Dives 2006 / ProDivers / Vakarufalhi, Ari-Atoll, Maledives / Manta Season / Whale Shark Season


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	Our News 2006

22/Sept/2006: After almost 3 years we say good bye to Vakarufalhi. This morning we enjoyed once again the beautiful South Ari Atoll and said good bye to all the fish. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the guests and staff who made us have a very special time here. We will always like to remember these last 3 years.
Now we will go for 2 weeks to Helengeli for holiday and for sure to dive!! After that we will go home to good old Switzerland to find out if we would like to be the next years in an office or rather under water again??? We will see and we will let you know on our website.

19/Sept/2006: In the meantime we were already twice again at Manta Point but unfortunately there are no manta rays anymore at the time. Instead we discovered there today a leopard shark (zebra shark) which was lying on a small reef ledge having a little snooze.

15+18/Sept/2006: On both days we went to Vakarufalhi Etere Thila and there was an outgoing current on both dives. We were twice lucky to see grey reef sharks. Right after descending we went into the current and looked out in the blue. We did not have to wait long until the first whitetip reef sharks came along. And shortly after that there were once two grey reef sharks and the second time one grey reef shark cruising around. Even though the start of the dives were fantastic we still enjoyed the big tunas, the turtle and the big napoleon wrasse on the dive further on :-)

31/Aug/2006: Today we discovered something very rare for the Ari Atoll. On our morning dive at Dhigurah Beru Thila we found a ribbon eel. As the reef lies very close to the edge of the channel where is always hope for some big fish unfortunately most of the photographers took their wide angle lens today...that’s life!!

28/Aug/2006: Adventure Full Day Trip: This time we did not see manta rays or whale sharks but a lot of different things like water, waves, green faces and lots of jokes ;-) First there was family Kalu’s backpack story which luckily forced us to turn and then came the real bad weather. That’s why we returned to the island and made a beautiful dive on MV Kudhima Wreck in the afternoon. The frogfish is still there and also the millions of glassfish in the cargo hold and around the stern. Underneath the wreck we could see an over 2 meter (6 feet) big nurse shark in his full size. By the way the weather has changed and the sun is already shining again.

26/Aug/2006: Didn’t we have this already!! On today’s full day trip we were snorkeling again with manta rays on the way to Manta Point and saw them again at Manta Point itself during our dive. But in the afternoon we could go snorkeling with whale sharks even twice today. On the following dive we didn’t see any nurse sharks this time but for that we had three eagle rays flying by directly in front of us.

25/Aug/2006: At Vakarufalhi Beru Thila Inside were a lot of sharks to be seen today. Above a sandy area which was surrounded by beautiful soft corals were nine whitetip reef sharks cruising around underneath us all the time.

22/Aug/2006: On today’s check-dive we have been overtaken by eight sting rays. In front a very big one and behind seven smaller ones. As soon as they passed us they turned around and towards us once more before they turned again and went their own way.
The same time on our full day trip we could snorkel in the morning with manta rays on the way to Manta Point before we saw two again on the following dive at Manta Point itself. In the afternoon along the outreef we were snorkeling again but this time for about ten minutes with a whale shark. On the dive after that we even discovered three nurse sharks hiding underneath coral blocks.

17/Aug/2006: On our night dive at Dhigurah Etere we jumped at dusk in the water and had already focused our eyes on all that little creatures down there. Suddenly a dark shadow passed in front of us over the reef and glided into the open water. It was a manta ray!! After that we had quite some difficulties to concentrate on the small things again.

10/Aug/2006: One boat – two sharks!!! Once again we tried our luck on the Outreef and headed for Dhidhoo Beru Faru. After the dive there were really two whale shark encounters. After all the dive equipment had been stored and after everybody was sitting comfortably on the sun deck, suddenly a whale shark was seen on the surface. Snorkeling equipment has been taken and everyone jumped in the water again. After this snorkeling adventure all the equipment had been stored again. And again after everybody was sitting on the sun deck, a second whale shark came along!!! The first one was approx. 3 meters (9 feet) and the second one about 5 meters (15 feet) long...diver's overstatement already deducted :-)

09/Aug/2006: Two boats – two sharks!!! That could be de headline of our morning dives. One boat went to Meddu Thila close to the channel edge where we found a nurse shark lying under a coral block. The other boat went to Dhigurah Etere Thila and there a grey reef shark has been seen swimming over the top reef. The only question is now: What other sharks have been around on the other dive sites?!??!!

07/Aug/2006: On the search for the big animal with the white spots on the back we went to Ari Beach Beru on the Outreef. Unfortunately there was no whale shark around but there was one of the very rare guitar ray (guitar shark) instead on the top reef.

06/Aug/2006: Looks like the black frogfish feels very comfortable at MV Kudhima Wreck by the bow. We could even watch him today how he was waggling all the time with his fishing rod to attract little fish. He wasn’t very lucky with that but at least we enjoyed it very much to watch.

01/Aug/2006: Usually we Swiss celebrate the 1st of August with fireworks in the sky. But we could enjoy an underwater manta fireworks spectacle!!! We heard that manta rays have been seen on Manta Point at Hukuru Ehli Faru. As we wanted to know if that’s true we also went there and were really very lucky: 6 manta rays were dancing in front of us on the cleaning stations. It was also very special because it’s not really manta ray season at the moment – but it’s good that these animals don’t read the calendars. We went again the next day and saw two manta rays and the day after unfortunately the spectacle was over.

30/July/2006: After a long time without grey reef sharks we saw one today at Rheeti Thila. He was cruising around the reef for about 30 minutes and was even swimming through the canyons. Beside that there was also an eagle ray, barracudas and a big napoleon wrasse to see. So many big things on such a small reef!!

26/July/2006: He came late but he came! At Ari Beach Beru all the divers were already in the safety stop as a 4 meter (12 feet) tall whale shark passed by underneath them. And on Angaga Thila there was also something special going on during the safety stop: 15 remoras were amongst the divers, but no diver was tall enough to be of interest for the remoras to dock :-)

25/July/2006: On our today's morning dive at Ali Thila we could watch two dolphins for about half a minute as they were gliding along the reef side by side!! And if that hasn't been enough excitement for the day we had another special encounter in the afternoon: On Kahambu Thila we saw a 1.50 meter (5 feet) tall silvertip shark!!! If you are now reading this and thinking that we are only telling fairytales we can proudly say that we had guests who could take pictures of both encounters as "evidence".

21/July/2006: After a long lean period there is finally a frogfish back on the MV Kudhima Wreck. During our today's morning dive some guests found a big black frogfish sitting by the bow. We are already looking forward to our next dive on the wreck and hope that the froggy will feel comfortable there and stay for a long, long time.

19/July/2006: We have been back on Vakarufalhi for one week and are enjoying the diving again. This morning we were very lucky: We had quite some current on Thinefushi Etere Thila and did our safety stop at the end out in the blue water. Suddenly a manta ray came out of nothing. He was turning and dancing in front of us und showed himself at his best. If only all the safety stops were that exciting…!!!

07/May/2006: Our time on Vakarufalhi is now slowly coming to an end. The next two months we will go back to Switzerland for a holiday and then come back for July until September as holiday deputizing for Marc and Petra. And then we will say goodbye to Vakarufalhi.
That means for May and June there will be no current news available here. But for July until September we will tell you again our latest under water encounters right here. For the time afterwards we don't have any plans yet because first we want to travel again. But as soon as we are working again under the hot sun and in the warm water we will inform you for sure on this site.

21/Apr/2006: Again a surprise on Angaga Thila. First we found a beautiful 15 cm tall Jorunna Funebris (black and white Jorunna) and were already satisfied. But then a black frog fish came along on the top reef. It was moving and swimming towards a diver to sit on. Black froggy on black neoprene...what a picture!!! Shortly later he swam or better said hovered away and found a place on the top reef to stay.

19/Apr/2006: A day of big encounters!!! Once again we could enjoy many manta rays on Manta Point and we hope that the season will last a bit longer. Only our special manta ray Ravioli hasn't been seen anymore. But for that we had a surprise on Ari Beach Beru: As the current was too strong to dive the channel we decided to go to the Outreef and were rewarded with a whale shark during the dive (sorry, Peter and Kai…!!!).

05/Apr/2006: One month later. As on the 5th of March we went today again on a full day trip to Manta Point and the Outreef. And as one month ago we had again a beautiful manta ray dive but also again no whale shark on the Outreef. But as exactly one month ago we found again two ghost pipefish. The only difference to the last time was that they were not seagrass ghost pipefish but a big and a small harlequin ghost pipefish (ornate ghost pipefish). So let's wait what we will see on the 5th of May :-)

31/Mar/2006: Today was the very first dive for one of our Open Water Diver students on the Housereef. After 25 minutes there were suddenly 6 eagle rays beside us and were flying in a perfect formation for another 15 minutes directly beside us. What a show!! Is there a better way to start diving???

23/Mar/2006: Nancy in love!!! Once again we went to Manta Point. After we saw several manta rays passing by we could see a real big one on a cleaning station. He was coming close to us again and again. Here you can see how close he really came and how Nancy was flirting with the manta ray we named "Ravioli". Why Ravioli??? Because this manta ray really looked like a well stuffed Ravioli (maybe pregnant) and on his left fin two small pieces were missing (could be from a shark attack) exactly like the shape of a Ravioli!!! We are already looking forward to the next encounter.

11/Mar/2006: Maybe the best manta dive!!! This morning we went full of expectation to Hukuru Ehli Faru. After the current check the prognosis was: Almost no current and good visibility - if these are good conditions to see manta rays? Yes!!! Already during the descent we could see the first manta ray on the cleaning station and he was there for the longest time. Then two other manta rays joined him. Out of the blue were coming manta rays again and again, cruised around us and disappeared again. At one stage we could see eight manta rays together at the same time!!! Most of these beautiful animals came very close to us - and this whole spectacular went on from the first to the last minute. You can imagine that everybody was totally happy after his dive.

06/Mar/2006: Since a long time we found again a harlequin shrimp. This time it has been seen at Noo Giri. Let's hope that it will stay again for a longer time there.

05/Mar/2006: Big and small on the full day excursion: On the morning dive at Manta Point we could enjoy once more a lot of manta rays. On the afternoon dive we were stalking for whale sharks at the Maamigili Outreef. We didn't see any of these giants but therefore we found two seagrass ghost pipefish which were slightly swinging in the current.

02/Mar/2006: Big ray day. In the morning we jumped at Dhigurah Etere where the visibility was 30 meters. There we had three times luck: First there was a feather-tail stingray, later three black spotted stingrays and at the end even a mobula manta that passed by. But that's not enough yet: On the afternoon during the introduction dive in our lagoon we could find a porcupine ray which was well hidden in the sand and we could even follow him…but we had to be very fast!!!

16-25/Feb/2006: There was a lot going on in the last few days. We have seen for example another guitar shark at Dhigurah Etere Thila, a marlin on the surface at Angaga Thila, there were mobula mantas at Thinefushi Etere Thila, a nurse shark and many stingrays at the MV Kudhima Wreck, eagle rays at Rheeti Thila as well as on Broken Rock together with 13 barracudas and of course again a lot of manta rays at Manta Point.

13/Feb/2006: Today was a big shark day: During our morning dive at 7th Heaven we were watching several whitetip reef sharks. Suddenly a big grey reef shark approached the whitetips and was cruising around us for the longest time. Compared to that grey reef shark the whitetip reef sharks looked like funny little toy sharks :-)

06/Feb/2006: On the afternoon dive at Ali Thila we spent about 30 minutes only on the top reef. The reason for that were approx. 80-100 bluefin trevallies (jacks) hunting for little silversides. The silversides were forming all the time different bait balls or were covering the whole top reef like a thick carpet. The trevallies started one attack after the other and performed for us an unforgettable spectacle!!!

31/Jan/2006: And it goes on with spectacular encounters. This morning we were diving beautiful Kuda Rah Thila and could see for a long time a guitar shark (guitar ray)!!! With this encounter a very interesting month ends and we are really curious what the next month will bring.

30/Jan/2006: Again a boat went on a full day trip to Manta Point and to Maamigili Beru. Today we were very lucky as we could see many, many manta rays on the morning dive. Maybe because we were rewarded by so many manta rays in the morning we had to go unfortunately without any whale sharks in the afternoon!!!

27/Jan/2006: At Maamigili Beru (yes, again...) we could not see any whale sharks today on the surface. But instead we were lucky on our dive and could swim with a big whale shark for a short time.

26/Jan/2006: Superb dive!!! Good visibility and a medium strong current at Vakarufalhi Beru Thila brought us 5 grey reef sharks for about 30 minutes. Two of them were very curious and came again and again even 5 meters close to the divers. These animals are just marvellous!!!

25/Jan/2006: Today we were again at Maamigili Beru Outreef to keep a lookout for whale sharks. And indeed we sighted two times a whale shark at the surface and went snorkeling with them for several minutes.
Unfortunately this time our joy got a little clouded because a guest of another boat thought he doesn't has to stick to the general rules and so he paws several times the whale shark at the dorsal fin. Such behaviour of incurable ignoramuses causes that the whale sharks are diving down which is just not fair to all the other guests who want to enjoy these animals as well. Further it can lead to the fact that the whale sharks feel disturbed thereby and will not come back to these reefs. Besides by touching the whale sharks their extremely sensitive protective film over the skin gets destroyed where then bacteria can set and strike medium-term the whole animal. The consequence is that the animal dies slowly and painfully….already now thanks a lot to all of these arrogant and big-headed gropers!!!
But nevertheless some other good news of this morning: At Vakarufalhi Etere Thila we saw again 3 grey reef sharks and several whitetip reef sharks on their way along the reef. To all above-mentioned....try to touch one of these, you would-be superheroes!!!

23/Jan/2006: A day like a fairytale: On today's program was a full day trip to Manta Point and to the Outreef where we hoped to see manta rays and whale sharks.
As this Manta Season was quite disappointing we jumped on Manta Point with mixed feelings. But this time we were lucky because we could enjoy 4 manta rays on the cleaning stations.
After lunch we went all along the Outreef on the search for whale sharks. After the current check on Maamigili Beru we suddenly saw a whale shark swimming close to the boat. So we jumped in and went snorkeling with him for the next 10 minutes. Totally excited we went on our dive and were lucky again: 1 whale shark, 10 mobula mantas (pygmy devil ray) and 3 manta rays. The whale shark went fast by, but the 10 mobula mantas came again and again and the 3 manta rays were dancing in front of us and looped the loops fort he longest time.
When we descended the manta rays were on the surface in front of us. So we were considering to go snorkeling with them again but unfortunately there was as well another 6 meter (18 feet) tall whale shark close by and we gave him the priority to go snorkeling with again!!! We will talk and dream for sure for a long time of this exciting day.

17/Jan/2006: The day before yesterday at Vakarufalhi Etere Thila there was since a long time finally again a grey reef shark to see. And today there were two grey reef sharks at Hukuru Elhi Faru and even two grey reef sharks at Rheeti Thila for about five minutes cruising all the time along the reef.
Let's hope those sharks will be now preserved for the divers, because on a fairly long-term basis you will earn more money with a living shark in the sea than with a dead shark in the soup…!!!

05/Jan/2006: This morning we went again to the Outreef hoping to see a whale shark. Unfortunately there was no whale shark around but we had another special encounter: On 20 meters depth a guitar shark (guitar ray) passed us and we could enjoy the sight of this beautiful animal. Who needs a whale shark after that, paaaah!

Our News 2006

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