Maldives

[keithtty]

Not to mention nice resort, for potential "honeymooners". Clammy, do u have a nice pic of the resort to make us completely envious?

[clammy]

Blue line snappers... A lot of them.. no wide angle to capture the whole school.

[clammy]

wall of snappers.

[clammy]

replying to request, this is where my honey and i spend our evenings after a days dive. hidden behind the trees right at the beach is our bangalow.

[clammy]

Sunset at paradise island

[clammy]

Sunrise at paradise island. In the pics are the water bangalows for those who can afford it and book real early in advance. In some islands, these bangalows are fully booked til next april!

[clammy]

ahh... miss that place already...

[clammy]

huge marble ray. Completely dwarfed my sweetheart behind it.

[clammy]

Big eyes!

[clammy]

check out the nice corals in the overhangs

[clammy]

its easier to take pics of red subjects for amatuers like me.

[clammy]

turtle

[clammy]

Nasty trigger bite! the titan had a go at everyone of us, but the poor guide was the 1st to encounter it and didnt see it coming.

[clammy]

juvenile reindeer wrasse. About 2cm long

[clammy]

Banner fish. Huge school of them. Too bad viz didnt allow a group shot with my camera.

[clammy]

background is body of honeycomb murray. Thought it would make an interesting composition but the focus turned out to be on the cardinal and not on the grouper's eyes like i wanted.

[clammy]

how can we forget the many napoleons?

But the pics turned out quite bad.. Its my luosy photography skills, but really, viz isnt helping too..

[clammy]

gobies.

[clammy]

batfish. followed us for 3/4 of the dive

[kelstorm]

is the viz really that bad??? or was it caused by divers fins stirring up the silt???

i always thought that maldives have good viz...

[clammy]

crouching lion

[clammy]

hidden dragon. haha, sorry, couldnt resist. see the murray in the background?

[clammy]

Yah.. Maldives famous for its clarity. but that is during peak season. May is the low season as it is the period of changing monsoons. So the weather, current, etc, can be quite temperamental, thus affecting the viz. On top of that, its the starting of the manta season, and there's lots of plankton, marine snow etc on this side of the island. Viz is compromised, but we get a 99% garantee of manta sightings on some of the dive spots. And its cheaper during this time of the year too.

yahyah... i know.. ;P but cheap is a relative term...

[clammy]

Not much chance of divers stirring up sand etc except on a few dives...

we dont really get to see the "bottom"

[kelstorm]

Viz is compromised, but we get a 99% garantee of manta sightings on some of the dive spots. And its cheaper during this time of the year too.

yahyah... i know.. ;P but cheap is a relative term...

$7000 and still consider cheap... i wonder if during peak season, how much it is gonna cost me... when is the peak season? try not to go during that period then..