Having departed Gatwick on the Sunday afternoon, our flight arrived in Male the following morning after a brief stopover in Dubai for a scheduled and painless aircraft change.

Passing through customs was very straightforward and we were met on the other side by Nick, our dive guide for the week.

We were transported by bus for the arduous ten minute trek to our liveaboard, which would be home for the week.

Compared to some of the larger Red Sea liveaboards, the Sea Spirit and her sister vessel, the Sea Queen look at first sight,antiquated. However they have been designed specifically with the Maldives in mind along traditional lines, and inside offer a degree of comfort not always available elsewhere.

Carrying 12 passengers each in either twin or double, air conditioned, en suite cabins, the boats were large enough to feel as though we had our own space, and small enough so that we knew we would not be crowded by divers at a dive site. The crew were very welcoming and extremely helpful. Our dive kit was whisked away to another smaller vessel, which was used as the dive platform for the week. This vessel followed the liveaboard at a discreet distance; charging cylinders out of earshot of the guests, coming alongside before every dive to collect us.

The beauty of this system meant that we could totally relax on the liveaboard without tripping over dive gear. The dive tender also had a shallower draft, allowing access to more sites than a standard boat.

The diving….!! As with most holidays, the first dive of the week was a check dive. Having dived the Red Sea extensively I fully expected a fairly boring and sterile dive site. Upon jumping in I thought that this was exactly what I was getting. The lack of coral was a disappointment and the visibility, although very good, was not up to Red Sea standard. However, 15 minutes into the dive, and I had seen more turtles than I have ever seen in a whole week of diving elsewhere! The sheer volume of fish in the water was astonishing and I later learned that whilst there is coral out there, the beauty of the Maldives is the amount and diversity of marine life, from shrimps through to whale sharks.

Back on board, we were treated to a display by some spinner dolphins as we made our way back to the liveaboard… not too shabby a day after all!