Originally Posted by
Pausanias
bhrubin - Great diving and luxury accommodation are not often close friends which is perhaps why most serious divers don't bother with hotels but go on boats. I guess you know about the whales in Tonga and also the French Polynesian island of Rurutu which is in the Austral group.
Agreed, but we continue to look and hope. Our stay at Cayo Espanto in Belize offered us the chance to stay in casual luxury while having access to some of our favorite diving in the world (especially the Blue Hole). I am loathe to try some live-aboards since I am so requiring of very good air con to sleep (max of 19 C/69 F); otherwise, we would be doing those often.
The Ritz and FS in Sharm-El-Sheikh probably offered the best luxury for the best diving we've experienced other than Cayo Espanto. Lizard Island in Australia also offered luxury, but their food was so-so and it was ridiculously overpriced in our view for the diving we sought; Cod Hole was fantastic there, but nothing else really blew us away. We are considering Qualia for a return trip to the Great Barrier, since it's on the inner reef as opposed to Lizard being on the outer reef. We also are considering the St. Regis Bora Bora since we can stay for free there on SPG points (I'm Plat so likely to get upgraded too for free; otherwise we'd have considered the FS Bora Bora).
It may be that for the Maldives, the FS Explorer pushes us to stay at the FSLG property so we can do the FS live-aboard experience--giving us a likely best chance scenario to do a live aboard in luxury and get some of the best diving possible.
We also are considering the Amanikan live-aboard out of Amanwana. We previously went to Amanwana in May 2009 while in Indonesia, and unfortunately had a very bad dive experience--little life, terrible divemaster, extremely warm water (>92 F!). We know it's possible that we just went at the wrong time and were unlucky, which can happen, so we're willing to go again ONLY for the Amanikan excursion to either Raja Ampat (supposed to be some of the best diving ANYWHERE) or Komodo (a lifelong dream to go). But Amanikan is REALLY pricey, so we just want to make sure we exhaust other options before splurging there.
It may be that the Maldives just aren't the best place for us to spend our time and money to get what we want. While beautiful, it's still just another holiday where you're staring out at the tropical blue seas from a small island; if the diving and luxury/food can't meet the standard of the prices, I'd rather just not bother and go somewhere else where the luxury and diving are better.