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Dive Review of Baani Explorer in
Maldives

Baani Explorer, Jan, 2006,

by Jonathan Bank, Md, USA (Reviewer Reviewer 4 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 2574.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments The good: nice berths, spacious with clean, excellent bathrooms. Very comfortable, airy and surprisingly nice for a liveaboard. Best food of the three liveaboard trips I have done this calendar year, hands down. Excellent balance of Maldivian foods and standard fare, but also such exotic dishes as sashimi. Great divemasters and not overly paternalistic attention. Great encounter with three large mantas on the last diving day made the whole trip and the somewhat less than perfect viz worthwhile. The bad: unfortunately, despite the stated minimal standards of dive skill, the boat took on board some divers who had very little experience , this caused the crew to immediately rethink the dive profiles for the group; after having heard of the hammerhead and early morning/high current shark encounters the previous group enjoyed, a number of us were a little disappointed by the limitations the newbies imposed on us. In addition, there was no Nitrox available, which seemed to really limit dive times as well as frequency. Only three dives a day most days with the occasional night dives.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Belize, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Red Sea, Malta
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas choppy
Water Temp 25-27°C / 77-81°F Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 20-75 Ft/ 6-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Recreation/no deco limits were enforced. While the boat claimed divers should be experienced, it was clear there were divers with less experience than they claimed which restricted the group as a whole.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Decent dunk stations and charging area. Deck was a little crowded.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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