Comparing Scubaspa to three other liveaboards I’ve experienced in Thailand, Australia, and Egypt this Maldives review reveals a heightened level of luxury. Renowned for its allure, the Maldives is a sought-after destination for divers eager to encounter Manta Rays and Whale Sharks in a single trip. This post delves into an in-depth assessment of Scubaspa, a liveaboard that stands out with its “Best of the Maldives” offering, showcasing an unparalleled blend of comfort and sophistication in the heart of this tropical paradise.

Pros and Cons of Scubaspa

Let’s get straight into the Pros and Cons of doing a trip with Scubaspa.

If you are interested in a luxury stay while diving the Maldives, this is the boat for you.

Overall Review of Scubaspa

Bottom line: I would use Scubaspa again because of three different liveaboards I have been on the boat is the most luxurious and comfortable; going into my next booking I would just have more realistic expectations of what the dives may be like. End of the day you can have uneventful dives anywhere, but you won’t find such gourmet food, amenities, or evening activities on other boats.

This is my personal opinion, and after speaking with some other passengers on the boat seemed to be a bit of a consensus of the people on board.

My one negative item for my review of Scubaspa is: the hunt for the big stuff, was a tad bit bothersome, and I felt about half of the dives were just us swimming around trying to find sharks, manta rays, and whale sharks. At the end of one day, a couple of divers were tired of it and were about to skip out on the last dive in frustration – I think the crew understood that and changed the dive to a pinnacle dive (or house reef) instead of what was originally planned (which is a plus for that captain reading the vibe of the people on board).

When it came to the big stuff unfortunately for us, we had no luck. Perhaps my opinion would be different if we had been lucky? But right now, personally I would rather visit a reef and happen to see one of those large animals than swim in  a barren area around hoping to spot one.

What made up for the handful of negative/underwhelming dives was the fact that the amenities and the rooms on the boat were fabulous. It was a great place to return to and relax after a day of diving.

Ultimately, I think perhaps I had too high of expectations going into my first trip. The Maldives is hyped up as a location to see Manta Rays and Whale Sharks afterall and the marketing has been very focused on this. However, just like any wildlife, there is no guarantee to see them. I think heading in with more realistic expectations would have eased some of my annoyance. Therefore, if you are still interested in scubaspa just remember that while there is scheduled time to interact with these animals there is always the chance the Manta or Whale Shark won’t be there – and the day may just be a wash.

Deep Dive into staying on Scubaspa

The Route of Scubaspa

I selected the 8 days, 7-night option for the liveaboard. I selected this route due to the fact that it will go from Male and back to Male.

The first day is simply loading. You will most likely board on a Saturday, or Day 1, but will not even depart the port until the morning of the second day as people are able to board up until the early morning of Day 2.

From there you will dive three times a day at a variety of dive sites. Typically the boat will move in the morning, and then in the later afternoon. Here is a list of Atolls that you will dive at across the entire trip:

• North Male Atoll
• Rasdhoo Atoll
• North Ari Atoll
• South Ari Atoll
• Vaavu Atoll
• South Male Atoll

The last dive will be in the afternoon of the second to last day (within about 18 hours of deboarding). So if you book a flight immediately after deboarding the boat then you will be unable to do the last dive as the boat follows the 24 hours rule. It is best to book a flight for late afternoon or evening if possible – or stay at a resort/hotel for a day.

Dive Spots visited with Scubaspa

“The Best of Maldives” focuses on hunting the big stuff. We spent one full day trying to find Manta Rays, and another full day dedicated to trying to find whale sharks. This is great if this is on your bucket list of creatures to swim with.

Manta Rays

However, the locations that you will visit in order to see Whale Sharks and Manta Rays will be barren. As in, there isn’t anything else to really look at. Unfortunately for us, the Manta Rays did not make an appearance, and it was a pretty boring dive being hooked to a rock near a cleaning station hoping for a Manta Ray to swim up. The second location we searched for a Manta Ray at had such a strong current that it was far from exciting to dive at (especially since it felt we were swimming in it the entire time). While I understand the need to please guests with trying to find the big stuff, a majority of the divers on the boat would have rather done pinnacle dives and been fortunate to see a Manta than to hang out at a place that is ultimately boring if there are no Mantas – unfortunately a negative for my review of Scubaspa.

The locations that are visited in order to see Manta Rays or Whale Sharks are also very popular locations for other dive companies. Therefore there will be a lot of other divers in the water. When we arrived at the Manta cleaning station I was not surprised a Manta didn’t show up as there were divers everywhere swimming all about the cleaning station – I wouldn’t have come over either!

Whale Sharks

The whale shark day is a snorkel day. This is run like most whale shark snorkel charters. You will board the dive boat and motor about trying to find a whale shark at the surface. Then everyone throws on their snorkel gear in a hurry and jumps in the water to chase the whale shark with their go pro.

I didn’t participate in this one, as it was not really my cup of tea and I feel contradicted the whale shark encounter brief that Scubaspa gives before the going out on the tour. This is another negative for my review of Scubaspa.

I would recommend more natural encounters with Whale Sharks at places like the Similan Islands.

Nurse Sharks

Almost all liveaboards will visit Alimatha House Reef. The reason for this is because the Alimatha house reef hosts hundreds of nurse sharks. A couple of years ago the resort used to feed the nurse sharks in order to attract them for guests. While the feeding has stopped, the sharks have become conditioned to come to this location expecting there to be food.

This dive shows the impacts of feeding sharks, or wildlife, and how it affects their patterns. Even though nurse sharks are not fed anymore (that I am aware) the nurse sharks still migrate in masses to this location.

This dive is great if you want to dive with sharks, but divers should be conscious about how this dive came about to be and that this overall is not a great dive practice.

If you do this dive, ensure that you are very overweighted. You will be sitting on the bottom in the sand, and there may be a strong current. The extra weight will help with staying in one spot.

House Reefs

Other than the locations hunting the big stuff, there will be a couple of dives to pinnacle reefs or house reefs of resorts. I think these were the best dive of the trip as this is when you will see colorful hard and soft coral and a variety of reef fish. Some groups used this time to go looking for other reef sharks, but I opted to just enjoy what I know I could find instead of hoping to find a shark.

Read more about diving in the Maldives here.

Activities on Scubaspa

Other than diving Scubaspa boasts about some other activities that can be done on the boat. There are activities offered for non-divers, however, I did not participate in any of those so I will only focus on the ones that divers were able to do.

Yoga

One of the main reasons I signed up fro Scubaspa, and a reason many others on the boat did, was due to the listed yoga time. According to the schedule posted online, there will be a morning yoga class. Given the time period, we thought this meant that we could go diving and then participate in the yoga.

Well, unfortunately, the yoga is actually scheduled at the same time as the first dive. This earned a negative point in my review of Scubaspa. So you will not be able to do yoga without sacrificing the dive. Given that everyone on our boat was diving, except one person, I do not think anyone did yoga.

The director organized an afternoon class one day due to so much interest (or maybe complaint?). The overall verdict, however, was that the class was more stretching than real yoga and after that, the passengers gave up trying to get it onto the schedule.

Barbeque on the Beach

One of the evenings is dinner, or barbeque, on the beach. The crew will set up tables with a buffet and a giant family-style table for all the guests. This was a nice experience to just enjoy a candlelit dinner on somewhere other than the boat.

The island is very tiny, and actually has some trash built up in the shrubs that are there.

Bar on the Beach

The following night was similar, where there was a bar on the beach instead. The same concept, everyone is chartered over to a tiny island and there is a bar set up on the sand. This time a bunch of the bean bag chairs from the boat are brought over and guests lounge around on the beach with drinks and snacks before dinner is served.

This was similar to the barbeque on the beach, where the island is tiny and there was trash build up in the shrubbery.

Spa services on Scubaspa

The boat earns the name Scubaspa due to the chance to dive or partake in the spa. This is what makes the boat a great compromise between a couple that says has a husband who likes diving, but a wife that has no interest. Packages can be booked in three categories (this is for the 8-day itinerary):

• Diving only (~16 dives)
• Diving and Spa: 6 dives,  4 spa treatments
• Spa only: 8 spa treatments

Everyone on our boat opted to do the diving only, but there was time to participate in the spa during the off-time such as the 2-3 hours in the afternoon or in the later evening. I did not participate in any of the spa services personally, because I felt that it was a bit too expensive. I don’t remember the exact price and it isn’t listed online, but know it was over $100 for a majority of the items. A lot of the guests opted out of the spa services after seeing the prices. I personally opted for some cheaper ones at a resort following the liveaboard.

Amenities on Scubaspa

There are a lot of amenities on Scubaspa, which is why the boat is probably one of the best boats I have been on so far in my liveaboard experiences.

Wifi

This was actually the first liveaboard I have been on that had wifi. You are given 1GB free, and then after that will have to pay $10 per 1GB. I don’t know how I managed it but I went through the 1GB in one day, it felt like seconds. I bought another 1GB and that somehow lasted me the rest of the trip – even though I didn’t change anything that I did previously.

Ultimately, you will get some free wifi, but don’t expect to make it last through the entire 7 days.

Rooms on Scubaspa

This will be the aspect I am most pleased within my review of Scubaspa.

There are three different room options.

• Manta Suites
• Dolphin Suites
• Seastar Cabins

The suites will be on the upper deck, while the Seastar cabins are all located downstairs.

Overall, the rooms are fabulous. It is equal to staying at a hotel. The bathrooms are large, spacious with walk-in showers (no shower over a toilet like some liveaboards). The manta and dolphin suites have large queen beds, and several of the Seastar cabins do as well. The other Seastar cabins have bunk bed formations so individuals traveling with friends aren’t sharing a bed.

The suites have the added benefit of having large panoramic windows, and some nicer tiled bathrooms.

I would note that if you are prone to seasickness that the upper deck (or main) sways more than having a cabin on the lower deck so that could weigh in when selecting a room.

Ultimately, I think all the rooms are great, and I think the main deciding factor would be if you want a giant window or not. I did not spend enough time in the room to warrant a window I believe so I am glad I opted for the seastar cabins.

Lounging Areas

In between dives you will probably want to find somewhere to lounge around, get a tan (or sunburn), read a book, or just relax. Luckily I can add another positive item to this review of Scubaspa and say that there are a lot of great locations to lounge on the boat.

There are four areas that are great for lounging:

• The front deck of the boat
• Upper deck
• Bar area
• Spa area

Each is outside, the bar and spa area are the most shaded. The bar area has the most seating as this is where a majority of the meetups will be.

The upper and front deck area is where you will find all the sunbathers – as a majority of these sections are completely uncovered.

The chairs and lounge areas are super comfortable and are great for an after dive snooze.

Jacuzzi

On the upper deck, there is a jacuzzi. I avoided it for most of the trip as I thought it would be busy (it is only a four-person jacuzzi) and that it would be hot. The temperature for the trip was scolding, so I couldn’t imagine wanting to sit in some boiling water while the sun was beating down on me.

However, good news, the water is actually cool! Or maybe it felt like that compared to the outside temperature, either way, it was not the typical hot jacuzzi that most are used to.

So jump in, turn on the jets and enjoy looking out over the horizon from the upper deck jacuzzi – another positive for this review of Scubaspa.

Bar

As previously mentioned in the lounge section, there is also a bar located on the scubaspa. In the morning this is where you can get a variety of coffees or teas before the first dive. Later in the evening after the last dive, this is where you’ll get the evening special cocktail, or whatever your heart desires.

The bar was a great addition and another positive for my review of Scubaspa. This was another first for me on a liveaboard, I have only been on one other that allowed alcohol and it was bring your own!

However, be warned, the prices are pretty expensive (and not listed anywhere). I think it was around $10 for a beer and $15 for a cocktail. If you have two drinks a night you will be leaving with approximately $230 bar tab at the end. A couple of guests were surprised by the end cost of the bar tab.

Food

The food is amazing. There isn’t much really needed to be added. There is a large buffet style, with starters and then options for the main course. This was hand downs one of the best parts of the boat.

Scubaspa Ying or Yang

Trying to decide between Ying or Yang?

Well from what I understand there is no difference between the boats. One is just named Ying, and the other is named Yang.