A little clown fish
We are avid divers and the week exceed our expectations
We did 20 dives and visited 4 atolls (North and South Male Atoll, Ari Atoll and Felidhe Vaavu Atoll). The diving was nothing short of amazing. Every dive there was something we'd never seen before. Between the two of us, we've logged over 1,000 dives and we couldn't get enough of the underwater eye candy. From the big stuff (grey, white tip and black tip reef sharks) to the little stuff (gobies, blennys, and all kinds of juvenile fish), we were never bored with all their was to see. Some firsts for us were stonefish, Madive anemones, ghost pipefish and leaf fish. Of course there were also many new species in the familiar fish families that we had never seen before (butterfly, damfisel, pufferfish, etc) so we spent plenty of time in the fish identification book after every dive. Eels were plentiful on every dive, many free swimming and in their holes. We snorkeled and dove with Manta Rays, snorkeled with whale sharks, enjoyed frolicking dolphins off the bow of the boat and watched marlin free jumping. Franky..there was so much to see that this review is difficult to keep short.
Yasir guided us around the reefs.
Our Dive Master, Yasir, showed us hiding places of many of the less common species and skillfully landed us on the dive sites... we would have surely been unable to accomplish this on our own.
Kathy and our Divemaster, Yasir
The crew of the Dhoni Stella 2 was amazing.
The steward (Niyaz) nearly anticipated your every need and graciously delivered service with care and a genuine desire to please his guests. He served your meals, turned down your cabin bed and helped you gear up for the dive. What a wonderful person. He will be missed! Barey, the Captain, skillfully navigated the many reefs of the Maldivian waters and tucked us into protected waters to ensure a restful night sleep, Areef, the Chef, turned out amazing (mostly Maldivian and Italian) with lots of fresh seafood that the crew would catch along the way. The food was delicious!!! The sweetest mango and papaya we've ever tasted (local from the Maldives) Lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and fish prepared with amazing spices and care...Maldivian curries, freshly made breads and nans, pastries, etc. We all looked forward to the beautifully presented and tasteful meals.
We'll never forget this amazing magical Maldives trip!
In summary, it was a magical trip and we will highly recommend it to our friends. We were celebrating our retirement in grand style and the Dhoni crew and their coordinator, Max Molteni, delivered with excellence! Thank you! Photos from the trip can be seen here. And this is our underwater videos part 1 and part 2.
John & Kathy
Many thanks for the great 10 days on board the Stella! Mallah, you are a very good leader and divemaster, picked great dive sites, and kept a watchful eye on our safety. Kudey, you are an outstanding captain navigating through high winds and the best fishing sites. Suranga, we enjoyed all the meals you have prepared for us! We are very impressed that you can do so much variety and we loved the traditional Maldivian flavors. Shobuj, thanks for everything you did. Until we meet again, all the best, John and Kathy.
Stella 1 / February, 2020Daryl & Steve
Hello Max, we have finally settled in back home in California and have a minute or two to let you know we are still sharing our amazing Stella Yacht adventure with all our friends. Your yacht and crew, were exceptional. The food could not have been better. All three meals each day were different and delicious. The attitude and positive energy from each crew member aboard your boat made every day wonderful. The beautiful islands and unbelievable water speak for themselves. We argue there may not be better islands to vacation to. I must tell you, our dive master Maullim was the best and most exceptional person we met in over 60 days of travel. He is incredibly special and we hope to see him again. We wish you all very good luck this next season and forever.
Stella 1 / May, 2019Renee
Max, we had a fabulous time aboard Stella. Thanks for giving us extra time on the last day so we could squeeze in an early morning channel dive. Despite the variable weather, we were able to do one dive a day, a night snorkel among nurse sharks, had all the time we wanted on a lovely sandbank and three good nights' sleeps. Hats off to your dedicated, very professional and fun loving crew who are so skillful in assessing the weather, high winds, currents, dive conditions and our capabilities to make this a super fun and safe journey. Stella is a beauty! The cabins are spacious, comfortable and the en-suites impeccably cleaned. A tissue box in the bedroom would have been appreciated. Fay commented about the lack of storage in the dining room, but I rather like the simple esthetics of the dining area with no clutter. Three nights gave us a sweet sampling but really too short. We want to come back for 10-14 days! Now I know why you have so many repeaters. Thanks and have a great year ahead!
Stella 1 / December, 2017Edouard & Ramlha
We can really say that it was the trip of our life. Having been to Maldives 5 times, it was by far our best experience. One aspect we truly enjoyed was the exchanges we had with the crew, we really felt they were our friends at the end of the trip and were sad to leave them ! Nasru was perfect in his leading role, always finding solutions to our problems, patient with my wife while diving and choosing easy spots for her, she gained a lot of confidence in diving and that to me is equally valuable as what we've seen. He was also very knowledgeable about all the sites we have seen (2 local islands plus Male), the history of Maldives and very friendly. Malla was also very kind, funny guy also interesting to speak with, giving a great service on board. Aju and captain, the men from the sea, were perfect in their roles too. Among others, Super nice experience to do octopus and night fishing with them, lots of fun. As for chef Kumar, maybe not as outspoken but as kind as the rest of the crew. His food was delicious (special mention to the flan we asked for it 3 times during the trip!) and he was always checking to see if everything was ok. The boat is perfect for two, enough space in the bedroom, sundeck and dining/living area. The itinerary itself was well balanced between all activities we like and we were blessed with the weather, what more can we ask? We will definitely try to be back the soonest and I may send you some customers as I have a couple of friends who were waiting for my feedback before eventually contacting you and they will definitely have a great feedback. Finally a word for Max: perfect trip manager from A to Z, always friendly, very responsive and knowledgeable. Regarding the suggestions there are not so many but: my wife was suggesting to have a kind of menu onboard.The whole week we drank instant powder coffee until my wife told Malla that they should have proper coffee and that's the only time Malla told us he could also do excellent cappucino...which was indeed excellent but we would never thought of. He told us it was on the website but same here we don't go to the website before ordering :-). For the food it would help sometimes too, because the chef was asking "what do you want to eat today?" and it was hard to answer not knowing exactly what was on board. A few games for rainy days would be great too (Uno, monopoly...you name it). I think that's all I have to say, thanks a lot for eveything.
Stella 2 / May, 2017Lori & Bill
Hello Max, I wanted to express our sincere appreciation for a wonderful experience aboard Stella 1. We cannot say enough about the wonderful crew. Bill really enjoyed diving with Nasru, as he was so knowledgable and helpful with diving tips and guidance. Kuday is nothing short of amazing as he runs around like crazy, multi-tasking, all the while with a gentle smile and asking what more he could do for us. Dhodtey very confidently took us through some very rough seas and kept us safe. Saranga made us beautiful meals but fell sick the last day. I hope he is feeling better. Credit to Nasru, and his amazing chicken curry, we did not starve! We enjoyed ourselves so much we would like to come back next year. We will definitely spread the word about the wonderful time we had aboard Stella 1. Thank you so much to you and your wonderful crew!
Stella 1 / May, 2017