It’s time for a little celebration as we wish happy birthday to Emperor Maldives!
This month brings up 10 years since we started bringing our special service to the stunning waters of the Indian Ocean.
Up until 2014, Emperor Divers had been almost exclusively Egypt-focused (with the exception of a brief foray into neighbouring Sudan) with the whole of our operation taking place on the Red Sea.
So, after 22 years or so of being based in just one country, we decided it was time for some diversification.
And so the Maldives was chosen for our new destination.
It’s fair to say it wasn’t a difficult choice as the country offers incredible diving in idyllic surroundings – white sand, palm trees, blue seas and coral atolls provide picture-perfect views above the waves, while underneath there are masses of fish, sharks, manta, critters and even giant whalesharks to be seen.
Emperor’s first steps into this new destination came via a partnership with Alex Bryant who had built up the excellent Constellation Fleet of liveaboards and was running a resort called Casa Mia.
The Constellation Fleet consisted of Leo, Orion and Virgo while Emperor started off with two boats, Voyager and Atoll, but had eyes on a third.
All five boats were offered to Emperor guests and it proved a huge success as divers who had previously gone to the Maldives were now able to dive with Emperor and many of our loyal customers were encouraged to try this destination for the first time.
Bernie McAteer moved from our Red Sea operations to become the Maldives General Manager and one of his first roles was to oversee the launch of our first ‘new’ liveaboard in the region, Emperor Serenity.
This stunning 40-metre boat was immediately popular, taking 26 divers to the famous coral atolls of the Maldives in fine style, with huge cabins and suites.
It was also clear the partnership with Constellation Fleet worked as the two companies merged meaning Alex became part of the ownership of Emperor Divers and remains CEO to this day.
The most recent addition came to the fleet came five years ago when Leo, Atoll, Virgo, Voyager and Serenity were joined by Emperor Explorer. And, minus Atoll who is no longer in active service, that is how we remain.
It’s been an exciting and interesting decade – one of great highs tempered by a certain pandemic-related low. However, we remain incredibly proud of our Maldives operation and our wonderful team who take such joy in sharing this amazing country with our guests.
We continue to thrive in the Maldives and can’t wait to create another decade (and more) of great memories for our liveaboard customers.