Ten Days on Bandos, the Maldivian Family Island
Photography by Jeremy & Amanda Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
Text by Jeremy Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
We hadn’t been to the Maldives since 1997, way back in time when we were novice divers. We’d loved the barefoot bliss and laid back days punctuated by dives, sunsets, books and mealtimes. Now, winding the clock forward to the present day, life for us has changed somewhat. We’ve now got an 8-year old son, and we’re looking to go back, but where should we go…?
Though the Maldives are most certainly a suitable destination for children, not many of the islands are really set up for families wishing to dive, or for those with a modest budget. A visit to this Indian Ocean paradise certainly doesn’t come cheap, with some islands being prohibitively expensive for many people, whereas others are really only geared up for couples and honeymooners.
These days, any destination that offers good diving and good kids facilities might well find its way onto our “to do” list when it comes to family holidays, but we really fancied the Maldives. So the search began to find the right kind of Maldivian Island for us, if such a place existed.
For whatever reason, the general assumption seems to be that divers and underwater photographers operate singly or as couples, but what happens if you’ve got a family? Where can you go to practice your hobby and your art? Liveaboards are out of the question except for the unique family weeks offered by the Aggressor Fleet in the Caribbean, and exotic far flung dive resorts aren’t always affordable or practical. So where in the Maldives can you go to get that rare combination of good diving and family friendliness?
After some research, we found that the best answer for us was a mere fifteen minute speedboat transfer from the airport in the form of Bandos Resort, a long established island, popular with families, but with decent diving.
We went through our checklist of requirements – good house reef, a kids club, a choice of restaurants, a decent dive centre, a choice of dive sites, decent reviews and relative affordability (in the Maldivian scheme of things). It ticked all of the boxes, so we made the booking.
I vividly remember the first time we visited this unique nation of around 1200 islands, of catching sight of the Maldivian capital Male from the plane. It’s perhaps one of the most improbable cities in the world, appearing like model buildings resting on a lily pad in a giant pond. It’s quite remarkable to behold.
The airport too, is a major feat of engineering, but no one wants to spend time pondering the logistics of how it was constructed, other than you’re glad they managed it. Everyone wants to head off to their respective islands, either by boat transfer or by using the Maldivian Air Taxi service to reach the further flung islands and atolls.
After the long flight, it was nice to know that our onward journey to the island would be short, and once we’d collected our bags and reported to the Bandos arrivals desk, we were soon escorted to the transfer speedboat and on our way.
Bandos is a very well known and established Maldivian Resort, with an excellent infrastructure that includes a medical centre and recompression chamber. There’s also a spa, a couple of shops, a gym, sports facilities, a water sports centre and a choice of excursions in addition to the facilities already noted. But what about the diving?
The first dive that anyone visiting Bandos will do is the on the house reef, which is always in the company of a member of the dive centre team, who use the dive to assess each divers competence and skills. Once that’s done you’re free to dive the house reef in buddy pairs or sign up for the daily boat dives that visit a wide choice of sites in the vicinity of the island.
The house reef itself is worthy of a special mention, as it’s very good, and can most certainly keep divers entertained. 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, though we tended to head right more frequently than left. It doesn’t really matter which way you go, as there’s little or no current to worry about.
The reef seemed very healthy despite the amount of divers that head out there on a daily basis, including many that would doubtless be doing courses such as the PADI Open Water and so on. On the average dive, expect to see snappers, sweetlips and perhaps some more cryptic reef inhabitants such as octopus, scorpion fish and the occasional stingray. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for turtles and eagle rays in the blue.
Anyone who spends any time around the jetty by the dive centre or in the house reef shallows is almost certain to see the resident population of black tip reef sharks. It’s a good area for these sharks, which benefit from a protected breeding area located just off the island. Judging by the amounts of young sharks cruising the shallows, it appears that the population is doing well. Divers wishing to see the “adult versions” of these sharks can often find them on the house reef where they are commonly encountered on dives.
In addition, there may well be other surprises that sometimes turn up on the house reef. I recently spoke to a diver who discovered a fantastically camouflaged pipefish at around thirty metres, so it’s worth having a seriously good look around over the course of several dives.
The house reef is also very good for snorkelling, so expect to see non-divers above you over the shallow reef tops from time to time. I took our son Zac snorkelling here on a couple of occasions which he really enjoyed, but it wouldn’t come close to what he would do a few days later.
The Bandos dive centre offers the PADI Bubblemaker course for 8-9 year old children which we enthusiastically signed Zac up for, even though he didn’t need persuading. We assumed that the course would be conducted in the main swimming pool, but once he’d been briefed at the dive centre and kitted up, along with a young French boy who was also doing the course, we discovered that their dive would actually be in the sea, on the house reef.
The two boys, under tight supervision from the instructor (who Zac nicknamed “Master Shifu” from the Kung Fu Panda film) enjoyed a superb, and I think somewhat overwhelming experience along the top of the reef wall, seeing a myriad of colourful fish and even a couple of adult black tip reef sharks that cruised the reef a few meters below. After such a unique shared experience, the two boys became friends – we called them the “Bubblemaker Brotherhood”.
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. A list of all the dive sites can be found in the dive centre, so that divers can make an informed choice about the areas they wish to visit.
The Maldives are known for drift dives, some of which achieve an almost legendary status among the dive community. We visited a site called Lankan Reef which promised a fast moving show but when we arrived, the current was slight, almost non-existent. It also boasted a manta cleaning station which we would pass en route down the reef, but it was too early in the year for manta ray encounters (it was April, and the season is May – November). Or was it?
Later in the dive, someone tugged excitedly on my BCD. I turned around to find a manta approaching me. I instinctively attempted to capture an image, but it was too late to sort out my camera settings as it passed overhead. Though it was great to see a manta so unexpectedly (and so close), the photographer in me felt more than a little frustration as it cruised majestically away from me down the reef. I guessed it might be the only chance I would get.
But no, somewhere beyond the edge of the visibility it must have turned around and began heading back towards me. I didn’t notice it straight away, but when I did, there was time (though not much time) to prepare to capture an image. I quickly fired a test shot to get the water colour “in the zone” but to my horror, it was way out. Way too dark. I’d have to sort it out very quickly, adjusting the settings as the manta headed straight towards me.
This was really “staring down the barrel” as I intuitively made some changes with no time for another test shot. A quick glance up and I’m thinking “don’t panic, don’t panic, it’s not here yet” and with the adjustments frantically made, the manta was upon me. This time I captured a small sequence of shots as it soared past. Yes!
But the action wasn’t finished yet. As there wasn’t any current, we turned around and headed in the direction of the manta, back towards the cleaning station we’d passed earlier in the dive. By the time we arrived there, most divers were low on air and close to deco but there was one final spectacle to enjoy before we ascended back to the surface.
The lone manta was indeed at the cleaning station as we had hoped, but it wasn’t alone for long as it was soon joined by another. For a few minutes we watched them circle the cleaning station, with all divers behaving impeccably by respecting their space so as not to spook them. It was a great encounter.
As a manta ray could be a symbol of freedom, the Maldives probably doesn’t strike you as the kind of place that needs a prison, but yes, there is one. And it has its own island, which boasts a dive site called Feydhoo Caves. It 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. We found numerous moray eels and lobsters peering from their lairs in the wall and ledges that harboured resting turtles. Several scorpion fish and lionfish, along with healthy congregations of batfish and tuna were also enjoyable at this site.
Throughout our ten day stint, we journeyed out to several of the “boat dive” sites such as Tuna Pass and Thulhagiri, but particularly impressive was Barracuda Giri, a very active site, brimming with fish and with lots going on. It was one of those dives where we realised that a single visit just wasn’t enough. We knew that we’d only scratched the surface here. Only several dives would begin to unlock the secrets contained in the numerous ledges, overhangs and gulleys that characterise this site.
Overall, we thought Bandos was great choice. The house reef was good, there’s some nice dive sites nearby, the food was good and plentiful, the kids club was open when we needed it, the evening entertainment gave Zac a chance to race hermit crabs and practice his robotic dancing for the talent show, the rooms were pleasant and it had a nice overall vibe. It was just what we needed. The perfect antidote to a busy and hectic life.
Though we’re normally loath to repeat ourselves with trips (as there’s so many places on our “places to go” list), we might actually go back. Watch this space!