MV Carpe Diem

For clarity I will summarize my experience in bullet point presentation. Note: this is part of my liveaboard diving trip from Doha with stay-over in Hulhumale. Other stories to come. Since I have more than 20 yrs of diving [worldwide] experience i will give a more critical view on my experience. *we were on the Carpe Diem boat. *waiting at airport [after early arrival] would be excruciating [around 6 hrs in waiting at airport restaurant] so I recommend coming a day or two earlier as we did [see my comments on hotels in Hulumale] *most dives are drift dives so having previous experience is a must; that includes having hook and knowing how to use it and diving marker [tube] since you have to signal boat your location after surfacing. *swimming with whale sharks is overrated [seen none but hype was overwhelming] due to the amount of boats [more than 10] and people [100 plus] in the water at the same time. *swimming with manta's is also overrated since it's done on sandy bottom and it's highly dependent on the people's skill to control itself on the sandy bottom. *drift dive is not appropriate for taking photo's since every stop result in divers pileup and numerous corals being destroyed along the way; unfortunately this is not enforced and corals are being destroyed. *food was very good; espresso, wine, beer, liquors available to buy. *coffee quality was disappointing [red Nescafe quality]. *tea quality was disappointing [just plain vanilla options]. *beach bbq was waste since whole afternoon was lost waiting for dinner instead of opportunity to enjoy afternoon/sunset on the beach. *overall, disappointing since all dive trips were within daily reach from capital Male so every site was unfortunately overcrowded that defeat a point on being on liveaboard.

Went with Carpe Vita for the Central line route (Best of Maldives). The dives were amazing despite it was during low-season! The guides and crews are very helpful, can tell that they are very experienced and things were well-arranged. The boat itself is clean and there's a few places for me to take my nap in between dives 😆 While their food is great in general, on some days the menu was repeated. Still very happy (and surprised) on the amount of fruits they serve though! Overall a really great live on board with a reasonable price!

For us it was the first experience on a LiveAboard trip. We had a TOP TIME aboard the Carpe Vita led by Captain Adam. The start was a warm and cordial reception at the busy and warm airport of Male and it ended a week later after many beautiful dives with a heartfelt handshake and hopefully see you at the same airport. The Carpe Vita boat from the Carpe Diem company is a very comfortable, spacious and in our opinion quite luxurious boat. Lots of places to sit to chat, read a book or take a nap. You can therefore relax in the sun as well as in the shade or inside in the air conditioning between dives. A pleasant layout. The cabins are really spacious and are equipped with all the comforts you want on a diving trip. Plenty of space to store everything and also enough sockets to charge things. A spacious bathroom with a toilet, a double sink and a large walk-in shower. Always warm fresh water with good water pressure. a well-functioning air conditioning that is virtually silent. A large nice lying bed where you are also fine as a tall Dutchman. Nice that there was room to dry things at the front of the boat (with great sturdy clips to prevent it from blowing away), The wetsuits stick and dry on the Doni / dinghy. The bath towels were replaced every few days and you could dry on the aft deck after use. Again, a sturdy windproof clip for every cabin. The food on board was fantastic. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were always a party. Wide choice in various dishes (also vegetarian), great quality and very tasty. Tribute to the Chief. The room was cleaned daily and neatly maintained. Very nice to find your towels every day as a work of art. What a lovely gentleman who enthusiastically waved us goodbye every day and welcomed us back on board. He was always interested in what we had seen. If necessary, there is a possibility to rent equipment on site. Scubapro BCDs and mask and also regulators. The tanks are Int (Yoke) or Din and there is Nitrox if you are certified. If you're not, be sure to take the course. You'll have a lot of fun doing that. On request you can rent a 15 liter tank if you are less good with your air at depth. You come for diving, of course. That was fine as far as we were concerned. The variety of dives and locations was well chosen. A reef/wall, a number of dives in one of the many channels with currents (drift diving), dives hanging from a reef hook (we had a big current at Fish Head with horizontal bubbles), diving with manta;'s at night, a wreck dive, several Thilas (submarine "mountains"). A fantastic swim in the oceanic swell along a reef. Snorkeling with a whale shark. The variety of dives and locations was fine. Diving from the Doni was also very nice. Nice spacious boat. We were able to check off our "wish list" after the hammerhead shark and tiger shark (both and especially the tiger shark a super small chance of this trip in central Maldives). The dive guide just saw a glimpse of a hammerhead shark on the last dive. We just couldn't see it anymore. It is and remains nature. But we were so happy with the Mantis Schrimp, the Mantas, the Napoleon fish, the Whale Shark, the Dolphins and the many (variety) Sharks. In that respect also tribute to Chakku our dive guide. Keep in mind that the dive guides are really guides. You really need to be able to dive with your buddy yourself. You are responsible for your own dive and must be able to save yourself. They are not instructors who watch you and help you throughout the dive. Of course in case of emergency they will take action, but they are your guide and not your instructor. Being able to leave a DSMB on (easily and quickly) (even in strong currents) is really a must in our opinion. Also, having a Nitrox/ Enriched Air specialty is a big plus, as is having an Advanced "Padi" and/or Deep specialty. Many dives go very quickly to the 25 to 30 meters (here are the sharks) and go at the end of the dive (taking into account the ascent speed relatively also quickly up to the safety stop at 5 meters. That safety stop is often in "the blue", hence the need to be able to leave a DSMB on. Some experience diving in currents and dealing with a reef hook is nice. Read or watch (YouTube) how this works beforehand, if you have never done it before helps enormously. We the C-group had Chakku as Dive Team Leader and guide. An extremely professional, attentive and quiet guide, who has shown us many beautiful things underwater. The crew and especially the captain of the Doni (thanks for rolling up DSMB which was a race each time who was first and fastest) left a very positive impression on us. Friendly, professional and accurate. In any case, all staff/crew of the Carpe Vita are extremely friendly, welcoming, helpful, customer-oriented, professional and hardworking. I can wholeheartedly recommend everyone to go on a LiveAboard with one of the 3 boats of the Carpe Diem group. The last night in male we lay next to the Carpe Nova. All three sister boats look great and have a more or less equal layout. We would like to sail again in the future. And without wanting to shortchange anyone on board, we would like to dive again under the guidance of Chakku, the captain of the Doni and the lovely gentleman who put a smile on our faces every day with the towel art. Crew of the Carpe Vita THANKS and see you in the future.

I have been to three live aboard trips, Egypt, Great barrier reef and this trip. This is the best. All the staff are very friendly and helpful. You can feel their genuine interest in us and care for us. The food is great. The chiefs are the best among the three trips, there are lots of varieties. I need to eat gluten free. The head chief will always come out to explain what I can eat or what not to. He will offer an extra side dish that I can eat just for me often. The organization is also the best. All dive briefings are detailed and helpful. I love the fact that the staff take the trouble to record all depth and dive time info related to each dive and print it out for all. The dive boat being a large size boat is more stable and comfortable for the divers getting in and out of the boat. The dive masters try to think for us and give us the best possible experience.

I cannot say enough positive about my experience on the Carpe Diem!! Amazing food, fantastic crew of dive masters and EVERY support member. Doing their job and taking care of all of us, without fawning or unnecessary embellishments. While I personally had some diving limitations, the crew respected my decisions, allowing me to be where i needed to be, respecting my decisions but also encouraging. The boat was clean, water hot, towels clean, and the dive boat( separate from the live aboard boat), was well managed with a divemaster for 3 groups w a maximum of 6 people per group. If a piece of equipment failed or similar, they had a solution.(luckily this was a minimal concern). If you want to dive in the Maldives, use Carpe Diem… but leave room for me🤿