Discover what its like to charter in the Maldives on board the spectacular Galaktika Skay in this latest guest review. 

We were a friendly group of eight (four couples) on Galaktika Skay in March '22. It really was an unforgettable trip! I think it is one of my best and most memorable experiences at sea. Galaktika Skay is is a beautifully cosy four-deck yacht built with classic Italian style and the crew of five had no trouble dealing with any of our requests, we were embraced with comfort and care during an unforgettable week while we were in the Maldives. They always greeted us with a smile, good-natured and willing to help us with anything we needed.

THE DIVING

We had never been diving and didn't even know what it was, we were a bit scared! Niyaz, the onboard diving instructor suggested we try it, and two of us decided to do it. We were nervous and argued who would dive first, but then we watched a training film and Niyaz talked us through the instructions. He took each of us by the hand and we went down to shallow depths, teaching us everything we needed to know along the way. It’s a fantastic feeling going down to the sea floor, even in shallow waters, we saw turtles, lots of bright fish, octopuses changing colour before our eyes, and we even saw mantas, gracefully floating above our heads.

In the evening, the crew would turn on special lamps and mantas and huge whale sharks would come to our boat to feed on the illuminated plankton. Harmless nurse sharks and other sea creatures under the lights became even more fascinating! The crew showed us that we could swim with them if we wanted to! But we never dared haha!

THE FOOD

Chef Anatoly, who trained in a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant, really surprised us with his cuisine. We were swept away with absolutely everything he cooked, so much so that the women tried to ask him for his recipes but to no avail, as he always replied ‘I forgot!...’ keeping them a secret, which we understood and we laughed together about it.

We went out and explored wild white islands with azure water, swimming and sunbathing. The crew promptly set up everything for our carefree island vacation and catered to us. In the evenings we enjoyed sunsets on the islands and the crew cooked us a barbecue. They also made amazing sand figures of mantas and whale sharks for us and decorated it all with candles, lit a fire, put on beautiful music to which we enjoyed dancing, drinking wine and enjoying the fantastic starry sky! A night we will never forget.

BIG GAME FISHING 

You would not believe it, but we were fishing from a depth of 200 meters with special electric rods, which were fully controlled by electricity and a computer! I never in my life thought it was possible to fish like that. We put meat on the rod and we lowered a special weight that sank to the bottom in a few minutes, and immediately the huge fish were biting again and again! When the boat was moving the crew would put on the special spinning rods, which we used to fish for the huge wahoo and tuna! Chef Anatoly then made fresh sashimi and many other delicious dishes with the fresh fish we caught.

The crew would put us on a dhonis, special diving boats and we would drive up to the reefs and learn how to cast our spinning rods with plastic fish. Real fish didn't take long to show up, they bit instantly, and it was amazing. Often, we even let the fish go because there were so many of them.

ENTERTAINMENT

In the evenings we usually sang our favourite songs together on karaoke or played the games that were available on board! What's also important to mention is that there are a lot of separate areas on the boat, so we didn't get in each other’s way and we always had privacy.

One more thing! The stabilisers surprised me a lot! When we went out into the ocean, there were quite big waves as we were crossing between atolls, but we had very little rolling, the captain told me this was because they have the best stabilisers installed. On the atolls themselves, there is usually very little or no waves at all, as the ocean waves are dampened by the reefs that enclose all of the atolls.

I may not have been on many different boats, but Galaktika Skay truly amazed me! Falling asleep on the flybridge under a million stars is something I will never forget.

Looking to charter in the Maldives? Get in touch today: Charter@westnautical.com