Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #1 Kurumba Reef - North Malé Atoll, Maldives First dive in the Maldives! My last dive was a couple of months ago in Croatia, but this was Silje's first dive in 2,5 years. While she was getting used to being under water again, I was trying to figure out the new camera and strobe. Not easy. I almost felt like it was harder to get good photos with my old crappy camera, than with this brand new super expensive equipment. But after getting a couple of "perfect" shots, I realised the potential of the camera and the strobe, and realised that I just need to practice :-) All in all a nice, relaxing and easy dive to get everyone into the zone.

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #2 Kuda Giri Wreck, South Malé Atoll, Maldives Wreck dive! Alright! Here we go! A pretty big and intact metal wreck of a supply ship that hit some corals and sank quite a few years ago. A LOT to see and explore. I could easily go for another dive to the same location, as I felt I didn't have enough time at the wreck. However, the pinnacle close to the wreck, the one that the ship hit before it sank, was also full of interesting things to see, and just about got into taking some amazing photos before we started getting low on air and had to start ascending. The wreck itself was probably grounded on about 34 meters, and our air got used up pretty quick at the very beginning of the dive. Towards the end of our safety stop Silje suddenly ran out of air and had to use my octopus during the ascend of the last few meters! Action!

Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #3 - (Night Dive) The Jetty, Alimatha, Maldives Amazing Dive! We pretty much just stayed on the bottom by the Jetty for most of the dive. Usually the people on the surface throw all the excessive fish remains in the water from the jetty, and it becomes a feeding frenzy among the wildlife underneath the Jetty. There was no need for us to go swimming around, looking for stuff. The action came to us. Countless sharks! (Nurse sharks, Black Tip Reef Shark, Black Tip Reef Shark). Countless Sting Rays (Marble Ray, Jenkins Whipped Tail Ray) and both Bluefin and Giant Trevallys! The "scenery" was lit up from the surface by the Jetty, almost like a stage, and it was an amazing sight. I'm still figuring out the new camera, but the photos are getting better and better with each dive. Fun Fact: The jetty belongs to a resort Island called Alimatha - An Italian resort by Italians for Italians :-)

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #4 Miyaru Kandu, Alimatha, Maldives We crossed some sort of a channel. The visibility was amazing at about 50 meters, but the dive itself was quite boring with not much to see. We did see a couple of Black Tip Reef Sharks and Napoleon fishes, but they were quite far away.

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #5 Sun Islands Outer Reef - South Arri Atoll, Maldives We were initially searching for a whaleshark to snorkel with, but the weather was so bad with huge waves and rain coming in to the diving boat sideways, that we decided to go for a dive and see if we can maybe see a whale shark under water. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but the corals were really nice and full of beautiful fish. Got some really cool photos! The huge waves on the surface made us and the fishes sway back and forth quite a lot under water, and when we finally emerged after 67 min(!) the waves provided quite the challenge when getting back on the boat. Hopefully the weather will get better tomorrow :-)

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #6 Sun Island Outer Reer- South Ari Atoll, Maldives WHAAAAAALEEEE SHAAAAARK!!!!! :-) :-) :-) We went close to where we were looking for whale sharks the day before. This time the weather was much better, compared to the stormy conditions last night. Even though we didn't see any whale sharks during the dive (although a couple of people saw one just a few minutes after we got out of the water) I still saw a couple of White Tip Reef Sharks and took a lot of nice photos of other stuff. After everyone was out of the water, the boat started searching for whale shark from the surface. After a little bit we saw one and everyone got into snorkelling gear. We jumped out and saw a big shadow disappearing into the blue. I almost thought that was the end if it, but after swimming closer to the reef another huge shadow started emerging in front if us. The whale shark was about 7 meters and was gliding slowly through the water, gradually coming closer to us as the water got shallower. Then the fun began. I got some really nice photos, while Silje filmed a little bit with the GoPro. She even saw another whale shark passing behind us which no one else saw! At some point the whale sharke turned slowly around, I intercepted it, and it came straight at me! I even had to swim a little bit out of the way so it wouldn't swim into me! We swam next to it for some time until it started descending and disappeared into the blue. We got out of the water and quickly found another one (or maybe it was the same one?). We had the boat come in front of it and then we jumped out again. This time we didn't have as much time with the whale shark, but I still got some nice photos before it disappeared into the abyss. This is turning out to be a hell of a day!!

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #7 Kudhimaa Wreck - Machafushi Island - South Ari Atoll, Maldives This day just gets better and better! This is a japanese wreck that was purposely sunk by the japanese just outside the japanese resort on Machafushi Island as a artificial reef and dive site. The wreck is mostly intact and can be penetrated in several places, including the bridge and the cargo hull. There is also a cool crane on the ship and a mast. The fishlife on the wreck seems to be used to dives and is easy to photograph. I got some amazing photos from this dive! We ended the dive on a beautiful reef near the wreck, where also here the fishes didn't seem to mind whn we got close. All in all a perfect dive!

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #8 - South Ari Atoll, Maldives An interesting dive where we got to see how life on a reef goes to "sleep" as the sun sets. We started the dive in twilight and ended in complete darkness. Vert interesting how the whole reef changes in 60 minutes. First time i've seen fish asleep! I also got some amazing photos. The fish seem to be "hypnotised for a short bit by my torch, giving me the chance to get the perfect photo. If you count the amount of "perfect photos" per dive, this dive is probably on top. Good teamwork from me and Silje. She was my scout, finding interesting things, and I came in with my camera to get the photos :-) I borrowed a longer arm from Fernando Clark and put my strobe further behind the camera and the results were very good. I think I will have to buy longer strobe arms for next time. And another strobe. And a wide lens. :-)

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #9 Rah Digga Thilla - South Ari Atoll, Maldives This was a dive where nothing much happened, but there was still a lot to see, especially for me and my camera. I got a few amazing photos and some decent ones. At some point, while chasing a black spotted sting ray, I lost my group and Silje. Thinking that they went ahead I swam further down the coral. It turns out they had stopped to see if they could find some sharks. After a while I was considering to ascend alone, but decided to wait it out and finally rejoined with my group a bit later on. Towards the end of the dive the corals were growing underneath a plato, and it was fascinating to see how some of the fishes lived "upside down", since they were navigating in relation to the reef. Quite interesting.

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #10 Fesdu Wreck - North Ari Atoll, Maldives Another wreck dive! YaaY! This one was smaller than the first two, but still quit interesting. Loads of coral life around with a nice pinnacle next to the wreck, where we ended the dive. Beautiful corals with loads of fish. Got some decent photos. Had to have have a deco stop on the way and Silje was pretty positively buoyant towards the end, which was funny to watch, but very exhausting for her :-) I think she needs to dive with 1 extra kilo next time. The big 15 litre tank becomes quite buoyant towards the end of he dive when it is empty.

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #11 Maalhos Thila - North Ari Atoll, Maldives Almost ran out of air :-/

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #12 Manta feeding - North Ari Atoll, Maldives MaaantaA frenzy!!! What an amazing dive!! They propped up a couple of flood lights at the back of the Orion so that it would attract first a lot of plantons, and then Manta Rays who will feed on the plantons. This doesn't always work, but tonight we were super lucky. There were 3-5 Manga Rays feeding and bathing in the lights. We quickly put on our gear and quitly slid down into the water and onto the sandh bottom at around 15 meters depth. There we positioned ourselves in a half circle and propped our torches in a 45° Angle towards the Mantas. They would then dive head on into the light beams, do an impressive backflip and then do it all over again - sometimes up to 3-4 times seemlessly in a row. An amazing sight! I've never experienced anything like it! Silje filmed q. ite alot with the GoPro, but I didn't get any good photos. We weren't alowed to use any strobes and the visibility was very limited. After the dive I slid into the water again with a snorkel and hung around the big floodlights on the surface. The Mantas would sometime come up to the surface and perform the same acrobatic backflip movement, where I would sei e the moment and get some amazing photos! I was in the water untill Russ the Divemaster told me to come up and it something before everyone else had finished the food :-) An epic dive!

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #13 Fish Head - North Ari Atoll, Maldives We started the dive by going under a overhang and position ourselves there. We scouted into the blue for sharks. I didn't see anything and after a while we started moving when we suddenly realised there was a huge Nurse shark sleeping right next to us in a cave! We the moved closer to the bottom on the outer side of the pinnacle where we started seeing loads of sharks. Very cool! We also saw a pretty big eagle ray in the distance, but it never came close. When moving back on top of the reef towards the end of the dive we saw a turtle eating breakfast and other little fishes. A very nice dive!

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #15 Hafsa Thila - North Ari Atoll, Maldives The shark experience continues! We started similarly to the last dive and "attached ourself on the edge of a cliff/overhang on top of the Thila looking into the blue we saw a few small white tip sharks, but decided to go down over the edge to search for more. And boy am I glad we did! We saw loads of white tip and grey reef sharks! Some of them were pretty big! I got a lot of photos and Silje filmed like crazy with the GoPro! After using up all our non-deco time at the bottom we moved on e again back on top of the Thila/reef and stayed there for the rest of the dive, just observing all the little sharks and other various fishlife. A couple of grey reef sharks even tok a trip to the top of the reef and we also saw a baby eagle ray. Very cute :-) Fantastic dive! What we saw: - loads of juvenile white tip sharks - some adult white tip sharks - some grey reef sharks! - baby eagle ray - The usual reef suspects

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #15 - Night Dive Maaya Thila - North Ari Atoll, Maldives This has been the day of the sharks! For every dive we keep seeing more sharks! This awesome day ended with a very interesting night dive dive. All around the Thila (underwater pinnacle) there were shitloads of white tip sharks, giant travalleys and other kinds of fish frantically feeding/hunting. Very cool to see! I got a lot of cool photos. There were also 4-5 free-swimming murray eels and a couple of black spotted Sting Rays feeding by sucking themselves onto the bottom! There was so much cool stuff to watch I wish I had more air :-( What we saw: - Countless small white tip sharks - Giant trevally - 1-2 Black Spotted Sting Rays - 4-5 Moray Eels

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #16 Maaya Thila - North Ari Atoll, Maldives This was the same location as yesterday's night dive. Things were pretty much upside down this time. Most of the sharks ans other hunters were either gone or just takkng it easy, while all the little reef fish, the ones that usually hide/sleep during the night, was up and about. I did see a few small white til shark on the reef and what seemed to be a pretty big grey reef shark in the distance. Most of my attention, and thus also the photos, were directed at the smaller creatures. All in all a very nice and relaxing dive. What we saw: - White tip sharks - Grey Reef Shark - all the usual reef suspects

Honeymoon Liveaboard 2013 - MV Orion - Dive #17 Lankan Manta Point - South Male Atoll, Maldives This was the last dive of our Liveaboard trip in 2013 :-( We spent the whole afternoon traveling with the Orion to another atoll, closer to Male, for the last dive. We were promised a manta cleaning station, but never saw any mantas. The current was insanly strong and we really had to hold on the corals when stopping. Really cool just drifting over the reef. Towards the end of the dive me and Silje went our own way and saw a turtle and a huge Napoleon fish! A really nice last dive :-) What we saw: - turtle - Napoleon fish - all the usual reef suspects