Chase A. Wolf's

The Good Ship Orion

       By Chase A. Wolf  

      [HOME OFFICE NOTE:  After some uncertainty of Chase’s whereabouts – as chronicled in the previous post from Singapore – Chase resurfaced and forwarded us the following post from his well-deserved week of R&R diving in the Maldives.  There was none of the usual mention of his travel between countries, so we can only conclude that it passed uneventfully, or, that it was another white-knuckle terror in the skies from which Chase has blocked all thought and retreated to his Happy Place beneath the blue waters of the Maldives.]  

On approach from the air

Chase’s Log:  03.04.2010.  I found myself in the Maldives aboard the MY Orion for a much-needed week of diving, resting and detoxing after nearly six weeks of travel and meetings in nine countries.  I’ve been looking forward to this week the whole trip and left Home Office to mind the Global Shopping Adventures store.       

The streets of Male

      My first day is diving near Male, so it was nothing too spectacular, except we left Male in the afternoon and did a night dive near Ari Atoll which was very beautiful and swam with lots of fish I can’t name, skittering critters I can barely describe and, of course, the beautiful corals.  The visibility is pretty poor because of the plankton in the water. Normally, this would put the kibosh on my diving spirits, but not this time.  For plankton, you see, is the breakfast lunch and dinner of giant manta rays and the world’s largest fish – the whale shark.      

The Whale Shark

      And I plan to ride one like Slim Pickens riding the H-Bomb in Dr. Strangelove – or, you know, maybe at least swim real close.  

     The next morning we are promised schools of reef sharks cleaning themselves in a channel.  The only drawback is there is supposed to be a bit of current.  We – as in I – drop like a rock to about 96 feet and am swept along a coral embankment at a speed that felt like the first lap at Le Mans.  I manage to find a slightly sheltered spot and see several sharks off the reef. Read the rest of this entry »