Maldives diving holiday – day 3
Day 3 of our trip to the Maldives
Our first dive of the day was a drift along cocoa thila, one of the Maldives most famous dive sites. Lisa our guide briefed us on a moderate current so we kitted up for a reasonable dive.
As soon as we hit the water the current grab does and chucked us down the reef at a rate of knots that Jenson Button would have pleased with. This was a thrill ride that had Trey doing superman impressions and the rest of us swooping sideways. The current bought the Pelagius that we were hoping for; lots of white tip sharks, grey reefs, dogged tooth tune, snapper, a large Napoleon Wrasse and several eagle rays.
After a hearty breakfast and a few issues with the compressor we went for our second dive to loshufushi. This was a long gentle drift that had plenty to see – honeycombe morays, 2 turtles, leaf fish, nudibranchs and a wort slug. I was fortunate to have a surgeon fish dispose the contents of its bowls on my head, unfortunately the even was witnessed by Tiddles.
After the second dive “Tiddles” went for his trademark nap while the rest of us chatted away, caught some rays or chilled out to some music. Cookie went to hide in her cabin as I attempted to knock out a few tunes on the boat guitar, I think Melvin thought I was Jimmy Hendrix in disguise, or should that be in disgust?
Guraidhoo corner was our 3rd dive site which was getting a little dusky by the time our crew had filled the tanks. This was another fast drift, and I mean fast. In between superman impressions we clung on to the rocks to watch a large grey reef shark swimming effortlessly into the current. The tuna and snappers were now in full hunting mode and we also spotted an octopus and several large Napoleon wrasses. This dive was an adrenalin rush even for the most experienced amongst the group.
The ladies that leisure had a nice relaxing day, I’m not even sure they got into the water. Tiddles has made a new personal best by remaining awake for 3 consecutive hours. Wally of the day goes to Jess who asked what the leafy looking fish was, it is a leaf fish.
The evening ended with a game of Shark Top Trumps, a costly event on my behalf as having to buy beers for all participants, the penalty for losing. Trey knocked a full beer over my lap before I was gesturing some action parts of Jaws and knocking another full beer over myself. Lee was nearly given the emergency O2 to prevent him having a heart attack caused by laughter…toss pot.