Festive Family Diving in the Maldives
Text by Jeremy Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
Photography by Jeremy & Amanda Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
In recent times, the Christmas breaks didn’t seem the same to Amanda and I, which we hadn’t enjoyed in the way we once did. As we both felt the same way, this triggered a discussion about “doing things differently”, such as going somewhere warm, perhaps to include some diving. The more we talked about it, the more we liked the idea, but we needed our son Zac’s “buy in” in order to make it happen as Christmas is more than anything a time for kids…
So, with the idea of “spending Christmas away somewhere warm” firmly lodged in our heads, we chatted it through with Zac. We were pleased with his reaction and that he was happy with the idea, but he especially wanted to return to his beloved Bandos in the Maldives if that could be an option. We looked into it, weighed it up against a few other options and said “you know what, we’ll all be happy there, let’s do it!” and made the booking for the 2015/6 Christmas and New Year. We would repeat ourselves again for the 2017/8 festive period.
Bandos is a relaxing and informal island, very child friendly, with good diving, and in Maldivian terms is relatively affordable (though like anywhere over the festive period, there’s a premium to paid). It has great memories for the three of us, connecting us with that “invisible elastic” that can draw you back to somewhere you’ve really enjoyed. It’s also been instrumental in Zac’s progress through diving, from his very first “proper” dive in the sea as a “Bubblemaker” to our last visit as a 14 year old PADI Junior Open Advanced Diver.
The island makes a big effort for the guests over Christmas and the New Year, where the programme includes crab racing competitions, Maldivian cooking classes, kid’s magic shows, gala dinners and New Year fireworks. Around the island, Christmas decorations are put up to give a festive feel, but not in an over the top way. Most importantly for the young children is the arrival of Santa, who in true Maldivian style arrives not on a sledge behind reindeers, but on a specially decorated boat in view of the main bar and restaurant area. Once on terra firma he was thronged by young kids as he gave out gifts. The staff work incredibly hard and during the festive periods, especially for the gala dinners on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve which were amazing.
As is the norm on Bandos, the first dive will always be on the house reef which is very good. It’s accessed close to the dive centre by an easy beach entry into a small channel, which leads out to the reef slope itself. You can head either left or right when you reach the drop off.
On the average dive, expect to see snappers, sweetlips, parrotfish and perhaps some more cryptic reef inhabitants such as leaf scorpion fish or an octopus. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for stingrays on the sandy expanses and for turtles, eagle rays or even mobula rays out in the blue. You’ll certainly see black tip reef sharks as well; young specimens in the shallows and adults out on the reef slope.
We also enjoyed two very good night dives on the house reef where we observed hermit crabs, pufferfish, various shrimp, an impressive reef squid, hunting moray eels and a strangely curious stingray that came out of nowhere and pretty much crashed into us!
Good though the house reef is, the vast majority of divers put their names down for the popular boat dives that head out twice daily to a wide choice of locations, most within a relatively short journey from the island. In the mornings, it’s a 2-tank dive and in the afternoon, it’s a single tank dive. With Zac now qualified as a PADI Junior Advanced diver, he could participate in most of them.
Feydhoo Caves makes for an interesting “wall and drift” dive, though the visibility is sometimes impaired compared to other sites in the area. What it does offer is some interesting topography and encounters. Zac enjoyed diving this site, as it’s really good for turtles which can often be found resting on the numerous ledges.
Stingray City is particularly worthy of a mention. As the name suggests, there are lots of stingrays around (sometimes we could see more than 20 at any one time), though it could just as easily be called “Moray Metropolis” due to the crazy amounts of morays that can be found there, including some enormous specimens. There’s probably no better place than this if you like getting up close with large eels. The Bandos crew have observed seven different species of moray here. However, the highlight for us was Guitar Shark on our 2017/8 trip. The reason for all this profusion is that the site is located beneath a small tuna processing factory, the remains of which are thrown into the water on a regular basis. Here, the food literally “rains down from heaven”.
But that isn’t all; Barracuda Giri is a very active site, full of fish and with lots going on. Other good sites that we visited included the (unimaginatively named) Aquarium which offered great visibility and teeming fish life. Lobster Station features a bommie that’s worth a good look, whereas Rainbow Giri is renowned for its spectacular topography. Maagiri Rock, close to Bandos, brims with an enormous school of snappers which Zac enjoyed immensely, and Bandos Rock (part of the island’s fringing reef) is another nice site with impressive ledges and overhangs to explore.
So, what was our verdict on doing festive family dive trips? Well, most will know the Christmas tune that croons about “Driving Home for Christmas” but we very much enjoyed “Diving Away for Christmas” Maldivian style. You might not believe in Santa these days, but it’s easy to believe in the idea of “Diving Away for Christmas”- away from the excess, away from the shops, away from the commercialism and away from the sofas and the screens. We had a great time in Bandos, we were relaxed, we enjoyed our time together and Zac was able to progress his diving to a new level. It felt very positive and different.