I recently had the pleasure of a 7 night surf escape to the Maldives aboard the Ocean Devine. Its a 110 foot boat that sleeps 14 people comfortably, hand built by its owner David Mesnard.
It was probably one of the best surf holidays I've had so far. At 6am each morning the surfers would pile into the 40 foot support boat loaded with our boards and head to the break and surf till breakfast. By 9.30, the big boat would have arrived and anchored off the surf spot, we'd all enjoy breakfast, share some tales of the morning session and then head back out.
This routine of surf, breakfast, surf, lunch, surf, beer and dinner continued for the week in waves from 4 - 10 feet. We occasionally stopped for a scuba diving session, afternoon cocktail sessions on some remote island and David also runs a great free diving instructional program.
I took a 7'0" Ben McTavish shortboard gun, 7'9" Tracker and a 9'1" Fireball Evo II. It worked out to be a great mixture of board and I managed to have heaps of surf sessions on each of them.
A big thank you to Mark Kelly for organising the trip and Sarah Christensen Photography for the hours and hours she spent taking pictures. Also David & Gaelle Mesnard and their team for their faultless execution of the ultimate surf holiday.
If you wanted to check out the Ocean Devine, go to www.ocean-divine.com to see some more. Its a trip for surfers at all levels and I promise you'll have the trip of a lifetime!
Ben H
