Dive Review of CARPE NOVO liveaboard in
Maldives

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CARPE NOVO liveaboard: "Great Diving, Poor COVID EXPERIENCE", May, 2021, by Terry H Anderson, TX, US ( Sr. Contributor 28 reports with 15 Helpful votes). Report 11531 has 3 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 $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	First the Diving. We took the southern route, since our last trip to the Maldives 19 years ago we took the Best of the Maldives central route. The first evening at 5 pm we were taken to the "nurse shark" dive, where dozens of sharks circled us in 30 feet of water--outstanding. Over the next days we were taken to areas for large schools, a Manta cleaning station, a Whale Shark area, and the last two days to a site off Ari atoll that was loaded with schools of fish and sharks, even a couple Leaf Fish. We didn't see the Whale sharks, or Mantas, on those dives, so the Carpe Novo put on bright lights in the night, and that brought in plankton and three Whale Sharks for snorkeling, and Mantas for a torch night dive--great fun! Diving was outstanding. The vessel holds 22 divers but we only had 10 on the boat, which was a reason we went in May when the weather changes and it gets windy. Not all of the divers and crew had been vaccinated for COVID-19, and the result is that at the end of the week, one of our party tested positive--even thought she had been tested negative many times before and had her two vaccines! The chance of that is about 0.01 percent. Most likely, one of the crew was a covid carrier. The crew let the rest of us go, all negative, but health authorities charged her $1200 to be placed in a covid hotel in Male for 14 days, giving her another test, negative, at the end of that period. Many of us complained to liveaboard.com, but they gave us the "we don't own the boats" excuse. Of course they don't own the boats, but you would expect that they would insist that every diver and crew on the boats they promote is vaccinated--like the cruise lines are going to do when they resume sailing this summer. Very disappointing, and expensive because the positive diver missed another liveaboard, and they won't refund $$$ either. None of us have any intention of returning to the Maldives. The lesson from this experience is get in writing that all passengers and crew have been vaccinated, and the vessel has been sanitized between dive groups. Outstanding diving ruined by thoughtless behavior in search of the Almighty Dollar.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Maldives, Caribbean, Galapagos, all over the world.
Closest Airport	Male	Getting There	Long layover, so a 36 hour flight.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	80-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	80-120 Ft/ 24-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Few. Most dives were an hour.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
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		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Room for cameras and equipment, very nice, especially with only 10 divers, so lots of space.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Ms Lynda Durfee in VA, US at Jun 09, 2021 17:07 EST

Do you know for a fact that one of the crew was a carrier? Had they all been vacinnated. More likely, it was a false-positive test result. Several reports of this happening in Aruba (which I visited in Feb) when people are tested 3 days before departure to the US and no one else in their family tested positive.

By report author: Terry H Anderson in TX, US at Jun 10, 2021 10:00 EST

Certainly could have been a false positive, but my dive buddy was tested two more times, positive, and then here in Texas--negative. The fact is, the Carpe Novo owner was not honest with the divers, and did not insure that all the crew and all the divers were vaccinated. Liveaboard.com also MUST demand that all divers and crews have been vaccinated.

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Dive Review of CARPE NOVO liveaboard in Maldives

CARPE NOVO liveaboard: "Great Diving, Poor COVID EXPERIENCE", May, 2021,

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of CARPE NOVO liveaboard in
Maldives