7 Tage Tour – Filitheyo – Filitheyo

13 guests arrive during the day. For some guests the diving luggage unfortunately arrived late in the afternoon. Nevertheless our guides Florian and Sinan did the first dive with some guests on the day of arrival.

The atmosphere on board has been good from the beginning, everyone gets along great. After the entire luggage has arrived, the room distribution and a short briefing about the behavior on board and where to find what.

copyright of the following pictures: Gregory Pelois, Sean Bechthofer, Jochen Osterle and Rolf Sonderegger – Many thanks!

Fantastic weather awaits us in the Faafu Atoll. All meals are served outside and the food has been great as always. It is just amazing what Passidu, the chef on Sheena, creates out of the tiny kitchen. Every morning you can choose between boiled eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs or omelette. Just as the guest wishes. Every morning there is also a Maldivian tuna coconut dish and lots of fresh fruit. But before that the first dive takes place.

After the second dive of the day, lunch will be served. Salad, fish or chicken, noodles, rice, vegetables, curry dishes and a delicious dessert strengthen us. In the evening there is always meat and fish, sometimes Sushi, always abundant vegetables and salad, noodles and rice, pre-soup and dessert. So the physical well-being is taken care of. Coffee, tea and water are available the whole day free of charge.

We have been lucky, because although the monsoon wind seems to be changing, we still had good visibility and often incoming currents at the channels. We had lots of sharks, eagle rays, napoleons, tuna, jackfish, turtles, octopuses, barracudas, lots of schooling fish and great underwater landscapes, channels and thilas. One great dive after the other. We could cross some channels and enjoy the full show.

A few underwater highlights of the tour:

Mantas & More – on this tour we had more and no manta rays but it is nevertheless a great dive site. At the corner, lots of schooling fish, white tip and grey reef sharks, small overhangs, beautifully overgrown with soft corals.

Simply the Best – great little thila in the Meemu Atoll, beautifully overgrown and an absolutely intact top reef at 3 m maximum.

Happy Corner – we dived it twice. The first time we crossed the channel and watched the show in front of the channel, the second time we dived the spot with outgoing current. Here it doesn’t really matter wether is in our outgoing current. Here a side trip into the canal is worthwhile even when the current is outgoing. Towards the end of day we spend some time at Top Reef, sharks, eagle rays, sweet lips, trevallies, napoleons.

Rakedhoo Corner – we also dived this place when the current ran out. Here really the reef is the highlight. At the corner we have beautifully overgrown overhangs in all depths. You are able to dive in a zigzag by using in the overhangs as shadow of the current. Many beautiful soft corals and lots of small animals like nudi branches, frogfish, moray eels, crustaceans….

Golden Wall – the name says it all. When the current comes in, we drift along the wall in the canal. The wall is covered with soft corals and small and large overhangs. Just awesome. We can found lots of small animals here as well. But it is worth to have a look into the channel again and again.

Fottheyo – The channel itself is not very deep and is therefore wonderful to cross. Below the channel edge we find large overhangs and swim throughts. There is a lot to see. Above the edge of the channel there are some nice sandy areas with sleeping whitetip reef sharks.

Alimatha Kandu – The channel is right next to Alimatha and has brought us the most sharks in one dive. With the current going out we were able to cross the channel in the shade of small terraces and overhangs and had lots of white tip and grey reef sharks.

Shark Point – was an absolutely entertaining show. Right at the beginning of the dive at the corner we had some nice overhangs and swim throughts. Afterwards we hung on the edge of the channel and enjoyed the show. Again we had some white tip and grey reef sharks. Part of the group decided to cross the channel. Which was a good idea!

Vattaru Kandu – the current was outgoing and we’ve been hoping for manta rays and were rewarded with manta rays. There were also some big feathertail rays on the sandy area in the channel. Also here a small part of the group decided to cross the small channel. A few small white tips were still seen and again a manta ray on the other side.

Little Channel South – the final dive of this tour with strong current at the end and some eddies. Lots of schooling fish and a fantastic reef.

Sean Bechthofer’s marvelous logbook

We did not only went diving on the Sheena, but we also had the opportunity to make a few side trips ashore.

One evening we shortly visited Medhufushi, a resort island where is also a Werner Lau dive center. Medhufushi used to be the home port of the MY Sheena before Filitheyo.

We also visited the island where Captain Harish is at home – Diggaruh – under Florian’s guidance. Here we could have a look at the “fish factory” and try the dried fish with coconut. Looks very dry, but is absolutely delicious. In addition we had a little island tour and a visit at the Captain’s home. Thanks Harish for having us.

In the middle of the week the traditional MY Sheena Beach Barbecue was held. Once again our crew toped themselves and prepared a wonderful picnic on a tiny little island. The whole afternoon they have been busy preparing a surprise for us and the result was great. Out of sand a huge whale shark was created where we could sit, eat and enjoy the evening. Delicious!

Many thanks to the entire Sheena and Dhoni crew for unforgettable days and the great all-round service and many thanks also to our guides Florian and Sinan for the beautiful dives and underwater impressions.

Regine, Sean and Clare, Anja and Wolfgang, Rolf, Jochen and Sandra, Gregory and Sandrine, Heike and Eberhard it was great fun with you guys!

My personal tip – if the weather is fine, just sleep a night on deck and enjoy the sunrise and the silence outside ….

Happy Bubbles

Steffi

bye bye MY Sheena – see you next year …