Named after the coconuts that grow in abundance throughout the 48-acre circular island, Kurumba pioneered tourism in the Maldives and in 2004 was refurbished to a very high standard. One hundred and eighty bungalows and villas are now dotted throughout the island and nine restaurants offer guests seven different cuisines. Kurumba Spa provides a cardio fitness gym, a private yoga pavilion and treatment rooms for massage therapies, body treatments and facials. With some excellent dive sites in close proximity, Kurumba is a superb base for scuba divers. The resort's dive school is run by EuroDivers under the charismatic management of Mohamed "Sindi" Seeneen who Eve and I first met on an MV Atoll Explorer trip in November 2002. When in Male, MV Atoll Explorer moors off Kurumba so I was already familiar with the excellent house reef and some of the nearby dive sites. However it was only by staying on Kurumba in 2005 that I came to realise just how good the local diving is.

In late November 2005, after an overnight flight from Heathrow, Eve and I arrived in Male early in the morning. We were soon booked into the Kurumba resort for a two night stay. Wasting no time, I was shortly aboard the Eurodivers dayboat, Tango. Sindi took me for a dive at Back Furu which certainly helped keep me awake! Later I joined a night dive on the Kurumba Pier House Reef lead by Reyznek Artem before happily heading off to bed for some much needed sleep. The next day Eve and I boarded Tango which was skippered by Adam with his crew of Hussain and Fahumee. After a dive at Kiki Reef, we enjoyed lunch on the Kurumba sun deck overlooking a lagoon. Two juvenile Blacktip Reef Sharks lazily swam around the lagoon, coming within just a few metres of us. In the afternoon Mohamed Saeed joined us from MV Atoll Explorer for a dive at Manta Point, Lankanfinolhu Reef. Accompanying Saeed was Matthias Bergbauer who was to become my regular dive buddy on my December 2005 trip aboard MV Atoll Explorer. On the south east corner of Lankanfinolhu Reef are several large coral rocks which mark the point where Mantas converge during the south west monsoon season. Mantas have been photographed here as early as April and as late as December but sightings in late November are unlikely so we considered ourselves fortunate to see five Mantas. Later, as the sun set, I went for a snorkel in the shallows near Kurumba Pier in the hope of seeing Blacktip Reef Sharks. Sure enough before long a pair of two metre long Blacktip Reef Sharks began circling me. Given the poor light and visibility I was initially pleased as this offered me a better chance of a good photograph but then it occurred to me that they seemed a little too interested! The following day I dived Okobe Thila and Furana North with Paliel Rudzinski and dive guide Mohamed Ibraham. Mohamed is a common name in the Maldives and to avoid confusion most “Mohameds” are known by their second name. Not so Mohamed Ibraham who everyone calls Mohamed. This second dive was a drift dive during which we saw a pair of Whitetip Reef Sharks, four large Manta Rays and a particularly big Honeycomb Moray Eel. This dive should have been my final dive of this Kurumba holiday. But the second week of our two week “December 2005” MV Atoll Explorer trip was cancelled and so six days later, Eve and I returned to Kurumba.

My first dive back on Kurumba happened to be on my birthday. My buddy was Axel Dressler and we had an excellent drift dive at Corner Faru where we saw at least seven Turtles, a similar number of Moray Eels, Titan Triggerfish, Filefish and a Whitetip Reef Shark. Later Axel and I had a highly enjoyable night dive by Kurumba Pier, where memorably we saw a Grouper with a Blue Triggerfish in its mouth. The next day Eve and I dived the same site and a large shoal of Remoras persisted in closey following poor Eve! The next day I dived Furana North with Sindi and then Manta Point with Eve. This time there were no mantas to be seen at Manta Point - the “Manta season” was clearly over. Afterwards I had a very self indulgent dive on Kurumba Pier with Dive Master and buddy, Mohamed Ivan. There are numerous Moray Eels under the pier and with large Scorpionfish and Stonefish, it is a photographer’s paradise. Ivan and I spent the entire dive under the pier happily photographing our captive subjects. In the afternoon Tango took me to Hannes Reef where Sindi showed me a Longnosed Hawkfish and the following morning I buddied up with Oliver Fritz for a long drift dive in a strong current at Kiki Reef followed by another dive with Ivan under Kurumba Pier. The afternoon dive was at Back Furu. As soon as Eve and I had left the surface we saw a large school of Powder Blue Surgeonfish and as we drifted along Moray Eels, Batfish, Titan Triggerfish and several Green turtles. One Green turtle in particular allowed me to get very close enabling me to take my best photograph yet of a Green turtle. The following day Eve and I returned to Hannes Reef, then Ivan and I dived Kurumba Pier in a ripping current, reef hooks being essential and later Tango took me to Maagiri Thila. There with Dawn Trevelyan as my buddy, Mohamed Ibrahim showed me some Ribbon Eels. This was of real interest to me as I had never seen Ribbon Eels before. The next morning Eve and I dived Emboodhu Express, the currents there were strong and varied and at one time we had to fight a down-current. After another dive with Ivan under Kurumba Pier, Sindi and Tango took me back to Furana North and then in the evening I did a Night Dive at Gundolhi with Dawn and Mohamed Ibrahim. The following day it was back to Maagira Thila, this time with Eve and Sindi, where I again saw Ribbon Eels and also a well-concealed Leaf Fish. Later Ivan and I once more took our cameras beneath Kurumba Pier, Olivier Dubois and I then dived Banana Reef and to conclude the day, Reyznek organised a night dive under Kurumba Pier. On my last day of diving on this holiday, I dived the Maldives Victory with Olivier Dubois, this being a challenging dive due to the strong currents that swept the wreck. My final dive of the holiday was fittingly with Ivan as our daily dives under Kurumba Pier had been the highlight of this holiday and Ivan had a surprise for me. As we concluded our dive Ivan showed me five Moray Eels - all in just one hole! A superb ending to a great diving holiday.