In March 2006 Eve and I, with our friends Graeme “Spotty” Hastings and partner Dee Smith, booked two consecutive one-week trips aboard MV Atoll Explorer. After arriving on an overnight flight from Heathrow, Eve and I left our luggage on the ship, which as usual was moored at its Male base by Kurumba Island and joined Tango, the day boat of Eurodivers’ Kurumba Dive Centre. Mohamed Ibraham took us for a drift dive at Lankanfinolhu. Highlights of this dive were numerous Napoleon Wrasse, a large Hawksbill Turtle, a Whitetip Reef Shark and a Marbled Ray.

Later the same day, Ivan and I had a dive under Kurumba Pier, where we saw between 50 and 60 Moray Eels before I returned to the ship to complete my unpacking!

The following day MV Atoll Explorer sailed from Kurumba but a week later the vessel returned and Spotty and I enjoyed two dives under Kurumba Pier. By then Eve had a cold and was unable to dive but Dee joined Spotty and I for a boat dive aboard Tango with Mohamed Ibraham. We visited Coral Gardens/Hannes Reef where the main fish highlight was a Longnosed Hawkfish.
 
After that we bid farewell to Kurumba to begin our second week aboard MV Atoll Explorer.