October in the Maldives

[Teeny]

Hi
Planning on doing a liveaboard to the Maldives and wandering if anyone has been in October and can give me some honest feedback on what weather to expect ?
I know it's the end of the rainy season then, just trying to work out if it's worth waiting for better weather in January or go in October when there's supposed to be a better chance of seeing Whale Sharks.
Thanks

[justacey]

I have done last week September / first week October in 2004 and last year.
The first time, I think we may have had one shower.
Last year there was a bit of a storm and we missed out on one dive on the last day (although I don't think we could have dived on the very last day).
A friend was somewhere in Maldives just after that and said there were 3 days of rain.
Both holidays we saw whale sharks. And absolutely loads of mantas.
We go on a two week liveaboard with Maldives Scuba on the Sea Spirit. For that length of time they can go where the weather tends to be better.
September / October is our preferred time for a diving holiday and I wouldn't hesitate to go there at that time again.

[Mick F]

Here ya go:

Mick does the Maldives (MY Monsoon and Kuredu Island)

[helen S]

Hi

We went to the Maldives on Monsoon (Tony Backhurst) during Christmas week 2007. It was fabulous no rain at all, just sun, sun, sun. However, up until that week it was raining nearly every day, the dive guides on Monsoon during our stay kept mentioning how lucky we were and how "blue" the water was.

We were unlucky in that we didn't see any whale sharks, but lucky in that we saw plenty of Mantas and plenty of Reef sharks. Monsoon is a fabulous boat, and the dive sites we were taken to awesome.

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by helen S

We went to the Maldives on Monsoon (Tony Backhurst) during Christmas week 2007. It was fabulous no rain at all, just sun, sun, sun. However, up until that week it was raining nearly every day, the dive guides on Monsoon during our stay kept mentioning how lucky we were and how "blue" the water was.

I've had exactly the same a couple of times in December. It seems to absolutely chuck it down for the first half of the month, then the monsoon switches direction, the sun comes out, all the birds start nesting and it's like someone's turned a tap off.

Jason

[Teeny]

Thanks for the replies, it's good to get a responce from divers who have been rather than travel agents who are just trying to get you to part with money.
Still undecided whether to wait till January, Maldives Scuba Tours seem to have got good feedback and much smaller numbers of divers on the boats which suits us better.
Teeny

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by Teeny

Thanks for the replies, it's good to get a responce from divers who have been rather than travel agents who are just trying to get you to part with money.
Still undecided whether to wait till January, Maldives Scuba Tours seem to have got good feedback and much smaller numbers of divers on the boats which suits us better.
Teeny

If you want a recommendation for a boat, which isn't luxury, but takes about 16 divers, you could do worse than look at:
Dive Explorer
You'll need to book it direct and sort the flights out yourself, but that's not hard. They'll meet you at the airport.

Jason