More about our Carpe Diem itinerary

Our itinerary for this trip was originally going to be 7 days long. But when we found out the trip would end at a different island than our staring point and we would have to fly back to Male, we reconsidered the cost and decided to staying on the boat for the return to Malé five days later. This would make the entire cruise a total of 12 days. This is the longest diving live-aboard we have ever done to date.

On the first seven day leg up to the Baa Atoll we had a total of 17 guest divers but the yacht is designed for 20 so we had plenty of room. The crew divided us up into three dive groups during that week. Our group of five included a gentleman from Hong Kong named Phil. He was a great fit for the four of us from the states. Before each dive we would do a dance called the "Whale shark dance" designed by Phil to increase our chances of seeing one on a dive. And believe it or not... it worked!

Here's a frame grab from a video shot by Mathias of a Whale shark close- encounter. And that's Phil, the Whale shark dance choreographer in our group. I was below them when this happened,

Meals were served at the rear of the bridge deck in a covered but open area. We would share our group experiences during each meal. One of the highlight meals during each week long cruise is a beach barbecue. The first week the BBQ was on the small island of Dhangethi in the South Ari Atoll. The crew put together an amazing variety of food for us to enjoy. The second week, the BBQ was on a small uninhabited island. This venue even included a sand sculpture of a Whale shark.

Dhangethi is a local inhabited island in the South Ari Atoll of the Maldives and is roughly 61 acres in size.

Look at this amazing spread of food!

The crew of Carpe Diem created this Whale shark for our barbecue.

The energy of each group was wonderful.

 During our brief breaks between dives we would look up the names of the unique creatures in provided reference books and journal in our dive logs. Sometimes there was even time to nap.

Throughout the day we dove a minimum of three dives with meals in between to help keep our energy up. On that first leg of the journey Karen, Bill and Mathias did all 18 dives. I had to skip the second night dive after experiencing an ear problem that caused some vertigo for me underwater. I knew my body was giving me a clue and decided to exercise some caution rather then have the same problem repeat itself in the dark.

On Saturday, August 29th we all went ashore so 13 of the group could depart to return home from the primary commercial airport located on Dharavandhoo Island in Baa Atoll. Karen and I spent four hours exploring this island waiting for the next guests to arrive for the dive trip back to Malé.

The second leg of the trip was a 5 day long return back to where we started with only seven divers onboard. Our original four was joined by John and Joy DiMuzio with their adult daughter Tori. They are Americans living and working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There were more crew than guests on this leg of the trip. John and Joy have only been diving about three years. Tori just got her PADI Open water certification and is a very enthusiastic new diver.

I still like doing a family portrait now and then but it needs to be underwater. From left to right is Tori, John and Joy from our boat.

Because of the extra room on Carpe Diem, Munkko upgraded our cabin to the deluxe "Sun" cabin, the largest cabin onboard.

By the end of the trip Karen had done all 30 dives and I did only 28. Not bad for a 73 year old.

The next blog post will include photos of many of the underwater images I have on my computer from the trip. This dive trip was one of the best ever for us! We are grateful and blessed to be able to enjoy and marvel at the beautiful underwater world designed by Creator God.