Bluewater Maldives photo workshop trip report
Words and photos By Joanna O'Shea
From 18-25 October I led a terrific group on a Bluewater Photo Workshop in the Maldives. We had guests from Australia, Brazil, Estonia, France, Spain, Thailand, and the USA. We started in the Maldivian capital, Male, which has 154,000 people living on a 5.8 km² island, making it one of the world’s most most densely populated cities. Airport transfer to our luxurious home for the week, the MV Carpe Vita, was quick and easy. She is easily the most spacious dive boat I’ve been on, with excellent facilities and a helpful crew.
JOIN KATIE YONKER ON OUR MALDIVES GROUP TRIP AUGUST 21-28, 2016
The MV Carpe Vita, one of the most luxurious liveaboards
The Maldives really is stunning; I can understand why so many honeymooners go there. Each morning we’d eat breakfast on the deck as we cruised past one spectacular island after another, with white sand, turquoise water and palm trees galore.
The schedule included four dives per day, with varied timing throughout the trip to allow for a couple of night dives. I taught classes each day on different aspects of underwater photography. It was great to see everyone learn new things and then apply these skills and techniques during the trip. Guests shared their photos in a daily image review, so we could all see what everyone else was shooting.
The Maldives are famous for manta rays, and this cruise certainly did not disappoint. Guests had multiple dives to see manta rays at cleaning stations, where they came to have parasites picked off by helpful little fish.
Great encounters with manta rays at cleaning stations
By far the most exciting manta encounter was a night dive, where the guides lined up a row of torches to attract plankton, which in turn attracted six manta rays. It was awesome to watch them circling in front of us, scooping up plankton with their huge mouths. Such graceful giants!
Manta night dive
Over the next few days the standard briefing included “lots of fish life, and keep your eyes out for sharks and rays”. Sure enough, just about every dive had white tips and grey reef sharks cruising past, with regular mobulas and mantas gliding by in the blue. There were some lovely pinnacle dives with colourful reef fish, big schools of yellow fusiliers, red tooth triggerfish and hunting trevally.
Large and beautiful schools of fish on the pristine reefs
The best dive of the trip for many guests was a night dive where we got up close and personal with a dozen nurse sharks.
Dozens of nurse sharks during the night dive
There were two excellent wreck dives to explore. One of them had resident frogfish, stonefish, and a couple of turtles.
Left: The wreck of the MV Kudhima Right: Resident turtles on the wreck
Unfortunately we were not very lucky with whale shark encounters during the workshop. We spotted them a few times but they dived down deep before most guests could get photos. Two lucky guests had a special moment face to face with a huge whale shark during a safety stop, and managed to get a few quick shots. However, we all got to see plenty of dolphins, with some big pods impressing us with their jumps and flips.
Although the Maldives are best known for the big stuff, there were plenty of opportunities to pull out our macro lenses to photograph small critters like nudis, shrimp, and coral hermit crabs.
The Maldives also present opportunties for macro photography
I’d definitely recommend getting nitrox certification for this kind of repeat diving, as most dives were at least 20m/60ft. Also, be sure to pack your reef hook and surface marker buoy, as some sites have strong currents.
Happy Bluewater guests and crew of the Carpe Vita
Overall it was a fabulous trip. I’d highly recommend the Maldives and the Carpe Vita to anyone who is looking for great diving on a luxurious boat in a beautiful country.
Thanks to the Bluewater guests for being so much fun, and for sharing so many wonderful photos in the image reviews each day.
- Joanna O'Shea
INTERESTED IN DIVING THE MALDIVES ON THE CARPE VITA? JOIN KATIE YONKER ON A GROUP TRIP AUGUST 21-28, 2016.
Email us at info@bluewaterdivetravel.com to reserve your spot today.
HOW TO BOOK A TRIP TO THE MALDIVES
Bluewater Travel can book you on a trip to the Maldives diving from a liveaboard or from a resort, for the same cost or less than booking any other way. We know the routes, cabins, rooms and when to go!
Email us at info@bluewaterdivetravel.com to start your adventure.
