The Maldives is a vacation paradise. With many islands and clear water, it makes the perfect destination for any divers. My group has planned for this trip for about a year and it was a blessing to have chartered Princesa Luluka by Maldives Cruiser. We certainly had the most enjoyable time ever.
Thoughts about Princesa Luluka
The mother boat is big and spacious, and the donny is a smaller boat where we rig up and go diving.
The mother boat has a jacuzzi, alfresco couch seating area for a chillax break. The boat has a upper deck and a top deck.
The upper deck has a few rooms and a great sitting area for chilling purpose.
The top deck is where we can watch the sunrise, sunset and gaze upon the stars.
Upon stepping into the dry areas of the boat, there’s a stairway that leads down to a corridor to the rooms. After the stairway, a bar counter welcomes us and a cozy library on the left-hand side of the boat.
The room is well equipped with air-conditioned and international powerpoint. The room has a ensuite toilet.
The dining area is spacious and clean. Behind it, there’s a cozy lounge with 2 sets of LCD screen on the left and right. With console games (retro-styled) to play or movies to screen. It’s definitely a comfortable boat to call home for the next 7 nights.
There’s an inflatable slide too and a wall climb!
When the boat is anchored in a lagoon near a sandbank, that’s when the crew inflated the slide for us to play. With the adrenaline flowing through my body, it felt so good. We were able to swim or take a short boat ride to the sandbank.
Taking pictures and having fun at the sandbank watching the sunset. It was a good way to end the day with.
Dive routes
Central Attol
Dive Experience
Night dive: Manta Ray search.
In order to bait the Manta rays, the spotlights have to be turned on so that planktons will be attracted. That’s when the food chain builds up. However, we waited for a good 2 hrs odd before a nearby boat spotted 2 manta rays. That’s when the dive guides decided to bring us over to watch them feed.
The dive was amazing. We literally parked ourselves near the rocks/ sea beds and watch the manta rays feed. They were so close to me and I was afraid of their wings hitting onto me.
Day #2: Yikes on my camera…
Gave up on using my SJCam coz my red filter was too red and my screw for the selfie stick and the SJCam dislodged during one of my dives and I lost it. And I thought to myself might as well I use this time to get better on my buoyancy and control rather than taking videos.
Day #4: Nurse sharks night dive
Before we even stationed ourselves at the seabed, we saw a school of nurse sharks. As we stationed ourselves below, we saw nurse sharks swimming between us feeding on the food that the dive guides provided. Besides that, there were stingrays too.
The captain drove the boat up and down the lagoon looking for the whale shark. After a good 45mins, we are unable to search for it. Our dive guide decided to lead us down to the waters in search for it.
Day #5
Next day, after our first dive we were all chillaxing and decided to take a break. Next thing we know, the bell rang, one of the boat crew yelled “Whale Shark!”, that’s when everyone threw down everything else and dashed to the donny. While the captain navigated nearer to the whale shark, we were all gearing up our masks and fins. As time passes, the hype slowly diminishing. Out of the silence, the boatman yelled “WHALE”. That’s when everyone jumped and with the signal from our dive guides, one by one we jumped into the water. Snorkeling our way to see the whale shark. It was right below me! Unable to swim any deeper, I just stayed at the surface watching the whale shark swim pass us. It was the most exciting moment.
After chasing the whale shark, our mother boat needs to sail for about 5 hrs to cross to another atoll. During this interval, we were all relaxed. Next thing we know, the bell rang, one of the crew yelled “WHALE! WHALE! WHALE!”. All of us dropped whatever we were doing and ran out shouting “WHALE!WHALE!” to the front of the boat. That’s when we search for a moving object from the surface and watched it splash the water out.
After a good 15mins, the bell rang again, “DOLPHIN!DOLPHIN!”. We once again dropped whatever we were doing and went out to watch a group of dolphin swimming and jumping in the surface.
The days just get confusing by this time… hahaha…
In any case, here’s the video montage I did with a few photos and videos taken by different people from the boat.
Sighted
Manta Rays
Eagle Rays
Nurse Sharks
Turtles
Octopus
White tip reef sharks
Thank you Princesa Luluka
