February Maldives w/ Peter Hughes

Just signed up for a group trip to do Maldives with Peter Hughes in February.

Anyone have experiences with them ? The rep was talking about Feb being whale shark season, curious if that's just marketing stuff or a reality ?

Just signed up for a group trip to do Maldives with Peter Hughes in February.

 

Anyone have experiences with them ? The rep was talking about Feb being whale shark season, curious if that's just marketing stuff or a reality ?

I went on the Komodo Dancer in 2003. One of the best trips of my life, but partly because of the other guests on the trip. What a wonderful, fascinating set of people, we all had SO MUCH FUN, never mind the diving. Also, the boat was wonderful and the crew fantastic. That was 2003, so the dive crew will be different now, and it can be hit and miss with your fellow guests, but still.

Went on the Peter Hughes boat in the Galapagos in 2006. A great experience, and again, a great set of other divers.

Went to the Maldives in 2007 on another liveaboard to save money, and I realized that while Peter Hughes is expensive, you get what you pay for, and value for money is more important. When we came back into Harbor at the end of the cruise, I saw the Peter Hughes boat moored, and thought, "I should have spent the extra money".

I hope you have a great trip!!

Also, with both PH trips, I booked last minute (which in their mind is like 8 weeks out) and got good discounts each time.

I forget the Maldives Seasons, but as I recall, February should be fine.

Mike

february is perfect. and the boat is very nice. whalesharks are seen along the eastern outside reefs of south ari atoll. all live aboards pass by there. chance is pretty good on a live aboard, because they cruise by slowly and then you can jump in with mask and fins (and camera). so even you don't see one diving, chances are very good, that you get one snorkeling.

the whalesharks in maldives are often a bit smaller. many of them are just around 3,5-4,5 meters long. but also bigger ones.

have a nice trip.

serge

Thanks. Any other comments about the diving ? I don't know much about the types of marine and coral life in the area. I'm joining a group and the price was good.

ron,

the diving in maldives is mostly about the number of fish. you will find lots of schooling fish. from red tothed triggers, to fusiliers, banners, sweetlips, surgeons, jacks ... lots of schooling fish. the number of species is not as high as maybe in indo-pacific. but the numbers are stunning.

Coral is getting better since el ninjo. in the chanels you find nice softcoral. hard coral is mostly faster growing acroporas. but still nice.

you will also get lots of big-fish oppurtunities like napoleon, manta, sharks (mostly whitetip and greys but also nurse. evtl. hammers at rasdhoo. sometimes silvertips and leopard ... rarely something else ... but i've seen also threshers). you will get also turle, barracuda.

there is "macro" ... but by far not like in indonesia. there is nudis, flatworms, Ghostpipe, frogfishes, juveniles ... but mostly its lionfishes, morays, mantis etc. it depends a lot on your guides. the real critters are rare here.

but there are also things like the maldives anemonefish, which is endemic to maldives and you will not find anywhere else.

so all in all it is good to take a fisheye, a wide zoom and a macro (a 60mm will be fine ...).

Thanks. Any other comments about the diving ? I don't know much about the types of marine and coral life in the area. I'm joining a group and the price was good.

The other thing I've seen a lot of in the Maldives are seriously large rays of a variety of species, I remember from an early trip pre photography, being completely amazed by a 2m across the disc Mangrove Wip Ray all black with a tail looks like it's dipped in whiite paint.

Tim Digger

Thanks guys, Maldives sounds like a great place to dive. I shoot video and find wide angle much easier to shoot than macro. From your descriptions I should get some good footage.

Ron, I had a group of friends on the Ocean Dancer. They keep raving about it being one of the best liveaboard boats they've been on.

Ron, I had a group of friends on the Ocean Dancer. They keep raving about it being one of the best liveaboard boats they've been on.

What?!? those people were on a boat with me in the past!!!!! hahaha

now i would agree but only for one reason.. not the boat or the diving, not been there.. (where is that eyebrow smilie when i need it..)

Ron, I had a group of friends on the Ocean Dancer. They keep raving about it being one of the best liveaboard boats they've been on.

Hello Pakman,

Were they raving about the boat, the diving or both ?

By the way, I stole a music soundtrack idea from you. I believe it was your Philipines video, a track from Cafe Del Mar. Hope you don't mind.

Ron

Ron, they were raving about both. Mantas, whale sharks, etc... When I met up with them on our Cocos trip, they couldn't stop talking about the Ocean Dancer and the trip. This is a group that usually do 1 or 2 Aggressor trips a year.

Mike - I think the fact that neither Simon nor you worked on the Ocean Dancer was the main factor...