Some photos from my Maldives Trip

TwilightZone · 21st February 2005

Hi folks,

Just came back from Maldives. The diving was good although there were current in most dive. So photos did not turn out too well because was operating the camera with 1 hand while holding on to some rocks or dead corals with the other...

Here are some photos from the trip and hope you enjoy them.

http://community.webshots.com/user/josephchanwaimeng

ScoobaKev · 21st February 2005

Man...I'm jealous...what a load of sightings of Mantas & Whale Sharks! Well Done!

kng · 21st February 2005

WOW WOW! AMazing, esp the SCHOOL of mantas... cld i ask what is the name of that dive site where you saw the school?

MichaelZ · 21st February 2005

looks like Paradise Point, North Male Atoll but I'm just gussing.

TwilightZone · 21st February 2005

Originally Posted by kng

WOW WOW! AMazing, esp the SCHOOL of mantas... cld i ask what is the name of that dive site where you saw the school?

We were at a site call Madivaru at Rangali Atoll. Visibility was real bad but the that's why the Mantas were there, to feed and to be cleaned.

I have 2 video clips of mantas dancing but dunno where how to post them.. they are 36mb each.....

DTan · 21st February 2005

school of manta is great esp when they are not circling some cleaning station.
bring the video clip for us to watch at SEED..

TwilightZone · 21st February 2005

Originally Posted by DTan

school of manta is great esp when they are not circling some cleaning station.
bring the video clip for us to watch at SEED..

Yes, it was a wonderful experience especially when it was the first time I saw manta rays. They were just coming from everywhere and were unafraid of us divers.

btw, the site is Madivaru near the Rangali Kandu at South Air Atoll.

I will try to make it for SEED if it does not clash with my family dinner.

Hope to meet you guys soon to learn more from all of you.

waisj · 24th February 2005

Wonderful stuff mate. well done...
waisj sings when will i dive and shoot again?......*lada Lada*

Restless · 24th February 2005

woah.. those are great pics...

any recommendations on who to dive with over there?

envy envy envy

TwilightZone · 24th February 2005

Originally Posted by Restless

woah.. those are great pics...

any recommendations on who to dive with over there?

envy envy envy

Hi Restless,

I have only been there once so cannot tell for sure, but we did enjoy our trip with RadianHeat Travel. We had 7 crews and 1 dive guide to serve aboat of 6 guests. :-)

Liveaboard is preferred since you can dive at more sites from different Atolls. You can take a look at these sites:
http://www.radheattravel.com/safari_main.html
http://liveaboardsmaldives.com/liveaboards.html

Hope that helps.

Restless · 25th February 2005

Sweettt ..

thanks !!

Hopefully I can make it there in May.. hmm..
time to start saving..

JaGr · 3rd March 2005

Hi Twilight,
I went a week after you on the same boat. We were looking real hard for underwater cameras floating around after what we heard about your group.

Here are some of my shots http://www.mini-z.com.sg/gallery/underwater

by the way, your school of mantas (20 or so) i think are eagle rays

TwilightZone · 4th March 2005

Originally Posted by JaGr

Hi Twilight,
I went a week after you on the same boat. We were looking real hard for underwater cameras floating around after what we heard about your group.

Here are some of my shots http://www.mini-z.com.sg/gallery/underwater

by the way, your school of mantas (20 or so) i think are eagle rays

Ha! yes, the lucky French couple who got a free camera.

Nice photos! Guess we went to similar sites since we had the same divemaster. Hope you guys had an enjoyable trip yourselves.

I had a hard time deciding if they were juvenile mantas or eagle ray. The divemaster told us it was mantas and I rememberred the head profile resembles that of the mantas too. In any case, it was great seeing that group of rays gliding past us.

I regretted not bringing the strobe down during the day dives. But then again, I could have lost them all to the strong current there......

JaGr · 4th March 2005

yup chaku, the dive master who brought us rock climbing on the corals and to see all the big stuff.

we had lots of fun because all 10 of us are friends.

i skipped bringing my strobe for 1 dive then decided not to leave it on the boat after that. don't want to miss photo ops! my macro lens didn't touch the water though.

did you guys see the whale shark on a dive or snorkelling? we were damm lucky the moment we dropped anchor there the whale shark appeared and we all jumped in from the deck, me and my camera and strobe too.

TwilightZone · 5th March 2005

Yes, the rock climbing... with only 1 hand on the rock and the other frantically holding on to the camera.

We saw 2. a 4 metre young one while snorkelling and a larger one about 6-7 metre on the dive right after spotting the young whaleshark. It was the same dive that we saw the school of manta/eagle rays.

We were thankful that we sit out of the last dive at Banana reef due to flight time. Our boat mates experienced the worst current during the 6 days dive with the famous washing machine effect thrown in. Even Chaku came up exhausted....

21st February 2005	#1
TwilightZone Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 66	Some photos from my Maldives Trip Hi folks, Just came back from Maldives. The diving was good although there were current in most dive. So photos did not turn out too well because was operating the camera with 1 hand while holding on to some rocks or dead corals with the other... Here are some photos from the trip and hope you enjoy them. http://community.webshots.com/user/josephchanwaimeng

24th February 2005	#9
Restless Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 145	wow.. woah.. those are great pics... any recommendations on who to dive with over there? envy envy envy

25th February 2005	#11
Restless Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 145	great! Sweettt .. thanks !! Hopefully I can make it there in May.. hmm.. time to start saving..

3rd March 2005	#12
JaGr Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 320	Hi Twilight, I went a week after you on the same boat. We were looking real hard for underwater cameras floating around after what we heard about your group. Here are some of my shots http://www.mini-z.com.sg/gallery/underwater by the way, your school of mantas (20 or so) i think are eagle rays Last edited by JaGr; 3rd March 2005 at 05:36 PM.

21st February 2005	#2
ScoobaKev Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pasir Ris Posts: 863	Man...I'm jealous...what a load of sightings of Mantas & Whale Sharks! Well Done!

21st February 2005	#3
kng Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 551	WOW WOW! AMazing, esp the SCHOOL of mantas... cld i ask what is the name of that dive site where you saw the school?

21st February 2005	#4
MichaelZ New Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 3	looks like Paradise Point, North Male Atoll but I'm just gussing.

21st February 2005	#6
DTan Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 441	school of manta is great esp when they are not circling some cleaning station. bring the video clip for us to watch at SEED..

24th February 2005	#8
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	Wonderful stuff mate. well done... waisj sings when will i dive and shoot again?......lada Lada

4th March 2005	#14
JaGr Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 320	yup chaku, the dive master who brought us rock climbing on the corals and to see all the big stuff. we had lots of fun because all 10 of us are friends. i skipped bringing my strobe for 1 dive then decided not to leave it on the boat after that. don't want to miss photo ops! my macro lens didn't touch the water though. did you guys see the whale shark on a dive or snorkelling? we were damm lucky the moment we dropped anchor there the whale shark appeared and we all jumped in from the deck, me and my camera and strobe too.

5th March 2005	#15
TwilightZone Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 66	Yes, the rock climbing... with only 1 hand on the rock and the other frantically holding on to the camera. We saw 2. a 4 metre young one while snorkelling and a larger one about 6-7 metre on the dive right after spotting the young whaleshark. It was the same dive that we saw the school of manta/eagle rays. We were thankful that we sit out of the last dive at Banana reef due to flight time. Our boat mates experienced the worst current during the 6 days dive with the famous washing machine effect thrown in. Even Chaku came up exhausted....