Dive Review of MV Orion in
Maldives

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MV Orion, Oct, 2011, by Karen Woods, TX, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 6247.
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	This was my first liveaboard, so I have no comparison to other operations. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. The diving was good, not always great. Currents limited access to some sites and affected visibility at times. Current often created a need for reef hooks or simply holding onto the rocks and crawling forward to see the reef. This limited viewing, increased gas consumption and limited photography at several sites. We traveled north and south Ari Atoll. Dive masters were knowledgeable about all sites and drew the site at each briefing and carefully outlined the underwater plan depending on incoming or outgoing currents. More fish life here than any other place I have been diving. Coral is well preserved and beautiful. Many shark, saw whale shark twice. Several small groups of manta at cleaning stations or just free swimming. No hammerheads. I was nervous about this trip after reading the reveiws about it on this website. I can say that things have clearly improved from prior reviews. The staff are excellent from divemasters who speak good English and clearly know the sites, to the boat staff that took care of us. Only negative about dive staff is they do not watch divers carefully, so a beginner diver would not be as safe here. Good bouyancy control and controlled gas consumption with the current is essential. The tanks are filled with one compressor, which takes 2 hours for 22 divers, and makes frequent repetitive diving impossible. We only were allowed 3 dives daily, and on 3 days had night dives for a total of 4 dives. We were told this was due to time difficulties filling all the tanks. Every diver on our boat was on Nitrox, and the fills were never complete to 3000psi. Most fills were 2700 only!! This was annoying and obviously led to shorter bottom time when current or open swimming to the dive site was needed. Food on the boat was excellent and varied. Dinner was always excellent with several meat choices, good spices and sauces. Mary is the on site manager and made sure everyone had what they needed. Breakfast includes made to order eggs daily. There was an on board massage speciailist who was excellent and gave wonderful Thai massage for $65.00 per hour. The bartender was great but the wine selection was marginal. No good reds and a few good whites. most wine was $47.00 per bottle, hard liquor was $7.00 per shot. Ample free bottled water. Soda expensive. Minimal ice. Biggest negative about the boat was the air conditioning. The main dining area is stuffy and has only 2 working vents for this large area. Eating while dripping sweat is not pleasurable. Bedrooms AC was variable depending on the room. My room was comfortable but others along the hallway were not. A new land manager for the operation has been hired, John Kreider. He is American and has worked in the dive industry for years. He accompanied us on this trip and was highly sensitive to our negative input regarding the AC and tank fills. It appears that a 2nd new compressor is to be installed soon so the fills can be quicker and fuller tanks . Also plans are underway to install ceiling fans in the dining hall and sleeping rooms according to him. Staff offered us a trip to a small island to shop and visit a local school. Also took us on a small boat to an unihabited sandy island for sevaral hours to enjoy the beach and the water. A highlight at the end of the trip was a special Maldivian drum show put on for us by the entire crew. The crew sat on the floor and played multiple local songs on 3 drums while several of the others danced for us, ultimately pulling all of us up to dance with them. It was so nice to see them relaxed and having fun with us. The boat has 4 decks, with the dining hall on the main deck, the bar and outdoor sunning area and hot tub above this and a beatiful top sunning deck with a shady covered area and lovely breeze for relaxing between dives and in the evening. Definitely a luxury boat and with a few modifications, as above, could be even better. I would not hesitate to recommend this trip to experienced divers.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Cayman, Belize, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Bonaire, Curacao, Hawaii, PuntaMita
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	70-80 Ft/ 21-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100 feet, to surface with 500 psi, buddy diving
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	1 or 2
Turtles	1 or 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
UW Photo Comments	Large flat protected area on dohni for cameras only, rinse tank on dohni for cameras only. Dive staff very sensitive to camera handling in and out of water. Charging station in main cabin area and ample outlets in rooms for charging.

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Dive Review of MV Orion in Maldives

MV Orion, Oct, 2011,

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 MV Orion in
Maldives