Un petit poisson clown dans son anémone
Nous sommes des plongeurs passionnés et la semaine a dépassé nos attentes
Nous avons effectué 20 plongées et visité 4 atolls (Atoll de Malé Nord et Sud, Atoll d'Ari et Atoll de Felidhe ou Vaavu). La plongée était tout simplement fantastique. À chaque plongée, il y avait quelque chose que nous n'avions jamais vu auparavant. Nous avons tous deux enregistré plus de 1 000 plongées et nous ne pouvons pas nous lasser du plaisir des yeux. Des plus gros poissons (requins gris, requins pointes blanches et pointes noires) aux plus petits organismes (gobies, blennies et toutes sortes de formes juvéniles), nous ne nous sommes jamais ennuyés de tout ce qu'il y avait à voir. Certaines nouveautés pour nous étaient les poissons-pierres, les anémones des Maldives, les poissons-aiguilles et les poissons-feuilles. Bien sûr, il y avait aussi de nombreuses nouvelles espèces dans les familles de poissons que nous n'avions jamais vues auparavant (papillon, demoiselle, poisson-globe, etc.), donc après chaque plongée, nous avons passé beaucoup de temps sur le livre d'identification des poissons. Les murènes étaient abondantes à chaque plongée, beaucoup nageant librement, d'autres restant dans leurs terriers. Nous avons fait de la plongée avec tuba et avec des raies manta, nagé avec des requins baleines, observé les dauphins depuis la proue du bateau et regardé un marlin sauter librement. Il y avait tellement de choses à voir qu'il est difficile d'écrire une courte critique.
Yasir nous a guidés à travers les récifs coralliens
Notre Divemaster, Yasir, nous a montré les cachettes de nombreuses espèces les moins communes et nous a guidés de manière experte vers les sites de plongée... nous n'aurions certainement pas pu le faire nous-mêmes.
Kathy et notre Divemaster, Yasir
L'équipage de Dhoni Stella 2 était fantastique
Le Steward (Niyaz) a anticipé tous nos besoins et a gracieusement fourni un service avec soin et un véritable désir de plaire à ses invités. Il nous a servi les repas, fait nos lits cabines et nous a aidé à préparer la plongée. Quelle personne merveilleuse. Il va nous manquer ! Barey, le capitaine, a navigué de manière experte sur les nombreux récifs coralliens des eaux maldiviennes et a jeté l'ancre dans des eaux protégées pour assurer un sommeil paisible. Areef, le chef, était fantastique (principalement une cuisine maldivienne et italienne) avec beaucoup de poisson frais que l'équipage a capturé. le chemin. La nourriture était délicieuse!!! La mangue et la papaye les plus sucrées que nous ayons jamais goûtées (produits locaux des Maldives) et beaucoup de fruits frais, de légumes et de poissons préparés avec des épices et des soins incroyables... Curry des Maldives, pain et nan fraîchement préparés, pâtisseries, etc. Nous avions hâte de savourer des plats bien présentés et de bon goût.
Nous n'oublierons jamais l'incroyable magie de notre croisière aux Maldives !
En résumé, ce fut un voyage magique et nous le recommanderons vivement à nos amis. Nous voulions célébrer notre retraite en beauté et l'équipage du Dhoni et son coordinateur, Max Molteni, ont réalisé une excellente performance ! Merci! Vous pouvez voir des photos du voyage ici. Et voici nos vidéos sous-marines partie 1 and partie 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