Bill and Ted's excellent adventure in the Maldives

It really is so lovely being back in London after a week in the Maldives. As Rich Smith has just reminded me, at approximately this time last week we were gazing at a moonlit sky with the warm water lapping at our ankles, replete with food and amusing ourselves by taking hilarious photos of ourselves from underwater using my waterproof camera. Caroline, Rich’s wife, was also there just in case anyone was wondering where that one was going.
 
Still a week of whale sharks, manta rays, good food and astoundingly lazy dive guides does get a bit trying after a while so it’s good to be back in the rain.
 
We had a great week of diving mostly on the look out for the big stuff and we were rewarded by plenty of reef sharks, a couple of whale sharks, eagle rays, 1 manta and an over friendly Napoleon Wrasse. The viz was great and the water 29 deg (meaning I was only mildly hypothermic in my 3mm suit. I’ll take my drysuit next time).
 
Dives in the Maldives are conducted from a boat called a Dhoni that follows the liveaboard around, transporting you to and from the dive sites. Under the water there are loads of fish, a few corals (although many were killed by el Niño some years back) and some pretty strong currents. You’ll often find yourself diving around a coral mount starting off around 30m looking for the big stuff in the blue before winding your way up to the top to have a look at the smaller fish in and amongst the coral.
 
A number of things are worth a mention: Firstly, congratulations to Rich Collier who completed his ‘Being Landed on by a Scotsman’ speciality course in the melee to enter the water upon sighting of a whale shark.
 
Secondly a big thanks to our dive guides ‘Bill and Ted’ who exhibited a refreshing lack of interest in the wearisome business of scuba diving and allowed their skills at fraternising with the female guests and mastery of Pro-Evolution Soccer 2009 on the PS3 to really shine through.
 
Thirdly, Rich S and I completed our speciality instructor rating in co-operative play of Resistance: Fall of Man, a difficult endeavour that forced us to ignore the picture postcard islands drifting by and the dolphins cavorting in the wake of the boat.
 
Fourthly we’re all very grateful to Caroline for choosing to sit out all the best dives so that we’d be guaranteed to see something cool.
 
And finally, Mike for his tasteless Stevie Wonder Karaoke triumph. Hopefully there’ll be videos to come….
 
So all in all another great DLL trip to round off the year in style. Next year we’re planning on even more cool trips overseas as well as the regular UK ones. Keep your eye on the website for updates as and when they happen and please feel free to join us on the Icebreaker weekend in January if you can’t wait to get back in the water.
 
Happy Christmas and a great New Year!
 
Alex