Fitting out unit 2

In our endeavour to create more space we've been busy with some wood and sharp things in unit 2. It started out as a blank canvas, a rectangular room, with no studwork etc.

We've been very busy.

Expansion

Due to space issues we have decided to move the cylinder testing station into the unit next door as of July 1st. Equipment servicing will also move into Unit 2 Trenoweth Business Park as well as air/nitrox/trimix fills.

This will allow us to regain the floorspace and increase the size of the shop. Maybe buy some Cressi gear to fill some of it.

Maldives Chapter 2

We were woken at 6am, dive brief was at 6:30. We were told we would only have to start this early if we had to, thank goodness for that. After the brief we transferred to the Dhoni and set our kit up, it will stay there until the last day.

Our first dive was Lankan Faru on the North Male Atoll, an easy check out dive that was supposed to have a Manta Ray cleaning station on it. We never saw the cleaning station or any Mantas. There was quite a bit of current during the dive which we just 'went with'. There was quite a range of marine life though, Clown Fish in Anemones, Parrot Fish, Titan Trigger Fish, one White Tip Reef Shark and three Turtles. Everyone enjoyed the dive. We were then taken back to Sting Ray for breakfast.

The boat moved to our next dive site as we relaxed and chatted. It wasn't long before it was moving again. It was a little windy so we had to change dive site around south Male. I wasn't unhappy as they had chosen a small pinnacle with a wreck next to it, the Kudagiri wreck. I had asked when we arrived if there were any wrecks worth diving. The Kudagiri was sunk on purpose as an artificial reef, we were told it was not that interesting, life hadn't taken hold yet. We entered the water on one side of the pinnacle and swam around to the wreck. The bow stood almost upright, looming out of the blue as we approached. The deepest part was around 36m with the shallowest around 16m. It was covered in encrusting sponges and some small corals. Lion fish, a Leaf Fish, Glass Fish all proved there was life around it. We entered the front cargo hold, swam through the second and exited from a room above the second hold. One side of the bridge was full of fallen cables so we avoided that. The engine room hatch was open so we had a quick look around the top of the engine with it's large rockers in place, there didn't appear to be anywhere to go from here. It wasn't long before we needed to be shallower, so we headed back to the pinnacle. There were quite a few fish, as expected, and a large free swimming Giant Morey Eel to finish off the dive. If I had twin tanks and nitrox I'd probably have stayed on the wreck the whole dive. Nitrox was available as were 15L tanks, we stayed on air with 12L tanks the whole week.

 Our last dive of day one was going to be a 'channel dive' at Guraidhoo Kandu, again on the South Male Atoll. A dive between two pinnacles that would have some strong currents, we were to hang around at the mouth of the channel keeping our eye out for anything big coming past. It was long before we say a Blotched Ray, followed by a couple of White Tip Reef Sharks, a group of five Eagle Rays followed by two more Sharks, they just took their turn coming. After nearly twenty five minutes hanging close to thirty metres it was time to let the drift take us up the channel. We passed some more rays that were settled in the sandy bottom, then swam or should I say drifted along the reef.

Maldives Chapter 1

Our organised Maldives liveaboard trip, April 2012. This trip report is split into several chapters, mainly to get as many photos in as possible.

Sunday April 22, the London marathon was going to start at 9:45. I have run the London marathon five times in the past but the marathon we were starting, just as the main group of runners would be finishing, would be a first. Our marathon journey was starting by leaving Cornwall around 1pm, we wouldn't reach our destination until 3pm on April 23. Although the Maldives isn't that far by comparison to other places we have been, it takes a while to get there. Our flight would be stopping at Dubai before continuing to Male, a two hour stop on the way out but around 6 hours on the way back. We weren't looking forward to the travelling but we were looking forward to a weeks diving from MV Sting Ray.

After two flights with Emirates, the first on a very nice A380 airbus, we landed on the Maldives. 30 degrees C, a tad warmer than the 9 degrees of home. We waited for the Dhoni to arrive, it was refuelling, we were hot. After a short sit it the airport the Dhoni arrived, our luggage was put onboard and were taken to Sting Ray. The Dhoni was quite large, bigger than most of the dive boats we have been on in the UK. All our diving would be from the Dhoni, not Sting Ray.

After a welcome on board, we put our kit into crates that were transferred back to the Dhoni.

Dinner was served around 7:30, we then went to bed after, we missed a lot of sleep  the previous night while flying.