Dune is adding yet another luxury liveaboard to its ever-expanding fleet, with the Noraya, which will ply the waters of the Maldives.
The Dune group operate liveaboards, dive centres and resorts in the Red Sea, the Maldives and Southeast Asia, and the Noraya will be the newest vessel.
The Noraya is currently under construction, but is due to launch in October 2023, and from the looks of the renderings, it is going to be a stunning vessel.
The liveaboard will have capacity for 28 guests, and will be accompanied by the usual secondary ‘dive dhoni', which will hold all of the dive gear and take all of the divers plus guides on their diving trips. However, going one step beyond, Noraya will also have a third speedboat, which will have room for 10 divers, or 15 snorkellers. The plan is that having this second ‘dive' vessel will allow the dive team to split groups according to their certification level and experience.
The Noraya is set to be off the same standard as the luxurious Alia in the Red Sea, and there will be several areas for relaxation, as well as three locations for dive briefings, again giving flexibility for different briefings for different experience levels, or those using another language.
There is going to be a dedicated camera room, with plenty of spaces to set up, clean, recharge and store camera rigs, and even a masseuse onboard, with an area designated for massages. What a way to round out a day of diving!
There will also be a number of kayaks and stand-up paddleboards for use by the guests when they are not diving.
Dune will be offering a single cabin – with no surcharge – for the first four bookings confirmed on every trip, which is great news for solo travellers.