The hundreds of islands and atolls dispersed over the four corners of the Maldives make it an archipelago that is unique in the world. Their coral reefs, where manta rays and sharks co-exist in the midst of multi-colored fish, are truly exceptional. With over 200 inhabited islands, you are spoiled for choice. We all have our own definition of paradise on earth, but if one exists under the sea, then it must be in the Maldives.
The Maldives stand head and shoulders above any other destination on earth when it comes to snorkeling. Most islands feature a so-called ‘house reef’ close to their shores, where the shallow lagoon precipitously drops off into the deeper ocean waters.
The house reef is that area close to the vertical drop off where the coral begins to aggregate in a kind of coral garden teeming with marine life and colorful fish. The shallow water enclosed by the house reef also serves as a large natural swimming pool and protects swimmers from the ocean waves and strong tidal currents outside the reef. Snorkeling in the waters off the Maldivian islands can bring you face to face with everything from surgeon fish, tuna, and parrot fish, to eagle rays, turtles and even hammerhead sharks. However, the quality of the house reef differs from one reef to an other, some reefs can be found simply in the middle of the sea with no island around, they are often the most populated with fish, scools of fish, turtles, octopus, coral and anemones with their clown fish !
DIVING
Classic route / Central Atoll: Male / Ari / Vaavu / Male Atoll
Day 1 Airport pick up / Male Atoll
Fascination will pick you up at Malé International Airport. Enjoy a drink while listening to the welcome and safety briefing by the Captain, you will be shown to your cabins. If your flight arrives before 12h00 you can enjoy a first easy reef dive. Dinner will be served in the evening and the first night will be spend close by in front of a resort or a desert island.
Day 2 North Malé Atoll > Vaavu Atol
The trip will start by discovering the dazzling long reefs or a manta point (May to Nov only) in North Malé Atoll. Corals are abundant here, giving home to plenty of reef fish and macro species. After the dive, we will cruise to Vaavu Atoll for an unmissable night dive. There’s nothing as exciting as diving with nurse sharks, sting rays, and jacks in their feeding frenzy.
Day 3 Vaavu Atoll > South Ari Atoll
Small caves, large overhangs, drop-off walls, and sloping reefs covered with corals can be found in Vaavu Atoll. Titan triggerfish are common. Larger marine life such as grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, tunas, and barracudas are also found here. Moving west to the South Ari Atoll, you will dive on beautiful pinnacles and be able to spot bigger marine life. Dive into this aquarium offered by mother nature.
Day 4 South Ari Atoll
We will cruise to the marine protected area, the mighty whale sharks regularly show up, you can have the chance to snorkel or even scuba dive with them. Many thilas and some wrecks dives in South Ari Atoll. Grey reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, moray eels, scorpionfish are definitely part of the fauna here. In the evening our crew will take you to visit a nearby local island, indulge yourself into the Maldivian way of life just before dinner.
Day 5 South Ari Atoll > North Ari Atoll
Cruising up to North Ari Atoll while taking a last chance to get a close look at whale sharks. In the north, channels are wider and the ocean is deeper, the currents attracts many grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks and even other large pelagic fish. When night falls, you will be invited to go ashore again and indulge yourself in a barbecue dinner prepared by our crew on a nearby desert island.
Day 6 North Ari Atoll
Multiple manta cleaning stations, extraordinary thilas and wreck with rich marine life are the highlights of this area of Ari Atoll. You will also find here eagle rays, hawksbill turtles, napoleon wrasse, school of blue-stripe snapper, batfish, and fusiliers.
Day 7 North Ari Atoll > North Malé Atoll
After one last dive in North Ari Atoll the cruise will head back to North Malé Atoll. Here you will find stunning long reefs, small caves, colourful corals with prolific pelagic and reef life. Take a closer look at the squirrelfish, bannerfish, oriental sweetlips, frogfish, and nudibranchs. In the afternoon you will come back to Hulhumalé marina to spend your last night on board.
Day 8 Hulhumalé and airport transfer
The trip is arriving at the end. Fascination will arrange your transfer to the airport according to your flight schedule once you have had your breakfast on board. We are also glad to help you plan for the day if you have a late flight. Various options or late check out.
Time to come back home with fantastic memories!
The peculiarity of Fascination Maldives is to build the course according to your expectations. The itinerary and dive sites are therefore defined according to your preferences and can be tailor made, while also considering the weather conditions and tides.
CHARTER SURFING WITH FASCINATION
If you are looking for not only beaches and relaxation, but also a more exciting cruise with friends or family, but still private and luxurious, then experience Fascination Surfing charters.
The captain will take you to the best surf spots every day. Surf all day or for a few hours, you decide! He will select the less traveled spots and the best waves at the right time throughout his knowledge and relationships.
You will wake up every morning at sunrise, breakfast will be served on the deck, with omelette, fruit, cereal, toast, coffee and fruit juice! Then it’s time to get in the water and ride those huge waves! You can start from the back deck of Fascination or our staff will take you into the dingy. Lunch time returns to the Yacht, where delicious fresh dishes are served by the chef. The Yacht could then if you want to sail to a different place for more surfing. At sunset, return to the Yacht for drinks and dinner will be served with on the menu fresh fish grill, curry rice and vegetables, it’s time to relax after a long active day.
Surfing in the Maldives attracts many surfers from all over the world. The same waves that hit Indonesia ended in the Maldives except that the latitude is a bit higher and the SE exposure has less energy.
What’s better for a surf vacation than a luxury yacht, to access the many different points of the North and South Atolls of Male. Surf spots are available directly from Fascination’s back platform or we can drop you off in the dingy.
On a Yacht there are no constraints and surfers can choose from the most famous breaks. The Fascination Team will try to make sure you surf the most famous spots: Cokes, Jailbreaks (Himmafushi), Honky’s, Sultans & Tucky Joes! These are incredible waves !.
The most famous waves are in the atolls of northern Male. These long waves offer rights and lefts, whether you are an intermediate, intermediate or professional surfer. Waves ranging from 1 to 6 meters; For beginners, the South Male Atoll is more recommended.
During your stay, we offer you the opportunity to enjoy other activities, such as snorkeling, fishing, canoeing, diving and water sports, but also the opportunity to visit the local islands with their stories, their mosques, their fishing production, such as smoked tuna.
YOUR ITINERARY
North and South Male Atoll, the surf season runs from April to October during the Southwest monsoon. The largest swells extend from May to August with waves of 2 to 8 feet throughout the season.
The standard waves of the central atoll are long and clean with a size varying between 2 and 8 feet. During the winter of the southern hemisphere (April-October), it is almost never flat.
KITE SURF CHARTER
Kite surfing in the Maldives has become very popular in recent years. The Maldives are the perfect place in the world for kite surfing, turquoise and flat waters and always this little hot wind, this feeling of freedom !!
FISHING
ADVENTURE ON YACHT FASCINATION
For your private exclusive fishing charter.
Our staff will welcome you at Male international airport arrival gate with our yacht.
Fascination will just be parked alongside the airport jetty, depending on weather condition.
As soon as you arrive on board Fascination, the crew will welcome you with a fresh drink.
The captain will give you a short brief about the yacht and safety features and then we will set sail for the adventure.
Fishing trips ! we go for the best grounds, every day is a different spot, night fishing is also in the adventure.
Fishing trips ! we go for the best grounds, every day is a different spot, night fishing is also in the adventure.
Although it’s a fishing trip you can also do some fantastic snorkeling, sand bank sunbathing and swimming, island visit and fishing village excursions will be proposed, barbecue night.
WHAT TO CATCH
Maldives has plenty of fishes, big game-fish and heavy fighters: from omnipresent barracudas to powerful giant trevally, from spectacular sailfish to yellow-fin and dogtooth tunas, and more: wahoo, red snappers, dorados and rainbow runners.
The main species that can be caught inside the atoll are triggerfish, snapper, giant trevally, blue fins trevally and yellow fins with the occasional barracuda, bonefish, jacks. The area near to the coral reef produces a multitude of snapper, robalo, green jobfish, giant trevally and an abundance of blue fin jacks.
SEASONS
There are two seasons in the Maldives, and each season offers a variety of fishing due to changes in currents, visibility in the water temperature and plankton movement. However, due to the onset of climate change the seasons are becoming less predictable.
NORTH EAST MONSOON (January – April)
From December the currents start to flow from east to west through the atolls. Water clarity improves to 30m on the eastern side of the atolls and a variety of fish gather there. The flow strengthens in February, but the surface water is calmer. The water temperature rises to 30 degrees and the billfish often hunt a little deeper. These conditions remain quiet until March / April until the onset of the SW monsoon in May. The underwater visibility in the west of the atolls during this time is usually 10 to 15 meters.
SOUTH WEST MONSOON (May – November)
In the SW monsoon season there is a good chance for Yellowfin tuna fishing on the western side of the atolls. The flow is usually less severe and the visibility is good. The water temperatures drop slightly, which means that the fish are closer to the atoll drop-off. During the southwest monsoon the eastern side of the atolls can also see good Yellowfin conditions – although further offshore (about 10 to 20 km from the atolls). Overall weather conditions can be unpredictable (often winds and heavy rain for a period of 3-4 days), however there can be a large variety of fish on offer, reef fish such as grouper, snapper, barracuda, Giant Trevally etc. can be caught all year-round.
EQUIPMENT
When preparing for a fishing adventure in the Maldives (or any other similar destination) you will need 2 or 3 fishing rods and reels. Of course, if you have the opportunity to bring more different fishing rods, reels and accessories in order to be able to handle different situations and species of fish, it will be just an additional advantage. If you do not want however, to be uselessly wasteful – you need to bring at least one fishing rod and reel for popping and another one for jigging. These are basically the two main techniques you will have to handle. If you plan to troll, it’ll be a good idea to have one or more fishing rods, designed for this purpose.
When you travel and you have your own equipment, we would like to mention here that QATAR AIRLINES and most airlines will transport your equipment FREE OF CHARGE.
Trolling
Trolling is a fishing method where baited fishing lines are drawn through the water. Special purpose fishing rods and multiplier reel sets with rigid 0.9 mm fluorocarbon leaders or stainless steel leaders are mainly used in this technique.
Lures
Lures may vary in type, shape and size. The common thing is that almost all of them are effective. It is preferable to use wobblers longer than 15 cm.
Skirts
These are superficial surface bites, installed in a wobbler-like pattern. It is possible to install a lure bird or flying lure before the skirt, imitating fishlike splashes.
- Trolling dead bait fish
This is a very efficient method, where small tuna fish is used as a lure, and the lure is let to sink to different depths through various methods. - Local fishing methods
Local fishermen offer a variety of fishing techniques – by means of wobblers, skirts and many others.
Popping
This is a very attractive fishing technique. You can see and feel the strike, which in most cases is very strong.
You will need strong and rigid popping casting rods and fast-working reels. 0.9 or 1 mm fluorocarbon leader, hook snaps for fast and easy lure change, as well as a strong physique to create a powerful throw…
We would also add spin fishing technique to this section, the difference here being that the lure used is of lighter weight.
This method is efficient when fishing close to the reef, and using a small boat. This fishing technique is very attractive, fishes are smaller and not so small.
Jigging
Jigging is a relatively new fishing method. The lures in this type of fishing are the so called pilkers weighing from 150 to 250 grams, having different shape and color. The equipment is specific, both in terms of the stick and the reel. They are made in such a way as to create the right jig game. The strikes are registered mostly when the jigging lure is sinking.
The depths in which jigging technique is practiced are from 50 m to 150 m. It is good for the fiber to be vertical – which leads to better results. Since the technique attracts big fishes, you need to have more jigs and hooks because they often break. The fish striking the jig are quite diverse from the demersal fish to prominent predatory fishes.
Bottom Fishing
Bottom fishing is a very successful and popular fishing technique in Maldives. What you need is a solid equipment, lead weights, metal leader, and strong hooks. Don’t forget to get ready for a strong fight…The technique is easy to practice – take your bait to the bottom, reel in a few meters and…
HONEYMOON
Honeymoon voyage, take me Fascination … to the end of the world with my love… Fascination honeymoons with photographer.
For more information on our honeymoon holidays
BOOKING
