well this trip was planned some 16 months ago and after going to the dive show and sitting in on a 40 minute chat about the boat and the 2 week itinerary we decided to part with our hard earned cash. the boat we had booked was the nautilus2. the boat looked very impressive, and would be the biggest liveaboard that we had been on. the cabins were also very big with 2 double beds and a proper shower cubicle complete with water jets. 2 of the guides that were on the boat at the time of booking were known to us as we had dived with them a few years ago when they worked out in the Red Sea.
unfortunately they had decided to come back to blighty after we had booked.
we booked through Tony Backhurst who i had vowed never to use again since a previous trip booked through him years ago turned into a complete nightmare. sadly for us we had no option as the Nautilus 2 only ran 2, 2 week trips per year and he was the UK agent for the boat. well we were booked and looking forward to returning to the Maldives. we had been to the Maldives 3 times before island based so knew what to expect in terms of diving. fast currents, nice thilas and lots of fish.
a few months after booking we were contacted by tony backhurst to say that our lovely flights we had with Emirates leaving on a friday had now been changed to a flight with Sri Lankan with a 3 hour stop over in Columbo and now leaving on a monday.
4 days prior to departure we were again contacted by TB to tell us that our 3 hour stop over was now extended to a 7 hour stop over in Columbo. not seeing the funny side of the conversation i asked for a company director to call me asap. well i did get a telephone call from someone informing me that she was angela mackintosh and she was a compny director. i explained that i was not happy with the flight situation and that if i had of known this at the time of booking i would not have booked. she told me in a nasty tone that i was over reacting and that she didnt see a problem with the 7 hour stop over. she then went on to say that she had managed to get us booked in to the Ramada hotel for the 7 hours. this sounded a little bit better and after giving me a load more spill i hung up on her as she obviously had no customer services training. in the mean time my wife contacted sri lankan airways to ask for free seat upgrades due to the inconvenience. the lady at the end of the telephone was polite and understanding and legroom seats were booked for our party of 4.
well the monday came and we were in our legroom seats enjoying the red wine on our way to Columbo. we arrived at Columbo after 10 or so hours and were now hunting around the airport terminal for the sri lankan info desk where we had been told to go to to get our transfer to the Ramada hotel. well we found the kiosk, luckily we found it before another 40 or so people that were also looking for it. even better they knew who we were and that a room had been booked in our name for the Ramada. Now just take this voucher to the other Sri Lankan desk the other side of customs and they will sort you out. so again we rushed to be first in the queue. handing over the voucher to the guy in the sri lankan kiosk he proceeded to write yet another voucher, passports out once again. we were told to just wait over there until our transport was here. well 40 minutes later we were told to follow this guy outside to our coach. we did as asked and had to wait another 50 minutes before the coach arrived. with everyone getting very frustrated at the delay and the heat together with the lack of sleep and the excess red wine. there were 20 or so people on the coach that were booked into the Ramada, or so we thought. we arrived at the Ramada only to find that they had no idea that we were coming and had no booking for us, and had no empty rooms. This was not funny, you could actually see it coming though and a few of us even joked about getting to the hotel and there not being any rooms. so back onto the coach we were heading back to the airport. or so we thought. instead we were heading in totally the opposite direction. after 30 minutes we arrived at another hotel, and i use the word hotel generously. this place was no more than a hard up back packers retreat. by this time if we were lucky we could have an hour and a half lay on a bed and a hot shower, grab some breakfast and get back to the airport. well we did just that, had a lay down for an hour and a half, had a hot shower and went to breakfast. i actually skipped breakfast as i was given a plate of eggs that were no where near cooked, i asked for some new eggs to be cooked properly and turned over to how i like them. this was obvious too much to ask as when the new eggs arrived all that had happend was that the raw eggs i returned had just been turned over on the plate. moving swiftly on we got our plane to Male in the Maldives and our diving could begin.
we were met at the airport by one of the guides from the Nautilus2. Issey. No greetings drinks were offered and no conversation either. actually none of the group were in the mood for conversation as we had been travelling for what seems like days. Once all of the guests were located we were taken to a dhoni ( dive boat ) which was used for transporting us to the mothership the Nautilus2. On first impressions we were very pleased. It was absolutely massive. loads of in and outdoor seating areas, 2 jaccuzis, a sun deck bigger than a tennis court. we were given a fresh coconut with a straw and started to sip it as the boat briefing was given. well brief it was. there are life jackets up here and life jackets inside of your cabins. first dive tomorrow will be at 6am and if you want to do a check dive this afternoon you can. that was it. so BRIEFing being very apt. of course we did have to fill in a disclaimer saying that what ever happend nothing was the Nautilus2 fault. no talk about any other safety. no mention of fire escapes, re calling divers at depth in an emergency, nothing about filling in dive logs after each dive. we were asked our names and allocated cabins. ours was on the lower deck room 203. the cabin was very nice. very spacious even though it had 2 double beds in it. it was well designed with ample storage under the beds for bags and cases. the bathroom was also very nice with a very roomy shower enclosure with water jets. very impressive indeed. we unpacked and then went for a walk around the boat meeting other guests on the way. the boat was mixed with german, austrian and british divers. all of which seemed friendly enough, albeit very tired. we decided to do our check out dive that afternoon, which consisted of diving a shallow thila ( pinnacle )
after our evening meal i asked Issey ( the guide ) if he would be able to show me any resident critters like sea horses, frog fish and the like. he replied no and walked off. this guy had serious communication problems which were obvious from the start. he had no enthusiasm towards diving and was going to be quite hard work. now i had done almost 100 dives in the maldives prior to this trip and knew it had loads to offer and found it hard to believe that a guide who had worked there for 20 years had no cards up his sleeve. ok then, so lets buy him a drink at the bar and see if he loosens up a bit. well he had the drink and that was that. i dont even recall him thanking my wife for her buying it for him.
well it was an early night for most guests as we were feeling the strain of the nonesense we had experienced on route. the next morning it was time to dive. the dive wasnt too testing as a few guests decided against doing their check dive the previous day due to fatigue which i can sympathise with. so we done another check dive around a thila which was ok.
The next 13 days were more or less the same. The pre dive briefings that were given through out the trip were not very good regarding strength of currents. It was almost as if the guide was trying to scare people off from diving, which he did. Numerous divers listend to the briefings and decided not to dive due to the predicted strong currents. When we actually got on most dives the currents were only moderate. This was a bit of a p1$$ off to my wife also as she was not taking her video rig down with her because of the information received. In the end we only used the dive briefing for getting a mental picture of the guides drawing of the reef. When we would be at the dive site and ready to dive, the guides never got into the water to check the current. We were told at one particular dive briefing that the current would be REALLY strong. When we got to the site my wife asked Issey the guide whether the current was REALLY strong as she didn’t want to leave her rig behind to find out that there was only a slight current as had happened every day since the holiday had began. The guide licked his finger stuck his finger in the air and said to my wife that yes its REALLY strong. This was the kind of attitude the guide had. On another occasion a german women who was sat right at the back of the dhoni next to the engine asked if it was left hand or right hand to the reef and he replied “ do i need a loud speaker “. That was his reply and he never gave her the answer. I had to bite my tongue as i was getting ready to explode and if i did explode i would have lost the plot completely. This guy was a complete jerk and i was adamant that he wasn’t going to ruin our trip.
To summarise the diving it was ok. Not great as i had expected, but this was due to not diving the channels on incoming currents. The thila diving that we done was good. Lots of nice hard and soft coral with plenty of fish life. The viz around Ari Atoll was very poor due to the plankton, but the viz in Felidhe Atoll was very good. So what did we see. Unfortunately no whalesharks, a few mantas, several eagle rays, including a pass by of 12 in flight formation, 4 marlin which was great to see, loads of whitetip reef sharks a few grey reef sharks, a few turtles, loads of reef fish and a couple of nudis. I can honestly say that i have never been on a dive trip before where so many guests were moaning about one thing or another. Generally it was the guide that was the cause of the moans. As i have said the boat was excellent and there were a few crew that were also very good. This boat could be one of the best around if it was managed by the right person.
Here is a letter that i have sent to the owner regarding things that happened on the trip. Some of which i hope you would agree is totally unacceptable. I was going to wait for a reply from the Nautilus2 owner before posting this, but as i have not even received an acknowledgement email from him, i thought i might as well just post. I will try and post some shots in the gallery at the weekend.
Dear sir,
Nautilus 2 - 27 January 2009 - 10 February 2009
We have just returned from a two week trip on the Nautilus 2 and were not very satisfied with the level of service that we received whilst on board.
We would consider ourselves seasoned travellers and have enjoyed many liveaboard trips to the Maldives and other diving destinations around the world including Galapagos, Cocos, Komodo, Red Sea to name a few.
We booked our trip on the Nautilus 2 over 12 months ago at one of the dive shows held in the UK when Joe and Karen were the guides on board. Having dived with them previously in Egypt and spoken to them at the dive show regarding the itinerary of the trip, we considered this trip suitable for our requirements. From the limited information and photos we could find on the internet we were very pleased with the few trip reports that we did find and also that the boat was built to a very high standard, very spacious and with excellent size cabins. On this basis we encouraged another 2 friends to book also.
We have dived the Atolls of the Maldives several times previously and knew what to expect regarding the diving.
So where did it all go wrong?
The house keeping on the boat was not to an acceptable standard, I will list a few examples. Table cloths on the tables were not cleaned for the duration of the whole trip, ( 14 days ) even though there were visible crumbs and food stains on them. The Jacuzzi was not cleaned until the 7th day of the trip (and this was on our request), even though a brown scum was floating in the water after it had been used. When the Jacuzzi water level dropped due to evaporation we would have to ask at least 3 times before anyone was sent to refill the water. The sun deck was also not cleaned until day 7 and cigarette ash trays were also left until day 7 to be emptied. Red wine had been spilt on the floor of the sun deck on day 3 and this was left for 4 days before this was cleaned. Overall the level of house keeping as I hope you would agree was not to a level expected. Why someone on the boat is not given simple house cleaning duties to perform whilst the guest are off diving is beyond belief. Crew were also seen flicking cigarette ends into the sea instead of using ash trays.
The atmosphere between the crew on the boat was very sombre and at times very loud and aggressive. The barman (Raj) most nights seemed under the influence of alcohol and on the evening of the 3rd February he become violent towards at least one of his fellow colleagues which was witnessed by several guests. I myself had to intervene and ask the barman to refrain from acting in an aggressive manner. I asked him to lower his tone and act appropriately as this was not suitable behaviour in front of paying guests. As I understand, he was actually on the telephone to his employer, which I presume was yourself.
The interaction between the dive guides and the UK guests was non existent and as far as we are concerned no attempt on the guides part was made to talk to the guests. On many occasions I felt as if I was being totally ignored and that the guides did not want to be there. As I have said we have made many liveaboard trips and have never been in an environment where we felt like this. On one occasion, which was the morning after the barman incident, one of the guides, Issey returned at 0545 from a night away from the boat, where he stayed overnight on a local island. When he returned he walked passed myself and another guest who were sat on the back of the boat having a morning coffee and he did not have the manners to even say good morning to us. This was common behaviour from Issey. I asked several of the guests if either of the guides had asked them if they had had a good dive on the trip and all of the guests said that neither of the guides had asked any questions regarding anything. No apology was made by Issey either regarding the behaviour of the barman which I find quite shocking in view of him being well aware that we witnessed this unprofessional behaviour.
Another thing that I found strange was that the crew were always sleeping on the chairs that are on the back of the Nautilus 2. I have been on some liveaboards where crew sleep on deck at night as there are not enough cabins for them, but to see them lounging and sleeping during the day is not what I expect from them, especially when there were cleaning duties to be done. I am a person that wakes up early in the morning and when I woke up early I would not be able to find an area on the boat where I could have a coffee and read a book as the crew were sleeping and there were no lights on.
The information given out at dive briefings regarding the currents were not very accurate either and people were missing dives because strong currents were predicted and when on the dive the currents that were predicted were not there. I have plenty of experience in diving strong currents so this was not a problem for me as I expect to be diving in strong currents when diving the Maldives. We were also dropped in the wrong place on a few occasions which is part of diving and understand that this does happen. What I do not accept is that after the dive no apology was made by the guides for this. On other occasions when I have been diving in the Maldives, it was common practice for the guide to enter the water prior to any guests entering so that the guide could go down a few metres to do a site specific current check. This was never done whilst I was on the boat. My wife, who is also a videographer asked Issey regarding the strength of the current when we had reached one particular dive site as she was getting frustrated being told by Issey that it was really strong only to get into the water without her camera to find little current at all. Issey replied to her quite rudely and just said “What????” in front of the whole boat like she was asking some ridiculous question. He then licked his finger, put it up in the air and said “very strong”. This was typical behaviour and was not done in a humorous manner, it was done to belittle people. Another lady couldn’t hear the current briefing on the boat (she was geared up at the back near the engine), Issey replied “Do you need a loud speaker or something” and then didn’t answer her question. I also find it strange that no dive log was recorded by the dive guides of what divers dive times, maximum depths and nitro fills were. This is the only boat I have ever been on where one is not completed by divers after every dive, so in the case of an emergency, the information is at hand for the hyperbaric chamber doctors to see.
I asked Issey whether it was possible to dive at a few well documented sites that were on route, One example was the Victory wreck. I asked him on the first day if he had any plans of diving the Victory to which he said may be. When we were leaving Felidhe Atoll. I again asked the question to which he replied no. Another example was Madivaru, the manta cleaning station. We were sold this trip as a manta / whaleshark season trip so we were hoping to be diving at known areas to see and photograph and video them. We dived this site only once and were told that the mantas have not been seen there for months and months and it used to be good 3 years ago. This I know not to be the case as another guest had dived at Madivaru within the previous year and had seen many manta there as we had 2 years ago.
I feel that there is no management structure on the boat and that because of this, your perfectly built vessel is being let down. I do not know who is in charge of the Nautilus 2 as I was never introduced to anyone claiming to be the cruise director. On appearance the Nautilus 2 is one of, if not the best live aboard in service. Sadly though because you have no cruise director on board it is quite a way from the top 50. I would love to have come away from this trip and been able to recommend the Nautilus 2 to the diving community that read forums where I post trip reports. Unfortunately I would not recommend the Nautilus 2 to anyone until the level of service is increased to a level expected. The only time Issey seemed to get enthusiastic was after the last dive of the day when he was drinking and getting ready to go off fishing. The trip had been advertised with fishing as a night time activity and my wife and I asked as to whether we could join them one night to try and catch some fish. Issey told us that we could fish off the back of the boat (catching tiny fish) but not go fishing on the boat where they were catching the good stuff - even though it was advertised.
On another more serious note, on embarking the Nautilus 2 the safety briefing consisted of telling us where the life vests were kept and nothing else. Nothing regarding what re call system was in place for recalling divers in the event that a diver was injured during a dive. Nothing regarding person overboard. Nothing about escape routes if there was a fire.
One guest was unfortunately taken ill after a dive and was not acting in a coherent manner and needed some form of treatment. This was obvious to myself and other fellow guests but it did not seem to be too much of a concern to either of the guides who were more interested in drinking alcohol. It was only when my wife told Franky that she thought that the guest could have a possible DCI and that as a safety precaution oxygen should be administered just in case. This was when I could not believe what I was witnessing. Franky did not seem to know how to administer oxygen and was running around showing signs of stress. I actually witnessed him reading through a manual regarding how to administer oxygen. From the time of my wife informing Franky and oxygen actually being administered it was 30 minutes. I would hope that you have checked that Franky has the relevant certification to administer oxygen.
I am a keen photographer and have several thousands of pounds worth of underwater equipment and was not too pleased to find out that the dohni or the Nautilus2 does not have any form of rinse tank for guests to rinse their cameras and dive computers in. I asked Issey about this and he told me that they did not have a rinse tank and that there was a hose on the back of the boat. So for the first 2 days I used the hose on the back of the boat only to find out that the one I had been using was not fresh water but sea water. This could have had very severe affects with my housings due to salt crystals building up inside of the housing control arms. I was also alarmed to see that gloves were allowed to be worn by divers, this is the first time I have witnessed this in the Maldives. I have worn gloves whilst diving myself, but this was when I was diving Galapagos where there are no corals.
To summarise :
The boat was not kept clean.
The dive briefings were not very accurate
The safety was very poor
Customer relations was non existent
The crew were not managed
Photographers were not catered for
Issey seemed more interested in fishing than in his guest and diving
The crew seemed to be sat or laying around too much ( except the cook and his assistant )
This trip cost us a lot of money that we worked very hard for and I feel as though I have not had any value for money what so ever. Fortunately for yourself a lot of the guests on board had never been on a liveaboard before so have nothing else to compare the Nautilus 2 to. The only plus things I can bring away from this trip is that the weather was great and that the chef and his assistant worked their socks off to deliver very tasty food. I would also like to praise both the dhoni skipper and the dhoni mate as they were very helpful at all times. I cannot believe that this is the level of service that would have been given whilst Joe and Karen were on board.
One thing worth mentioning, Issey did say at the beginning of the holiday to advise him of any problems during the holiday rather than moan later, fair enough but as you can guess from his attitude mentioned above, we did not find him approachable and we do not think it is our place to request areas to be cleaned throughout the boat. Surely that is his job to check and chase up the appropriate crew members.
Please could you reply to this email as a matter of importance as I would like to post a trip reports on various forums to which I subscribe, but to be as fair as possible to yourself it would not be a full report without your comments.
Many thanks, Stew and Louise Smith
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