Maldives Report

Just got back from the Maldives. Besides going with some pleasant company, diving in the Maldives was a bit of a let down. Yes, there were Manta's which was the highlight, but in terms of Macro Photography, it cannot compare to some of the diving available in Indonesia. Even the amount of hard and soft coral is in my assessment less than that of Similans Islands ( Thailand ).

updated pics on My Website

This is my first trip in digital ( previous trips on film ), and as you can see, i still have alot to learn !.

Cheers

Carl

Hi Carl,

They look pretty damned good to me - congratulations. My particular favourite is number 10. The macro of the fish's butt (23) is nice too.

Great job!

Very nice shots!

I returned from the Maldives one month ago and found that place very attractive.

In my experience you have to be prepared to what you are going to see, the Maldives are for sure not the best place on earth for macro and if you'll looks for that particularly you'll be disappointed.

We sow there few Mantas and whale sharks and also a lot of sharks so I can't say I was disappointed.

Last year we where in Palau, there where people there that where disappointed from this amazing place because they didn't sow sharks as in the Galapagos or the Bahamas.

Thanks for your kind comments, guess I am a bit of a stickler. I was grappeling with a 16mm lens which has some focus issues ( going to test the 10.5 and see if the results are better). Like I said, I kinda gave up on out of focus pics, and put my efforts in the lighting which I more or less got contol of towards the middle of the trip.

Yes, I saw the Manta's, quite a few in fact ( no real good pics to show for it though ), one whale shark, and some of our team saw hammer heads. In terms of pelagics, there are plenty. But if you compare to a beautiful site such as Sipadan, or the enourmous amount of Macro you get in Lembeh, it cannot compare. I found Maldive dives sites not very "pretty", very little in terms of bommies ( Zero actually ), Staghorn / table corals etc., and most of the fish were the same on evey site. ( large quantities, little diversity )

Which atoll were you in? Did the dive operator even try to organize trips to more macro-friendly dive sites? Most average customers value only big things...

I'm just back from the Maldives too - I saw plenty of other photographers underwater but I don't think I saw you Carl!

I agree that the Maldives it is not the easiest place for photography because of the unpredictable and strong currents and the variable viz and water colour. But I liked it very much. And I agree with Arnon that it is a place to go to with an agenda for big stuff rather than macro. Drift diving is never suited for pottering around a reef looking for macro subjects.

In terms of diving I think that it is first class. Every reef seeths with fish and there are few places in the world where there are so many big ones. Certainly the small fish diversity is not up to Indonesia - but then there are few divesites in Indonesia where you get massive schools of snappers or see 5+ Napoleon Wrasse on a single dive. Our group counted double figures of reef sharks on several dives (I think that the record was a school of 25 grey reefs!). The other fabulous dive is at night on Maaya Thila - where the whitetips come up onto the reef to hunt (rather pathetcially). That was excellent for photography.

I guess in summary I'd say that the Maldives has excellent diving and offers a completely different set of photo opportunities to SE Asia destinations.

Basically agreed. If you never have seen a manta / whale shark / reef shark or lots of fish ( more or less the same type on every site ), then this is a great place. I am more of the wierder bunch which is more keen on Macro / wierd / non-conventional subjects.

Not to sound offensive Caveman but comparing anywhere in the world for macro to Indonesia is going to be a let down. The "Golden Triangle" of exotic species and the place with the largest marine bio-diversity of anywhere on our little blue planet just so happens to be the area that encompasses the Phills, Indo and PNG.

If you are going to compare all future diving looking for macro stuff with Indo then i hate to say it but you will be sorely disappointed wherever you go...

The best thing to do is go to each and every new location with open eyes and not to compare it with other areas. Each and every place is different, enjoy it for what you do see

mmmmm .... well agreed on the magic triangle for macro.........