To be honest, we think we’re doing a cracking good job at bringing you closer to the beauty of diving. And since the Sport Diver Awards are back, this is your opportunity to nominate your favourite overseas dive centre and be in with the chance of winning great prizes!

We’ve been sharing the stunning underwater world that has made the Maldives one of the top scuba diving destinations with you for over 20 years.

Whether it’s giving diving a go, trying something new (A ride on a scooter? Bubble-free rebreather diving?), going pro on our IDC courses or simply having a whole lot of fun, we’re doing our best to provide you with the kick you’re looking for.

The Best Overseas Dive Centre Award is meant to reward truly exceptional dive centers (hint!) and help them stand out from the crowd, thrive and continue to offer great service to the diving community.

Nominate your favourite by sending the following to 80058 (UK-based mobiles only. Voting lines close at midnight on 20 March):

SD VOTE [OS] [PRODIVERS MALDIVES] [YOU@YOUREMAIL.COM]

Read more about Sport Diver Awards 2012, detailed terms and conditions and the awesome goodies, worth a total of over £11,000, that are up for grabs here.

Before those of you who know Mike have a small heart attack and fear he has gone and decided to start a family, don’t worry, he hasn’t… as far as we know. We are merely referring to his irritating habit of copying Peter Griffins (of Family Guy fame) laugh. This is annoying for two reasons: first it is an annoying laugh. Second, it’s incredibly catchy and if you enter the dive centre, or perhaps, even more worryingly, join us  on a dive you are more likely to hear the Nehehehe… than any other sound (or at least see a stream of uncontrolled bubbles rise from our instructors regulators).

This may seem an unusual way of starting the second entry for our instructor journals; however Mike is nothing if not unusual, so it seems fitting. When we last left Mike he had embarked on a new course after a stint at the counter in the dive centre. We are pleased to report that his course was successful, not only did his students  survive his tuitions, but they passed and we are able to welcome  new certified divers. Congratulations, Therese, Marie and Ulf!

Seeing new divers grasp the basics and make those first few fin strokes into the underwater world can be very satisfying for an instructor, and Mike in no expecption. So much so that he has chosen to take another Open Water course straight after this, so as not to let his teaching skills wane. We are sure his students are receiving a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and anecdotes that Mike has to offer (whether they like it or not), and hopefully some diving tuition as well.

Outside of the diving, it has been a week of quiet social gatherings with tales of our past lives, and speculating on future ones. Mike awaits the arrival of an old army friend, and passes the time playing cards. But everyone beats him. Even Raph. And he’s French… Nehehehhe!

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be an instructor at Prodivers? We decided to start keeping a diary and give you an insight into our instructors’ daily jobs (mostly diving-related, with some cheeky stories if appropriate!). True tales of people who spend their days exploring what lies beneath the water surface, testimonials of their amazing sightings, the joy they feel after their students eventually grasp ‘which of those thingies goes into their mouth’ and the stress they undergo when assigned dive centre duty.

The first in a series of diaries, Mister January so to speak, is a man with a heart of gold, perfectly disguised as a tough Swedish do-not-mess-around-with type of a guy. He loves football (yet doesn’t play due to his alleged allergy to grass). A bird lover who is known to have one or two caged in his room and a pioneer in outlandish beach wear, at the cutting edge of diving fashion. He has even been known to sample the occasional ale after a long days work, as he relaxes in a quiet and calm fashion enjoying the good views and better company offered by the Prodivers team.

Due to his heroic efforts on New Year’s day he was rewarded a relaxing stint at the dive center where he was able to interact with the diverse clientele of the resort whilst motivating the rest of the staff with renditions of Johnny Cash classics.

To ease him back to the daily diving life, Michael opted to take up a more active teaching role with an Open Water Course, introducing some novices to the exciting underwater world.

We wish Michael and, most importantly, his students good luck with the course. We’ll keep you updated on how it goes and share his experiences and escapades over the next month.

The traditional Christmas Treasure Hunt took place on Komandoo house reef yesterday.  Santa came to Komandoo early in the morning and left hidden some presents on the coral reef. Fifteen divers and eight snorkelers were lucky enough to  find them. Thank you Santa for all the presents and we all promise to be good guys next year so that we will get some more!!

You should have seen the grin on Alex’s face a few days ago.  We reckon she will win this year’s PD competition for the most epic sighting – a hammerhead shark. These big fellas are not very common around here, but the group of divers that she guided on Vaavaru Outreef were some of the lucky ones to have spotted this rare creature. Even though it passed by in a blink of an eye everybody froze at the sound of Alex’s rattle and admired the shark.

Hammerhead sharks, that can grow up to 6 meters, use their oddly shaped heads to improve their ability to find prey. Their wide-set eyes give them a better visual range than most other sharks. And by spreading their highly specialized sensory organs over their wide, mallet-shaped head, they can more thoroughly scan the ocean for stingrays, their favourite food.

We’re very flattered every time a familiar face enters the front door. Who wouldn’t be please to have up to 800 repeater guests per year returning to dive? The elaborate repeater discount programme than Prodivers launched along with the establishment in 1988 is one of its kind in the world and, given that almost 25 per cent of our divers are repeaters, seems to be working well.

We’re happy to give our divers a 10 per cent discount on their dives for their second visit, 15 per cent for their third, 20 per cent for their fourth and 25 per cent for all subsequent visits until their 10^th visit when they dive free of charge. Apart from the generous discount that we reckon is encouraging enough for them to return, along with several PD freebies, what it comes down to is the flexibility that we’re more than willing to show, especially with regard to dive sites requests and instructor preferences. What is more, a lot of repeater guests have become real friends by now, it’s just great to see them bringing up memories from previous visits and feel the great atmosphere that is in itself a good reason to come back to dive with us.

There have been many repeater divers at Prodivers in the last couple of weeks, so we organized a special dive at Kuredu Express for them. The below pictures show quite nicely the great vibe that was present. We’re looking forward to having all the repeater guests back again, some of the guests will be here already on their 30^th visit next year.

Let’s not waste words this time. If you were to compile a list of top ten fantasy dives, you’d include diving with dolphins in the wild, wouldn’t you?

Our divers, guided by Sebastjan, were incredibly lucky to be greeted by four dolphins at Christmas Rock and then again at Easa Faru in the Noon Atoll. Hannah took this lovely photo and let’s use it as a teaser for those of you who have been here and all of you who have just to decide to come!

It was one of those days when you wake up and know it is going to be a good one.

Diving in channels provides some extraordinary diving, as the rich soup is funnelled through the ‘kandus‘ between reefs and as such attracts the whole food chain to a feeding frenzy. It’s not all fun and games for the fish, but the feeling of effortlessly gliding through the water holding on to a scooter and observing all the action that is taking place is something that everyone should try out.

During the KFFC-Peak crossing our divers spotted a squadron of 30 eagle rays, lots of sharks were passing by under and above them and – a cherry on top of the cake for Ben’s birthday – a huge manta ray. Another underwater scooter dive turned out to be, well – epic.

Join our underwater scooter introduction or even the PADI Scooter Specialty Course and try it out yourself! We’re also planning to do some scooter diving during our Shark or Ray Every Day Special!

Aahh, we love our jobs, especially when we get to take part in very special, slightly different and this time – romantic dives. A couple of days ago we helped Ben, one of our guests, devise a plan to take his girlfriend on a dive. It turned out to be a very memorable one, for both of them.

Louise, diving in open water for the first time, didn’t have the slightest idea that her first dive would be so… well, stressful. She might have forgotten the ‘never hold your breath’ rule that our instructor Muin had taught her when Ben knelt down on the sandy bottom, showing her THE question written on the diving slate.

Given Louise’s ‘yes!’, we’re happy that we could help out with Ben’s quirky surprise and we’re hoping there will be lots of memorable moments like this in their life as Mr. & Mrs. Cook!

Imagine a squadron of eagle rays streaming past,  a couple of majestic mantas lingering around for half an hour and you diving with a scooter amongst them.  Oh,  and a whaleshark.

As evidenced by the photo,  one can have amazing encounters around Vakarufalhi.  This one took place at Digura Corner and there seems to be something about scooters that attracts big fish,  as our divers have been having similar experiences quite frequently.  Whalesharks remain surprisingly calm and don’t seem to be bothered by the excited divers at all.

What is even more awesome is that Marco,  one of the divers,  filmed the enviable encounter.  Not the worst idea for a souvenir from the Maldives!