Dive Review of Manthiri in
Maldives

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Manthiri: "Excellent service, inconsitent diving", Mar, 2017, by Mr Brent Woods, ON, CA ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 9637 has 2 Helpful votes.
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	Three months after this trip I'm still unsure about how to rate it. I'm glad that I went but I'm not sure if I want to return to the Maldives. The Manthiri is very comfortable and well maintained. It is locally owned and most of the staff are Maldivian. Pride of ownership is evident. The Manthiri has 6 cabins. Two have a double bed, the remaining cabins have two single beds. All cabins have a private head. The food was a mixture of Maldivian and western. It was plentiful and good. Meals were served family style at two tables. We had a cold breakfast before the first dive, a hot breakfast after it, a hot lunch, a mid afternoon snack and a hot dinner everyday. Service was excellent. The crew to guest ratio was one to one. This is the first liveaboard I've been on with complimentary laundry service. The chief dive guide met us at the airport on arrival, helped us get sim cards and local currency and made sure our transfers to our hotel and from the hotel to the dock were in place. The Manthiri schedules a day in port between cruises. This means that you board in the morning and dive on your first day. Also, the last nights dinner is included. Not the usual being turned loose to fend for yourself while the crew restocks and cleans. On the final morning, they took use to the airport on the dive tender and made sure we knew where to go. We did a ten day cruise of the central atolls (North and South Male, Felidhe, North and South Ari and Rasdhoo). This was the first time I have done ten days on a liveaboard. It was the perfect length of time. I have always found a week too short. All diving was done done from the tender (Dhoni in the local language) The Dhoni was fully enclosed, has a head and fresh water showers and a three man crew. It was almost impossible to get dressed without someone helping you. The compressors and nitrox membranes are also on the Dhoni. Dive gear was left on the Dhoni. Informative dive briefings were given in the Manthiri's lounge. Both divemasters were on all of the dives until one had to leave for a family emergency. The diving did not live up to expectations. The coral was badly damaged in a massive bleaching 10-15 years ago and I knew this going in. We went to a number of sites with healthy coral and lots of fish that I would happily go back to. We also dove sites that had neither. Why do dive operators, especially liveaboards, do this? Generally, the fish populations were healthy. I was expecting the species distribution to be similar to what I've seen in Indonesia and Micronesia. I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of new fish species that I saw. We were expecting to see whale sharks but did not. Several dives were spent looking for them. These sites are not very interesting if the big guys don't show. We had better luck on the Manta and reef shark dives. There are reasonable populations of both. Green and Hawksbill Turtles are also common. While there are macro subjects like nudibranchs, tunicates and ghost pipefish in the Maldives. It is not a good destination for lovers of small critters. The focus here is on shark and manta dives. The currents can be quite strong depending on the time of day. We dove one site on Rashdoo twice. The first time we couldn't follow the dive plan because of the current. The second time there was no current. I am a member of group that does a big dive trip every year. We choose the Manthiri based on reviews and its size. We could fill the boat with a couple of additions to our usual roster. I organized the trip without using a travel agent or going through a dive shop. I dealt directly with the Manthiri's North American agent (Mass Diving) who were very helpful. This resulted in substantial savings. We split the two complementary spots for filling the boat amongst ourselves (which usually go to the shop owner) and we didn't pay the travel agent commission. The Manthiri and Mass Diving also made the bookings for us to go to Equator Village on Addu Atoll.
Websites	Manthiri
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Ontario, Quebec, Cuba, Roatan, Red Sea, Little Cayman, St. Eustatius, Saba, Bonaire, Jamaica, Pohnpei, Galapagos, Costa Rica, Chuuk, Palau, Yap, Cozumel, Kosrae, Bahamas
Closest Airport	Male	Getting There	Trump's persecution of Arab airlines.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-100 Ft/ 6-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Recreational limits.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
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		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Camera room had space for 5 camera rigs. Lots of towels and plugs.RAting for subject matter depends upon your interest. Better for large creatures and fish. Poorer for macro.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Manthiri in Maldives

Manthiri: "Excellent service, inconsitent diving", Mar, 2017,

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 Manthiri in
Maldives