Maldives 2022 Blog Post

For 10 days of Spring Break, we traveled to the Maldives where my dad and I would get our PADI Open Water Diver Certificate. We first flew from Dammam to Dubai, a quick one-hour flight. After a simple layover in Dubai, we took a four-hour flight to Malé, the Capital of the Maldives. The Malé airport is really small, and it was confusing to navigate. Once we were greeted by a representative of The Mövenpick, the resort we were staying at, we stayed in the VIP lounge for about an hour, waiting for our float plane ride to Kuredhivaru, the Island in the Noonu Atoll we were staying at. When our float plane arrived, I was eager to sit in the front so I could look at the controls because I want to be a pilot some day. When the plane was taking off, I freaked out because the plane was shaking like it would fall apart. It was about a 45-minute ride, and I just looked out the window and tried to memorize some of the controls in the cockpit. The landing was less scary, and I noticed what the pilots did on landing, taking in the controls and how they maneuvered the plane. When we got off the plane, we were greeted by our “Island host” Youcef, who kindly showed us around the resort on a buggy, and told us about the restaurants and what was included. When we got to our villa, not over water but on land, there was really nice furniture and it was spacious and luxurious. We had our own mini infinity pool and a walkway down to the beach. The view was incredible, we were able to see several other islands and the water color was turquoise, just like in an island paradise. Later, we visited the Dive Center where we met Alex, our Dive instructor. On our second full day there, we visited the dive shop again and Alex showed us all of the gear and reminded us on how to use it. We already learned from the E-Learning phase. For our first Open Water Dive, we did a DSD, or Discover Scuba Diving in front of the Dive Center. I wanted to see a turtle, and on my first ever dive I did! (More on my luck later.) After the dive, Alex showed us how to disassemble our equipment and clean it. Later, after we ate we went snorkeling some more, and we saw a Blue-Fin Jack which is shown below, a large Blacktip Reef Shark and some parrotfish.

The next morning, we met Alex at the Reception. There Alex briefed us on the dive, it would be our first of five training dives. We combined some of the skills from the other training dives into this dive, such as regulator recovery and clearing, partial and full mask clearing, neutral buoyancy, and the Alternate Air Source Ascent. Before we entered the water, Alex taught us the acronym for the safety check. Blue Whales Are Really Fat. Blue stands for BCD, so check if the dumps and the inflator/deflator works. Whales stand for weights, so make sure your weights are tight and correctly positioned. Are stands for air, so smell your air and check both purge buttons, on your regulator and on your octopus. Make sure that when you breathe through your regulator, the needle on the SPG does not move, if it does that means your tank isn’t opened all the way. Really stands for releases, which includes the release on your tank. Have a buddy help you make sure it is secure by trying to move it around in its strap. Fat stands for final, which is fins, mask, snorkel, dive computer, and compass. When you are about to descend, the acronym is SORTED, which stands for signal, orientation, regulator is in your mouth, time, elevate, descend. After we descended, we started practicing the skills Alex briefed us on. Pictured below is a Dash-and-Dot Goatfish.

For the regulator recovery, the regulator is the piece we breathe from. For this skill, it would be used for example if your regulator fell out of your mouth if you see something amazing and accidentally open your mouth. The regulator recovery skill is quite simple. Bring your right arm all the way back staying close to your side, and then bring your arm in a wide sweep back around to the front of your body. Make sure to make little bubbles the entire time the regulator is out of your mouth, in case you rise a bit and the air in your lungs expands, which could cause paralysis and death. The other part of the skill is regulator clearing, like if your regulator is plugged or right after a regulator recovery there is water in it. Simply press the purge button, the button on the front of the regulator, or just blow through the regulator. Another skill is partial and full mask clearing, if your mask is foggy or full of water. Simply tilt your head upwards, and blow through your nose while lifting the bottom of the mask a tiny bit and pressing the top of your mask. For full mask clearing, do the same. You may have to clear the mask several times before all of the water is out. If your mask is foggy, just lift the bottom of your mask and let some water in. Then move your head around so the water goes throughout your mask. Then just clear the mask. Remember, you will always have a little bit of water at the bottom of your mask. For neutral buoyancy, try to find a flat and sandy bottom if you can. Empty your BCD, and let yourself sink to the bottom. Slowly breathe in, and out. When you breathe in, and barely move up, inflate your BCD a little. Keep repeating this until you rise fully when you breathe in, and then drop back down when you breathe out. As soon as you reach your planned depth, immediately establish neutral buoyancy. Neutral buoyancy could help you rise over a big rock or coral, and just breathe in and glide over it. The last skill is the Alternate Air Source Ascent. In case you or your buddy runs out of air, your buddy would share their air with you by giving you their octopus. First you signal out of air to your buddy, and then signal share air. Once your buddy gives you their octopus, form a “Roman Handshake” by gripping their right forearm with your right hand. Then slowly ascend using STELLA, the acronym for signal, time, elevate, look, listen, and ascend. Later that day after lunch, we met Alex at the Dive Center. Once we got on the Dive Boat “Aroma,” Alex briefed us on the island we would be diving at, called Dheefuram. Once we got to Dheefuram, we put on our gear and fins, and then used the giant stride entry technique. Just hold your weight belt with your left hand, and hold your mask and regulator on your face with your right hand. Look straight ahead and take a long step and let yourself fall into the water. Once we descended, we instantly saw hundreds of fish. We were swimming along and then I saw this really cool fish in the coral, called a Regal Angelfish, which is pictured below. As we were reaching our max depth, Alex banged on our tanks and pointed above us, a Spotted-Eagle Ray was gliding over us. I have a stuffed Spotted-Eagle Ray named Spotty, and so I was very excited to see the Eagle Ray. When we swam along the reef wall, we saw some clownfish, and one kept swimming right in front of my mask, and then when I breathed out of my regulator, bubbles came out and the clownfish darted back into its anemone. When we surfaced, we practiced SMB inflation, where we inflate the Signal Marker Buoy with our Octopus. When we got back to the Dive Center, we disassembled our equipment and washed it. Then we planned when and where our next dive would be, and then went snorkeling.

The next morning, we again met Alex at the Reception, and then he briefed us at the Welcome Jetty, where the float planes land. We assembled our equipment, and then entered the water using the seated entry method. We practiced a few more skills and reviewed some, such as the tired diver tow, where you grab the diver by the nozzle of the tank and bring the diver next to you and kick. This is used on the surface only. The next day, we rode on the Aroma to our next dive site, Uthuru Maa Haa. Uthuru maa haa is an underwater island that is rising, not sinking. The current was very strong, and we had to submerge immediately. We had to hang onto a rope the Aroma threw down and had to grip as tight as possible or be sucked away from the boat as it sped back to Uthuru Maa Haa. Once we got to the dive site, we had to submerge immediately, but my ear kept squeezing and I couldn't equalize. Alex just kept pulling me down, and suddenly it stopped hurting. After we reached the max depth, we started swimming around. I was swimming and suddenly I stopped. There was a Giant Moray Eel hiding among the coral, and It was huge! It’s head was larger than mine, and it was at least 4-5 ft long, and we didn’t see most of it because it was hiding in the coral. We also saw a lion fish really close to us with its spines out, which was pretty cool. First Alex had me swim with my compass in a certain direction, and then again back to the starting point. After I succeeded, it was my dad’s turn. He made it all the way to the turning point, and then used his arm to turn around again, which you are not allowed to do. We continued swimming, and then did our safety stop, 3 minutes at 5 meters. After we surfaced, we inflated the SMB and soon the Aroma came chugging over to us. Once we boarded the aroma, Alex told Dad why he failed the compass activity. To me, Alex said “ congratulations, you are now a certified Open Water Scuba Diver.” Now that we are certified, we don't have to disassemble our equipment. After we took off our fins, we planned where and when we would meet tomorrow. Our dive the next day would be a fun dive, at Christmas Rock. To me, it looked like a pile of pancakes, larger at the bottom and smaller at the top. After we submerged, I knew that my ears were going to hurt. I gave the signal to stay level, and Alex agreed. I kept sinking a little and I realized my ears had stopped hurting. As we were swimming across the bottom from the wall to the rock, we saw a Spotted-Eagle Ray far below us gliding along the bottom. As we neared the rock, we saw divers below us. We were at the maximum diving depth for Open Water divers, and their tanks had the NITROX label on them. so either they were breaking the law or they were specialty divers. As we neared the rock, I saw five lionfish spread out in the dead coral, they were pure black with bioluminescent white spots along their sides and white spines with black dots, a variation of Common Lionfish. As we circled the rock, we spotted a stingray hidden beneath the sand below us. We continued around the rock but we didn’t see much more, so we started our ascent, and then completed our safety stop. When we surfaced, we signaled the Aroma and soon we were back on board, with Mom and Sister soon joining us from snorkeling above us. They saw a rare Mobular Ray while snorkeling, which is cool. Alex and Amanda, the other dive instructor who was diving with Mario, another diver with us, discussed where we should dive next. We headed back to the resort, but this time near the over-water villas, close to the welcome jetty. We hoped to see Giant Guitarfish, but unfortunately we didn’t.

Once we jumped in, I realized the visibility was average, not as great as the other places probably because of the boats and all of the floatplanes. We submerged, and we saw a clownfish in its anemone. As we swam along, I twisted my head back to look for guitarfish and gasped. I got Alex's attention, and he banged on our tanks. We stopped, and looked at the White-Tipped Reef Shark slowly circling us, for a few minutes. After it left, we signaled the OK sign and continued swimming. Because the Guitarfish are deep, we accidentally exceeded the limit and dove down to 22 meters, where the max is 20. As we were swimming, my knee brushed against an anemone. I turned and saw a Powder-blue Surgeonfish next to the parrot fish, pictured above. We ascended, and did our safety stop. When we surfaced, I told Alex about my knee, and he said to not worry, it just brushed up against it. When we boarded the Aroma, Alex just wiped it with a cloth soaked in a medicine, and he said try not to bump it up against anything. When we got back to the dive center, Alex took my picture and then my dad’s for our scuba certificates. We said thank you and goodbye to Alex. He showed us how to access our certificates on the PADI app, which was cool. and Then we left. Unfortunately, we couldn’t dive anymore because we had to wait 24-hrs before we flew, and the next day our flight was leaving. Once we got on the float plane, I sat right behind the pilots again because I would like to be a pilot someday. Thanks for reading my blog post on our trip in the Maldives!