Carpe Diem Maldives

It was our first time diving in the Maldives. We came to see Mantas, and we were not disappointed: we have seen 10s of them on different dive site. The Carpe Novo was very spacious. The cabin was nice, the bathroom was very large. The large dive boat is very convenient (not an inflatable type of small boat to get to the dive site as it was on other live aboard). It was easy and comfortable to get setup on for the dive, and getting back in after the dive: much better than expected. You leave your dive equipment on the dive boat, which is extremely convenient. The food was good, including fresh fish caught from the boat. But one person in our party was eating gluten free, and even though that had been specified early on, the food shopping had not been done accordingly. We were told that people eating gluten free typically pack their own pasta and bread in their suitcase. :-/ If so, it would have been nice to be informed about that pre-boarding. All that being said, that was a great experience. I would happily book another trip on Carpe Novo.

I dove for a week on the Carpe Novo in August and cannot say enough about it. I cannot think of one bad or even neutral thing to say about the experience. The boat is new this year, so it is very clean, modern, and comfortable. There is a part of the boat to suit anyone's needs for sun, shade, air con, social or private time. The food was amazing, with enough variety to suit anyone's taste. The crew worked hard to make everything run smoothly. They were well organized for dives, with equipment and tanks always ready. The dive guides were professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. The dives were incredible, to include an amazing manta cleaning station with no less than 9 rays at the same time and a night dive with so many nurse sharks! Healthy reefs and lots of variety of fish to be seen and photograph. I highly recommend this live aboard and most definitely plan to return some day soon! You will not be disappointed. Cheers!