Dive Review of Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita in
Maldives

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Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita, Feb, 2012, by Marcia Wilson, CA, US ( 1 report). Report 6479.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my husband's and my first liveaboard and we have been told that we are now forever spoiled and will have a hard time finding other boats that will live up to the Carpe Vita. It is a beautiful, spacious boat that is only 1 year old. We stayed in suite #1 on the upper deck and enjoyed all the space and especially the large bathroom with double sinks and large bathtub. I know these things are too important for most divers, but for your wives, it might be! We are Americans living in Angola, so our travel was shorter than from the US. It was an easy connection through Dubai on Emirates. We unfortunately encountered rain the first four days with not much sun. The sun would have been nice to brighten the coral but it seemed to also change the currents which affected the dives. The currents were sometimes miss judged in direction which caused a couple of the channel dives to not be as described during the briefing. Not having a lot of experience with those fast currents was challenging but good experience. The sharks didn't make themselves seen on the channel dives disappointing some. Normally only one or two and with poor visibility for this time of year. We were fortunate to see a couple of whale sharks, one while snorkeling and the other at the beginning of a dive. We were also fortunate to have mantas at one of the manta cleaning stations in South Ari atoll on two dives. These encounters were spectacular and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Once we arrived in South Ari atoll we all realized how wonderful diving in the southern atolls had been. There are way too many boats near Male and we had over 100 divers on a pinnacle one morning! It was crazy and horrible and something I hope to never encounter again. Because we had taken the 10 night trip, we did not encounter other dive boats until we arrived nearer to Male. There were only 3 of us who were not nitrox certified so all three of us took the course from the dive instructor and were certified on this trip. It would be almost impossible to dive 4 dives per day without nitrox. Most days they scheduled 4 dives but only 2 were true night dives. The dhoni was beautiful and very well laid out and the staff were all extremely helpful and friendly. A couple of negatives was the number of divers. Capacity was to be 20, but we had 21. The groups were too large and would have been much better with only 4-6 divers per group. This was especially irritating with too many "professional photographers"! They didn't always respect the environment or other divers! Overall, it was a great trip that we enjoyed but with so many dive destinations on our list, we probably won't get back to the Maldives but you won't be disappointed with the Carpe Vita.
Websites	Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	We have been diving in most Caribbean islands and the Quirimbas and Bazaruto archipelegos off the coast of Mozambique, Africa.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-75 Ft/ 9-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	The Maldives restrict diving to 30 meters and 60 minutes and we stayed within these limits.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or	Mantas	1 or
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	1 or
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita in Maldives

Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita, Feb, 2012,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Explorer Ventures Carpe Vita in
Maldives