, the chef played the bongo drum and the crew all sang a local marriage song.  I decided to lie on the beach near the water and look up at the stars.  What a beautiful sight.

Still, I wished we had gone night diving instead.  Maybe next week I will at least bring a snorkel and a dive light.

Friday was a banner day for small things as I found a Glossodoris acosti next to its eggs.  I also found some shrimp with eggs on their belly that were very cool.

At night, I was excited that we were going diving.  Finally.  Until I realized it was a manta dive.  Just like I used to lead every week in Kona.  Ugh.  There was a possibility that the mantas wouldn't show up and that there was a regular night dive as a backup plan.  But I got word that at least one of them did show up, so off we went to that annoying sit under the boat holding up our lights watching the one manta missing a cephalic fin go back and forth.  Don't get me wrong, seeing a manta up close is stunning and amazing especially since most of the guests have never seen one.  But I'm over it.  I tried to at least learn a little about how to film on my Go Pro Max at night but in general, I was bummed.

Maldives has plenty of overhangs to explore.  On Saturday, I got a cool shot of a wendel trap snail under one of the overhangs:

In the afternoon, David decided to jump off the deck.  In his speedo.  He did it once off the middle deck and then off the top deck.  Whoa! 

https://youtu.be/L8WmkN_1chM

We paid the bills and then at 3:30pm, we had a champagne toast.  Everyone but Frans got the Iron Diver Award (he skipped one dive to work on his Nitrox course, but he didn’t have to!).  They also gave out certificates for Best Dive Buddy Team (Mark and Wendy) and Reef Ambassador (to me for my Nudi talk).  Go Chicagoans!!!

We couldn’t go out to eat in Male on the last night because of COVID, so they prepared a buffet dinner on the boat.  I put out crazy rubber chickens that you fling everywhere on people’s napkins.  Nobody really noticed at first... but after dinner, we starting flinging one or two and then everyone caught on and it was an all out war!!!  People were flinging them pretty hard and it was one table against the other.  Seriously, every single person got into it.  Ron and Dennis were nailing David and Anthony.  Liz was jumping up and retrieving the forgotten chickens in the middle.  I smacked David dead on the nose and Andreas suffered a red mark on his forehead.  Even a big glass of water was spilled on my lap.  It was so much fun and something I will definitely remember.  Hilarious.

Right after we got done with the chickens, Captain Hussain came in with a big water jug of ocean water.  He captured a seahorse right off the back of the boat!  Whoa.  So cool!  We all took a picture of it.  Then he released it back into the ocean where it proceeded to live under the first rung of the ladder.  I regret not putting on a bathing suit, jumping in and taking a picture of the seahorse right there on the ladder.  I might be getting old.

I was told that later in the evening, the Captain also found a baby sea snake!

OK, the moment I'm sure you have been waiting for.  Here are the 18 nudibranchs I found on this trip (that's two more species than in 2014).

1 - Phyllidiopsis xishaensis

Hsin Lin helped me identify this one correctly on Nudi Base.

2 - Phyllidia exquisita

3 - Phyllidia sp. 5

4 - Goniobranchus gleniei

This one is specific to the Maldives.

5 - Phyllidia varicosa

6 - Phyllidiella zeylanica

7 - Phyllidiella sp. 1

8 - Phyllidiopsis striata

9 - Phyllidia koehleri

This one is specific to the Maldives.

10 - Pteriaeolida semperi

11 - Coriocella hibyae

12 - Thuridilla gracilis

13 - Phyllidia alyta

14 - Phyllidiella rosans

15 - Phyllidia ocellata

16 - Phyllidiopsis krempfi

17 - Glossodoris acosti

18 - Flabellina exoptata

So that brings me to 2064 lifetime dives.  Life is good and so far, COVID-free.