My first night at sea

I suffer a little from seasickness; it’s a pain when you love diving, and a potential problem living at sea for a week. In an effort to control it I’d stocked up on tablets and ginger; it really does help with nausea, well for me anyway. My first nights sleep was not restful, I’m one of those people that spreads out in bed, and I can’t sleep being cuddled. Whilst the sea was quite calm and the bed comfortable and ample it was not my super-king size, therefore had no room to escape Alain – he’s a snugly sleeper you see! Fortunately we had two beds in our cabin, I’d sleep in the other one from then on! Very early the next morning, it was still dark and most of the guests still asleep, the engines started and we were heading to our first dive site. I of course was wide awake, willing myself to overcome the gentle rolling of the sea and to not be sick!

The breakfast bell rang and 11 bleary eyed guests made their way to the table for introductions and food. Not the first impression I normally like to give! The later arrivals turned out to be Wilts’ buddy Dick, another guy from the US; Blaine and John and Kate who like Alain and I were expats, though they lived in Hong Kong. We couldn’t have wished for a better group; in my opinion anyway. For Alain and me it was real luck as 4 of the guests were diving instructors themselves, and the others all very experienced. We ate a hearty breakfast, well everyone else did, I was still feeling a bit queasy and happily chatted getting to know each other. David introduced our dive guide Serena and gave us the rules of the boat and safety spiel.

Alain and Blaine not yet in the land of the living....

Our First Liveaboard

New to diving my fiancé and I thought a great way to improve our skills would be spend a week on a liveaboard in the Maldives. If you’re going to do it - do it in style we thought; so searched the net for inspiration. Neither of us had heard of Peter Hughes before and apart from five days on the Red Sea, our diving had been limited to the Middle East where we live. A look at their website convinced us that the Dancer fleet was just what we were looking for and its newest member Ocean Dancer looked like heaven. So bags packed and hard earned money spent off we went.

During our flight, we had an hours wait in Colombo, as we were not allowed to leave the plane, Alain killed time by chatting to a French couple. They were divers too, and as you do, started to swap stories. As a non French speaking person, I grew bored very quickly as I couldn’t understand a word! A little later I was dragged back into the conversation when it was discovered that not only were this couple, Jean-Pierre and Sylvie-Ann, heading to the same boat as us, but that they knew the designer of the boat and had a financial stake in it. So Alain and I heard a little about the history of Ocean Dancer before we saw her and had already made friends.



We arrived at Male, collected our luggage and headed to our home for the next 7 days. As it was dark, we didn’t get to see very much and it was a bit unnerving speeding across the waves in a dive dhoni in the pitch black. We could see other large boats illuminated as we passed and as soon as she came into view I recognised Ocean Dancer. She is one of, if not the biggest boat in the Maldives and she is a beauty. Even though it was dark you could tell she was a looker! We were welcomed onboard by the crew and the brainchild and owner of the boat, another Frenchman, David. This was obviously a labour of love for him and we really felt that we were entering his home. That has its good and bad points; it gives the boat a warm and fuzzy feeling, but any critique of the boat is personal, and whilst a guest in anyone’s home you are mindful of peoples belongings, doing it for a week, on your holiday can be tiring. Well think about it, spending a week in a strangers home when they are still there would be a little uncomfortable.

Several other guests were onboard already, and we were introduced to a British couple, Denis and Suzie, and an American, Wilt who’d spent the previous week onboard also. The remaining guests were due in later. Alain and I were taken to our cabin, unpacked and after a night-cap in the bar hit the sack; we had an early start the next morning.

Welcome to the Maldives

In January of 2006 11 scuba divers of varying experience spent a week aboard Peter Hughes Diving Inc, newest fleet member; Ocean Dancer. If they can be bothered, this blog will be record of their trip and hopefully include a few photos.

All but two of the intrepid explorers, hoping beyond hope that tomorrow they'll see Manta Rays.....