Date
17-27 September 2025
Duration
10 nights/11 days
Package Cost
Standard room: $3745.00 USD per person (green tax included)
– sleeps 2 pax (one double bed & one twin bed)
Superior-Upper deck: $4095.00 USD per person (green tax included)
– sleeps 2 pax (1 king or 2 twin beds)
Note: All costs are in American Dollars (USD) for this trip
This marks my 10th year of travelling to this incredible destination that offers so much. I can’t wait to share this journey with you! This route is designed to maximize our time spent with manta rays and whale sharks. It will be an unforgettable experience. You are responsible for getting yourself to Malé International Airport (MLE). A short domestic flight (included in the cost) will be required to Dharavandhoo Island for a three-night stay (Sept 17-19, 2025) to go out to Hanifaru Bay with the large aggregations of manta rays. We then board the charter vessel (Sept 20-27, 2025). Please note that check-in time for the vessel is usually around 2:00 pm. Scuba diving courses can be undertaken on the vessel if you are an open-water diver and want to progress your level or depth.
Package Includes
- 3 nights (4 days) at Dharavandoo Island (Kiha Beach Hotel)
- 3 manta ray swims at the world-famous Hanifaru Bay, the largest aggregation of mantas in the world (Marine Protected Area)
- 1 beach BBQ picnic evening with traditional Maldivian music and dancing
- 1 domestic flight (from Malé to Dharavandhoo)
- 7 nights onboard the luxury Carpe Novo liveaboard
- 17/18 dives from the Carpe Novo liveaboard
- 3 great buffet meals daily, plus between-dive snacks—the food is fantastic
- Drinking water, coffee or tea
- 3 dives daily (except the day of arrival and day before departure)
- Dive instructors—one guide for a group of five—are very professional and experts on the local dive sites
- Use of air tanks or nitrox tanks, weights, and belts
- Airport transfers on the days of embarkation or disembarkation (airport transfer from Dharavandhoo to or from the vessel to Malé International airport)
- Presentations on marine life
- Fun and friendly atmosphere with experienced group leaders Kim and Amanda
Exclusions
International flights to Malé
Rental Gear
Dive Insurance
Travel Insurance
Lunch, dinner, and beverages on the local island
Gratuities
Soda, alcoholic beverages, and “fancy” coffee drinks onboard the vessel
Shopping on the local island
Diving on the local island
16% GST and 10% service charge for on-board purchases
SIM cards
Wi-Fi on board the vessel ($40-50 per week)
Notes on the Itinerary
The above trip routing is designed to be able to visit spots most frequented by Manta Rays, including the famous Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll. The trip starts in Baa Atoll, which means a one-way domestic flight will be needed at the start of the trip.
Guests will be encouraged to gather pictures and/or make sketches of the mantas seen during the dives. This information is passed on to mantamatcher.org to assist in the gathering and research of the manta population in the Maldives. Divers’ observations will be included in on-going manta research being conducted in the Maldives. Data on manta identification and migration is being collected by the Marine Research section of the Ministry of Fisheries in Malé. BONUS: If it is a “new” manta and it is spotted for the third time, the guest can decide on a name and keep track of “their manta” in the future.
Entry Requirements for Maldives
Most visitors to the Maldives can enter visa-free for up to 30 days
Guests will complete the IMUGA traveler declaration form prior to departure for entry into the Maldives
THE VESSEL
Carpe Novo
The MV Carpe Novo is a 42-meter-long (138-foot) motor safari yacht with a wooden hull, three decks, and a sun deck. It is the newest boat in the Carpe Diem fleet, starting operation in 2016. The sun deck, bar on the middle deck, and rest area on the lower deck will spoil you for a week.
Superior rooms (main deck): each have a king-size bed that can be divided into two super singles, a desk, a dresser, a hanging closet, large windows, individually controlled air conditioning systems, a flat-panel TV/HD player, and a private ensuite bathroom with a shower.
Standard rooms (lower deck): each room provides individually controlled air conditioning, one queen bed and one super single bed, desk/chair, dresser, hanging closet, TV/HD player, portholes, and a private ensuite bathroom with shower.
The electricity voltage onboard is 220V, and international outlets are available onboard if required. If joining from the US, check that your chargers are 120V/220V compatible (most electronics—laptops, iPads, GoPros, camera battery chargers are compatible).
For the photographers, the vessel offers a spacious camera room for setting up and charging cameras or batteries, and the crew will assist with carrying cameras to and from the dive dhoni and are trained in the careful care of camera gear.
How to secure your spot
Please note that this trip has limited spots, so you will need to get in quick to secure your booking. The following payments will be required:
$800 USD to secure your spot
30% of the trip invoice due on March 25, 2025
Remaining balance due on June 25, 2025
Payment
Once you pay your deposit an invoice will be sent to you via the booking platform. I would recommend purchasing your flights into Malé (capital) as soon as possible to secure a cheap flight. To check on available spaces to secure your spot, email us at: amanda@amandadelaforce.com.
Bookings, Payments and Cancellation Policy and Force Majeure in relation to the Tour
1. Insurance
- Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd highly recommends you purchase personal travel and dive insurance as soon as possible after confirming your travel plans. We recommend Dive Assure or DAN for diving insurance. Dive Assure offers a Dive and Travel Insurance annual and short-term (per trip). You can purchase it here.
- Evidence of adequate travel and dive insurance must be provided prior to departure.
- The affiliated and established companies such as Carpe Novo Pty Ltd, hold the relevant insurances and maintain responsibility for the dive and snorkel insurance policies and procedures. As such when in the water diving, snorkeling, or swimming you are doing so under the affiliated company’s policies and procedures and must adhere to either the Captain, Dive Instructor or Divemaster’s instructions.
2. Bookings and payments
- Bookings made more than 100 days out from the start of a trip require a deposit of $800.00 USD per passenger
- All deposits are non-refundable.
- Bookings made less than 100 days out from tour commencement require payment in full to secure your booking.
- Payment in full is required 100 days out from the start of the trip. We will email you a final payment reminder prior to this date.
- Each guest will be required to complete a Dive Trip Questionnaire (which may require a Dive Medical) prior to receiving a final tour confirmation. This must be completed and returned to Amanda Delaforce Travel and Photography Pty Ltd prior to final payment being made. Disclosure of your medical history and known conditions is vital, as well as a review of any other conditions that could impact your trip. Amanda Delaforce Travel and Photography Pty Ltd reserves the right to refuse trip participation on medical grounds based on any falsification or exclusion of pertinent information which impacts the trip program.
3. Amendment and cancellation policy
- The trip cost is 100% non-refundable within 100 days of the departure date. This applies to deposits and/or further payments. No exceptions can be made.
- If you cancel your trip 100 days or more before the trip commencement date, and we/you are able to resell/fill your place, a trip credit for your remaining balance (minus a $300 USD service fee) will be issued for use on another Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd trip which departs within 2 years of the cancellation date.
- If you cancel your spot less than 99 days prior to the start of a trip, no refund or credit will be issued for deposits that have been paid.
4. Force Majeure
- If our In-Country Providers cancel or if a Force Majeure Event occurs, meaning any act of God, war, terrorism, fire, flood or any other extreme weather conditions, loss of power, epidemics or pandemics, industrial disputes, slow-downs or other strike activities, riots or civil disturbances, acts of government, semi government or other authorities, inability to obtain any necessary license or consent and delays caused by sub-contractors, suppliers or other third parties (including telecommunications carriers), material shortages or other disruption to the trip beyond our control, Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd shall not be held responsible for matters outside of our control or any failure to deliver the trip.
5. Liability and obligation
- Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd takes no responsibility for loss, damage or injury arising from any shortfall, error or omission in the information passed to the customer during the course of the booking process or subsequent delivery of the product. The company takes no responsibility nor can it be held liable for loss, damage, or injury that occurs on a supplier’s or service provider’s premises or transport, or between two such premises.
Participation in any of the Activities involves certain risks which may result in injury or death. This warning does not purport to describe or disclose all risks associated with participation of the Activities. There are a wide range of inherent risks when engaging in sports and particularly underwater sports; for example, with diving there is the risk of decompression sickness, embolism or other hyperbaric injury can occur that requires treatment in a recompression chamber. Open water scuba diving trips may be conducted at sites that are remote, either by time or distance, from emergency services or recompression facilities. Scuba diving and snorkeling tours will involve uncontrolled encounters with wild animals which bear the risk of stings, bites, and at the extreme end, more serious injury and death. Participants should be responsible and aware of animal behaviors and their own interactions, and choose to engage in these activities entirely at their own risk. - We will not be liable to you in respect of any personal injury (including without limitation serious injury or death) that you may suffer or sustain directly or indirectly as a result of participating in the trip or the Activities. Nor shall we be liable to you in respect of any other losses arising as a result of any such personal injury (including without limitation loss of profit or earnings or other consequential losses). We will not be liable to you in respect of any of your personal property that is lost, stolen or damaged before, during or after a trip.
- Please ensure you understand our cancellation policy and agree to the booking and trip conditions prior to providing any deposits. By placing a booking with Amanda Delaforce Photography and Travel Pty Ltd, this implies that you accept these booking terms and conditions and our cancellation policy.
Trading as “Amanda Delaforce Travel and Photography Pty Ltd”