On Mon, 16 May 2005 01:41:55 -0400, Krazy Kiwi Viv <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Well, been thar, done tat!

Glad to know SOMEONE is doing all the diving I couldn't do.  ;)

>Guess I am real spoilt in regards to what dive destinations I've been to
in
>the part but, unless someone was going on a honeymoon (or something
special
>like that where half your time is not spent on boats or underwater ie only
>wanted a couple of dives a day at the most) the Maldives would NOT rate
>highly on my list of 'must-see' places.

That's an interesting and unexpected comment from someone whose judgment
I trust.  I've always heard of Maldives being the Cat's moew in that
part of the world where I've never been, and will likely to remain
that way, after reading your report.

Wot da 'ell was Mika and Andy and others doing there?


< schnip with kiwi shears of the non-essentials to diving >

>
>While they have a few diving rules I don't agree with the worst I
>encountered was on the liveaboard sector of the trip. This vessel was run
>by an Italian company and their rule was that you dived as a group - went
>down as a group, came up as a group. So you exited the water when the
>first person was down on air.

That's the worst I've ever heard.   Surely that must be an extreme
"outlier" case, as we say about statistical data.   My impression
from others had more or less been "just about anything goes".  In
fact, the famed Pedro (of Cozumel, who took an uncertified diver
to 164 fsw in Coz, and got Jeff narked when he took us looking for
his Alexandria Wall (whose name he made up and never found it <G>)
worked as DM in Maldives after he was probably expelled by PADI
because Nick said he reported the story of the 164 fsw dive with
a student to PADI.

At any rate, I thought Maldives diving would be much less regimented
than the Caribbean, and more like the Pacific.

May be the Italian company was afraid of Italian divers who leave
their brains a home and trust their AI computers, like Giovanni. :-))

One day we only got a 25 min dive due to the dive
>guide insisting we swam in to the current where the air hogs churned
>through their air in no time.

That's worse than the worst of the shops in Cozumel!

As the liveaboard costs were in US$ I don't
>think we got value for $ for the majority of the dives.

That's an understatement of the decade.  If I were in your place,
I would have either (a) screamed bloody murder, or (b) do my own
thing discreetly and hope neither side has to make an issue of
it -- that's how I dive 190 fsw on liveaboards.  :-)


>While the liveaboard had great accommodation the food was bland & boring.
>Breakfast - toast, musli, banana or lebanese bread.

Speaking of FOOD, I have to admit I've been sompletely spoiled by the
food on cruise ships!  Even the BEST food I've had on liveaboards,
in comparison to cruiseship variety, selection, and quantity and
quality, would be like comparing canned dog food with gourmet
staaks at restaurants.

>Lunch - pasta for entree, fish main meal.
>Dinner - pasta for entree, fish main meal.

LOL~  That's worse than canned dog food!!

>They actually got the hint that some of us were pretty annoyed that we
felt
>we were getting the equivalent of a McDonalds meal so for some variety
they
>served up pizzas for dinner. Yup, the first one came out with TUNA on
>top... aaaarrrgh. 2nd one had tiniest slivers of sausage on top. 3rd one
>came out covered in artichokes. The next day they served lasagne for
>dinner - have you ever had lasagne that is meatless? It was pitiful, made
>even worse by being served up with a tray of sliced tomatoes and deep
fried
>onion rings.

You should try diving from a CRUISE SHIP some time, such as diving
the French Polynesian islands (4-5 islands a week, two dives a day),
to see what real FOOD is like.  :-)   Alaskan King crabs (not the
tiny Alaskan crabs served in most restaurants), broiled lobsters,
filet mignon, other steaks, prime ribs, all kinds of jumbo shrimps,
escargo for appetizer, pate de fois, etc., etc. are just the
ordinary items on the menus.  :-)

Now you got me hungrey for one of those meals again.

-- Bob.