Maldives competition prize winner reports back...
What can I say? We had an amazing trip!
The boat was lovely, the crew fantastic, especially the chef who always made sure my diet was catered for.
The diving was brilliant, and although the Mantas were a little elusive (we did see three) we did manage to see two whale sharks.
Although the Mantas were a little shy, there were whitetip reef sharks everywhere! The night dive was the best I have done, we just sat on top of the reef and watched the sharks and rays hunting. One ray even caught its prey and proceeded to eat it about a metre from where we were sitting! And yes I took hundreds of photos, especially of the sharks!!
What else can I say except a huge thankyou to Blue O two for giving me the opportunity to experience all this, the crew of Carpe Diem for looking after us so well and Panda, our guide who did such a brilliant job under the water.
Cathy de Lara
ps: It looks like we will just have to return sometime to see the Mantas!
PLEASE NOTE - the manta ray pictured is a beautiful SAND sculpture, created during the island beach BBQ.