The Maldives is one of the most popular destinations in the world for live-aboard experiences. This is my review of the Duke Of York Liveaboard in the Maldives after spending seven days on board; keep reading, and I’ll tell you everything from the diving itinerary to the internet speed. Get on board!

Arriving At the Duke of York Liveaboard Review Maldives

The Maldives welcome tourists from all over the world, all year round. It is relatively easy to get there, despite being so remote. Male, the capital, has an international airport with flight connections to and from Europe and Asia.

Some of the airlines are Sri Lankan Airways, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Oman Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Air Asia, which is the one I used as I was flying in from Vietnam.

I recommend starting your luxury travel in The Maldives by flying business class with Emirates to avoid the crowd, get access to the lounge, and enjoy a comfortable, deluxe journey to your destination. Here’s my Review of Emirate Airlines’ Business Flight To The Maldives.

The arrival at the airport was very smooth. Passport control took 5 minutes, and I got my bags five minutes later.

Someone from the Duke of York Liveaboard was waiting for me just outside the airport and took me to a small boat to be transferred to the liveaboard on a tender boat. This journey is quick and stress-free. Within 40 minutes of landing, I was on the Duke of York liveaboard ready for my diving cruise in the Maldives.

Once on board, you will get your luggage carried to the cabin and be welcomed with drinks.

I was shown to my cabin and had a few minutes to unpack before lunch was served. It was a chance to meet the other passengers I would be sharing this cruise with.

Review of the Boat – The Duke of York Liveaboard in the Maldives

The first impression when getting on the Duke of York is that it is a spacious boat.

It feels bigger than other boats with the same capacity I have been on. While it might not be the newest boat around, it is very spacious and comfortable. As airline seats are becoming smaller and smaller, so are the newest boats. They figured they would make more money by adding one or two extra cabins… So getting on an older luxury boat also has advantages.

The Duke of York Liveaboard is composed of 11 cabins over three decks (upper, main and lower deck), for a total of 22 guests. With 15 staff onboard, you’ll be well taken care of.

The three cabins on the upper deck offer ocean views. There are sun beds and chairs on each deck to enjoy the views and the sun.

Common areas on the cruise ship include a spacious lounge with air conditioning and TV, a library, and a bar with soft drinks and spirits. The living room has a few huge lounge chairs that are the most comfortable I have seen at sea. It has a very homey mood and feels like being in your living room. The living room also has a camera charging station with enough space for everyone.

The restaurant is also on the main deck. It is an outdoor seating area offering a buffet with Mediterranean and local cuisine. Meals are taken along a large table where everyone meets and mingles.

Because diving takes place from another smaller boat that follows the Duke of York, it doesn’t take space on the boat. That additional boat in the Maldives is called a Dhony. Another advantage of having a Dhony is that the noisy charging of tanks can be done away from the main boat and preserve the peaceful atmosphere on the boat.

The top deck has many sun lounges. It has a large shaded area, so you can choose whether you prefer to be in the sun or the shade.

Tip: beware of the sun. The Maldives are near the equator, and the sun is treacherous. Apply suns cream generously, and make sure you use a reef-safe sun cream as some products are terrible for the sea.

How to know if your sunscreen is reef safe?

Check the ingredients label on your sunscreen. Ingredients generally recognized as safe include titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.

Unsafe ingredients include PABA and trolanlminevsalicytate. Octinoxate and Oxybenzone are also banned in a few countries

Review of the Cabins on the Duke of York Liveaboard

All the cabins on the Duke of York are spacious, with en-suite bathrooms.

The Duke of York liveaboard has three cabins on the top deck with large panoramic windows and adjacent to the outdoor deck area. They are probably the best option on the Duke of York.

There are eight more cabins below deck, and I stayed in cabin number 2; one of the standard cabins.

My cabin was large. It could fit three people with one double bed and one twin bed. It’s also worth mentioning that the ceiling felt relatively high compared to other liveaboards. The bed was comfortable, and I slept very well. The décor feels like a nice hotel, with wooden walls adding to the natural feeling. Storage is ample, and there is also space to store your suitcases under the small bed. Lighting has been considered in detail, with no less than six lighting points in the bedroom.

AC is individually adjustable in the cabin. I don’t like to use AC and was happy that even though my cabin was below deck, the two windows could be opened and allowed me to keep the room air fresh.

Tip: if you are staying below deck, make sure you close the windows while the boat is navigating, or you might get water inside the room.

They have placed hooks throughout the bedroom and some hanging baskets that are very convenient to avoid things lying around. This should become the norm on other liveaboards 🙂

The private bathrooms feature an oversized cabin shower. The water pressure was great, and the water in my cabin was always hot but one of the cabin had an issue with hot water that they were fixing. There is again more storage in the bathroom. Soap and shampoo are provided.

Tip: If you use hair conditioner, bring it as it is not provided.

The cabins and the boat are kept perfectly clean. They would clean the room in the morning and do another turndown service during dinner.

If you are worried about Covid, it is worth mentioning that they use an ozone machine to sanitize the rooms between guests.

Review of the Diving organisation on the Duke of York liveaboard.

The Duke of York Maldives liveaboard normally organizes three dives a day. During our trip, there were three dive masters, Herbert, Alexia and Ali.

A flexible diving trip scheduling

What makes the Duke of York special is the vast experience of their team and their willingness to offer the best diving experience possible in the central Maldives. Dodi, the owner of the boat, has been diving in the Maldives since 1985 and launched her first boat in 1990. She is passionate about diving and has assembled a great team on the Duke of York Liveaboard.

Unlike some liveaboards that follow the same itinerary every week, they adjust the itinerary. They understand that a good dive depends on the tide conditions, weather, and the presence of other boats. Therefore, they adjust the planning hour by hour and decide on dive sites and dive times based on the available information. As our group was happy doing two dives a day only, they got to really adjust the schedule to get us to the best spots at the perfect time. For example, when we dove Kandoohma Thila, I had never seen so many sharks in the Maldives. They were absolutely everywhere!

Diving from a Dhoni

Diving is done from a Dhoni, a smaller boat that follows the Duke of York liveaboard.

The Dhoni is spacious and well set up. There is ample storage for your gear.

You will be assigned a tank and a box for the duration of the cruise, and all the gear stays on the Dhoni overnight, making diving straightforward. You only need to bring your camera, bottle of water, and towel on the boat for every dive.

Tip: Bring your water bottle on the Dhoni as there is no water available 

The dive briefings were professional, with a map of the dive site, a dive plan, and instructions on the current we were likely to encounter. The briefing would be in both Italian and English.

The maximum dive time is 60 minutes (or 50 bars). The Maldivian government mandates that dives can’t be deeper than 30 meters. The diving was overall well-organized. We would usually get coconuts on the boat after diving and would be treated back on the main boat with a warm fragrant towel 🙂

Nitrox, Tanks, and Gears

Nitrox is available free of charge, which is useful for diving in the Maldives.  Many of the dive sites are pinnacles, and we would spend a lot of time diving at 20 or 25 meters.

If you don’t yet have your Nitrox certification, you can do it while onboard for an extra fee. They would check the nitrox content for us, and it was consistently between 29 and 30 percent. Tanks were well-filled with around 190 bars.

Tip: Computer and SMB are mandatory, so bring them. Reef hooks are very useful on most of the channel dives.

The water temperature was consistently at 28 or 29 degrees.

Tip: A 3-millimetre wetsuit or even a rash guard will be enough for most divers. You could be tempted to dive without a wetsuit. Still, I recommend wearing at least a rash guard, as jellyfish and stinging planktons are present in the water.

Three underwater scooters are available onboard and are really fun to dive with. Give it a try!

Diving groups are organized by diverse levels.

There were only six divers during my week. Yet, the Duke of York team assigned three dive masters, so the group size ranged from one to three. It was very luxurious to dive without the crowd. Even if the boat is full, they have four dive masters for 20 divers, which gives you a maximum of five divers per group. They also allocate groups based on diving experience. The three dive masters, Herbert, Ali and Alexia, were competent and caring. They know the dive sites inside out and are great people to be around.

If you want to do a diving course onboard, they have two instructors that can organise it for you. Two kids were doing their open water certificate during my week, and they totally enjoyed it. If you are not Nitrox certified yet, you can also do that onboard

Review of the Food on the Duke of York Liveaboard

The food served on board is inspired by European cuisine, mainly Italian and Mediterranean. It works as a buffet with freshly cooked meals and dishes to choose from, including a few Maldivian specialties.

Every lunch and dinner, six to eight dishes were offered. There would usually be a fish dish and d a beef or chicken dish.The Raw tuna was delicious!

A few vegetables or curries were offered every night. The pastas were splendid. And we even got pizza one day.

There are also vegan and vegetarian options. If you have special dietary requirements, it is important to let the staff know during the booking process and not once you’re there.

Breakfast varied every day, ranging from waffles, cheese sandwiches, donuts or croissants. Eggs were available on demand, and fruits were always available.

The Duke of York Liveaboard has an outstanding cook. Ingredients were simple, but the flavor he managed to pack into some of the dishes was incredible. I probably put on a few kilos during the week…

Review of the Itinerary on the Duke of York Liveaboard in the Maldives

Day 1 – Arrival in the Maldives and check dive

Most passengers arrived on the Duke of York in the morning, so it meant we would be able to do a dive on the first day.

We started navigating straight after lunch. Unfortunately, the weather was bad with rain and strong wind, and it would stay that way for most of the week. This limited our options as it was deemed too choppy to cross to the Ari Atoll. The Duke of York team adjusted the plans, and we ended up diving the South Male Atoll and the Felidhu Atoll.

We left Male around noon and arrived at Maafushi island around 3 pm. Soon after arriving, we attended the briefing to inform the passengers about the boat organization, itinerary and safety measures on board. By 4 pm, we were ready to go diving.

The first dive of the trip was at Villani Giri dive site.

It is a submerged pinnacle that starts at around two meters. The pinnacle is in a protected area, making it perfect for check dives, as there is seldom current. Due to the bad weather and lack of sun, the visibility was bad; however, that didn’t prevent us from seeing a large number of fish and some pretty colourful corals. Schools of sardines created a majestic ballet, especially when bigger fishes tried to feed on them. Even more fun was watching the birds diving to eat those fishes! Can you spot the birds on the pictures below?

Day 2: Diving with plenty of sharks and an eagle ray.

After a quiet night on anchor, we tried our luck at Kandhooma thila dive site. It is known as one of the best dive sites in the Maldives, and it is easy to see why.

Kondhooma Thila is a channel with a reef in the middle. The best condition to dive it is when the current is outgoing, as this is when the schools of surgeon fishes, snappers, sharks and eagle rays are there. There are huge tunas patrolling the area.

At the beginning, there are two stone boulders in the channel, where it is possible to hook and watch the show. And what a show it was. Over a hundred sharks, schools of jacks, fusiliers and groupers. A curious eagle ray even came to check us out in the current!

Despite the poor visibility in the area, the visibility here was ok, as the strong current took the debris away.

Tip: Make sure you bring a reef hook, as you will need it to fully enjoy this dive when the current picks up.

The second dive of the day was the side corner of Kandhooma thila. This is a gently sloping reef, and mobulas are sometimes seen there. The most interesting point is the corner.

Tip: There are many shrimps and small things to see, so bring a torch.

Around sunset, we went for a walk to the Guraidhoo island village. It was interesting to see how Maldivians live on their islands.

Tip: There are a few souvenir shops in the village, so bring cash if you want to buy something. They accept USD.

 

Day 3 – Finding nice hard corals

At sunrise, the boat moved to the Felidhu atoll. As the weather was bad, the journey was choppy and was a nice wake-up call.

The team decided to do the next two dives on protected thilas inside the atoll as the waves were too big.

We dived the Kudibodi giri dive site. It was mostly gently sloping reefs with very nice corals. We didn’t see much big fish. The coral diversity was quite impressive, even if some of the newest coral already seemed to be bleaching. This is one of the area in the Maldives with the nicest hard corals.

Day 4. Fish soup and sharks galore

Miyaru kandu dive site is a channel near Alimatha with many sharks. Miyaru means shark in Maldivinan.

The reef starts at one meter and goes down to 30 meters. When we started the reef, it wasn’t very exciting, as the sloping reef is not very colourful, and the visibility was bad.

We went down towards the sandy bottom area in the middle of the channel. At about 28 meters, we saw a school of baby barracudas. A few bay sharks were hiding inside! It was the beginning of the fish party as more and more schools of fish joined. First, another school of bigger barracudas, then the blue fusiliers, then the jacks and finally, the Giant Trevallies. Sharks didn’t want to be left out and joined en masse. At some point, there must have been over 50 grey reef sharks, some of them massive. A few smaller white-tip sharks were also patrolling the area. I think this is the most fish I have ever seen while diving in the Maldives. It was so full of action I didn’t know where to look anymore.

The other dive groups that were diving shallower also saw a manta. What an incredible dive this was!

During lunch, we navigated towards the easternmost point of the Maldives. We were off the beaten track as no other boats or resorts were in sight. The plan was to dive the Fottoyo dive site, but the waves were too big, and we had to abort and do the afternoon dive near the sandbank. It was a depressing dive with poor visibility. A lot of the corals were broken. You could see the area was heavily fished as fishing lines littered the ocean floor.

Day 5 – Fish galore, nurse sharks and sailfish!

The next morning, we managed to dive the Fottoyo dive site. It is a channel between two sand banks. The inside of the channel goes down to 20 meters, and the wall on the ocean side drops much further. Due to the proximity of the ocean, big sharks and other pelagic hang around here.

The wall has small caves and coves, so bring a torch. In one of the swims through a cave at about 30 meters, we found a white-tip shark sleeping.

The edge of the wall at around 20 meters is covered by the most beautiful orange and yellow soft corals.

The number of fish is astonishing. We saw a large school of barracudas, schools of jacks and fusiliers, and many bat fishes. The jacks started dancing in a circle, and it was mesmerizing. At about 10 meters is an anemone city with plenty of large nemos that were absolutely not shy. What a great dive site!

Unfortunately, it was already time to make our way back east towards Alimatha. The second dive of the day was the Alimatha pier dive site.

This is one of the most famous dive sites in the Maldives due to the presence of hundreds of nurse sharks. There are so many that it can be freaky…

The dive site is a gently sloping sandy bottom with a few rocks and corals boomies. It is right below the hotel’s jetty. It starts around five meters, and there is no need to go very deep to see the sharks. We went to 20 to 25 meters and didn’t see any sharks. The reef there is not the most beautiful, so it is a sad dive without the sharks.

We needn’t worry; we got one more chance to see the nurse sharks without even getting wet. During dinner, over 15 nurse sharks made an appearance at the back of the boat, attracted by the light. They started feeding on smaller fishes.

It became really magical when a purple sailfish came into sight. What a stunning fish! It was a nice ending to a beautiful day.

Day 6: Action dive, macro dive and sunset!

We went back to the Myaru Kandu dive site we had dived two days ago, hoping to find the same action. The dive started well with three large ribbon tail rays sleeping. At exactly the same place as last time, we found schools and schools of fish and about 30 sharks hunting them. The current picked up around the corner, so we just hooked and watched the show unravel. A school of oceanic triggerfishes passed by. A few tunas patrolled the area but didn’t stick around. A huge school of hundreds of surgeon fishes looked like a carpet. Again, what a dive we had there, and again, we were the only boat there.

We then crossed back to the South Male Atoll. Unfortunately, the waves were too big to allow us to dive the channel safely. So, we took refuge inside the atoll and dove one of the pinnacles. Whales had been seen around that pinnacle two days prior, so we had a small hope of encountering one.

While the visibility was bad, and there were little fish, there was surprisingly a lot of Macro to be found.

We saw Coriocella sponge snails mating! The bigger snail was following the smaller one and turning red in the process!. If you look closely, you will find many shrimps like tiger shrimps,  manta shrimps and the more common dancing shrimp. A pipe fish was playing in the corals. There were also a few swims through caves to explore.

 

After the dive, we went to the most paradisiac-looking island for sunset. Yes, the sun had finally decided to make an appearance! What a nice way to end the day, alone on a private island and listening to the sound of the waves and watching the crabs playing in the sand.

Day 7: The ultimate action dive with scooters

It was already the last day of the cruise. Time went by incredibly quickly. On the way back to Male, we stopped again at the Kandooma Thila dive site. As the Duke of York team wanted to time the dive perfectly, we delayed the start time by 40 minutes. As we went down, there was little current, and we stumbled upon a huge school of fusiliers. We tried again to reach the pinnacles in the middle of the channel, as this is where the eagle rays often hang out. And what a show we got. There must have been over 40 eagle rays and 70 sharks cruising in front of us. We used reef hooks and watched one of the most beautiful shows on the planet. The current picked up a bit towards the end of the dive, and we drifted along the channel. Amazingly, we were the only boat diving there that day. What a way to end a beautiful week of diving!

We were very unlucky with the weather that week. Rain, high wind and strong waves made it challenging for diving. This is where having a team as experienced as the Duke of York team pays off. Despite the bad weather during the week, they managed to design the perfect itinerary for us. We had a few outstanding dives. Visibility was usually better in the thilas ( channels ) than on the pinnacles in the middle of the lagoon.

 

Diving with an underwater scooter

On the last dive, I took advantage of the underwater scooters offered by the Duke of York liveaboard. It was my first time diving with an engine. It was a bit scary at first but is overall very intuitive, and within five minutes, I got the hang of it. It didn’t go as fast as I expected, but if I combined it with kicking my fins, it really gave me some speed and was very useful in the current.

Tip: When diving with a scooter, make sure you have a dive computer to alert you of speedy ascent or descent because it is easy to get carried away by the scooter and not realise you are going up or down.

I was curious to see if the fish would be bothered by the noise of the scooter. From a distance, it didn’t seem so. I experimented with the speed of the scooter to get closer to a few fish. They only reacted once I got too close and swam away as fast as they could. So I don’t think they like the scooter and out of respect for them, it is better to keep your distance!

Tip: I would only recommend using an underwater scooter for advanced divers with good control of buoyancy as it is a large engine to manoeuvre, and rapid change of depth could be dangerous

Review of the Internet Connection on the Duke of York Liveaboard

The Duke of York liveaboard is one of the few liveaboards in the Maldives that offers internet onboard. It is available through a 4G modem, and you need to pay 25 USD per device you wish to connect for the week.

If you want to buy your own sim card and get your own internet connection during the cruise, read my article about getting internet while diving in the Maldives.

The internet was generally good. The exception is when we would cross between atolls, and during the night we spent on the Western point of the Felhidu atoll, where we got no signal for almost 24 hours.

Concluding My Review of the Duke of York Liveaboard

While it is not the newest boat cruising in the Maldives, the Duke of York Liveaboard is a solid luxury diving cruise option. It is a very comfortable boat, but what makes it unique is the experience and passion of its team. With over 25 years of experience diving the Maldives, they know how to craft the best itinerary for their guests. Even with the horrible weather we had during the week, they were able to deliver outstanding dives. Add to that the friendliness of the team, delicious food and bigger-than-average cabins, and you have a winning value proposition. I enjoyed my week diving on the Duke of York liveaboard and would love to dive with them again in the Maldives.

To book a cruise with the Duke of York liveaboard, check their website here or email them directly at  booking@luxuryyachtmaldives.com

 

If you are looking for a resort to spend a few days after your cruise, check out my review of the Maafushivaru resort.

And for more articles about the Maldives, read here. you can see the review of the other 3 liveaboards and have dived with in the Maldives.