…The Sunny Side of Life

The warm seas of Maldives have high visibility throughout the year; with water clear enough to see the passing fish as far as fifty metres away at times. The marvelous formation of over 3000 coral reefs found among the 26 and the free flowing of the monsoons are the result of these perfect conditions creating one of the world’s richest diving coral areas.

Over a thousand species of fish and other underwater creatures inhabit the Maldivian waters. The monsoon tides of the Indian Ocean create a collection of small marine creatures as well as microscopic plant cells. This in turn creates a hub for all kinds of underwater species that gather in these waters lured by the abundance of food. In the Maldives you will get to see everything from tiny shrimp and groups of colourful swimmers to the magnificent mantas and sharks, a careful eye will give you enough to fascinate you for a lifetime.

The Maldives has become one of the world’s premier destinations, because of the abundance of amazing white sand beaches, coral reefs, clear warm waters and many scuba diving sites with rich marine life. Most holiday resorts in the Maldives have a scuba diving facility and a number of live-on-board (LOB) operators offering scuba diving cruises to dive sites all over the Maldives.

Our LOB dive adventure with MV Iruvai starts when we were picked up by the dive dhoni from the jetty in Male to our boat that we call home for a week, pampered with the facilities and the service crew on board. The dive dhoni would be our floating dive centre throughout the week. Manned by a captain and two dedicated, friendly and attentive dhoni crews, whose job are to ensure that all our diving needs are taken care of, including filing up the tanks, getting us to the dive sites, assisting us with our dive gears and getting into and off the water.

Dives in the Maldives usually takes place along a faru (reef), a thila (a submerged aquarium like reef, on a channel where the meets the ocean, or on a wreck. Many scuba divers are keen to dive in the Maldives because of the presence of whale sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, grey sharks, tiger sharks, blacktip reef sharks or eagle rays and the countless fish and turtles which have found their home in the reef as well as many smaller fish and coral species.

We did several channel dives to get close to the sharks. A thorough briefing with a dive plan at hand on how we should tackle each challenging site by the dive master, we are prepared mentally to face the shift . Holding on to the rocks at 30 metres depth, our cameras start clicking and video rolling with every passing shark swimming close to us. After 15 - 20 minutes of bottom action time, all we need to do is let go of the rock we are holding on and drift with the current until we reached calm water where we could comfortably perform our safety stop before surfacing.

Night diving is particularly beautiful as is a macro dive that lets you see tiny, interesting and usually disregarded creatures up close and personal. However, our night dives were exceptionally exciting. Instead of the usual shrimps, crabs and other nocturnal muck creatures, we went for the majestic pelagic stuffs like mantas, nurse sharks, stingrays and trevallies.

The night atmosphere of nurse shark feeding is eccentric. Hugh 3-metre sharks struggling to get their share of food in a container filled with fishes. The stingrays and trevallies joined in the feeding frenzy. Shining the dive torchlight above and below after the dive at 3 metres, you will see hundreds of sharks, attracted by the divers’ lights as we return to the dhoni. An experience that no diver’s should miss when diving in the Maldives!

On its surface we are fascinated by the crystalline waters and its turquoise colours which hide underneath, wide coral reefs with a huge variety of marine fauna. Schools of Manta Ray are a common sight. Best opportunity for taking video and photo up close. However, for most divers the star is the whale shark. Swimming next to it is an unforgettable experience.

Although we did have the chance to see the whale shark during our trip this time and missed the BBQ dinner on the island due to the weather, we did had a great time with the mantas and the great experience living-on-board. They will be another day and we will definitely be back!

Before we left Maldives for home, I had the opportunity to visit my long-time friend who is kind enough to host us for a day at the Holiday Inn Kandooma. Just 45 minutes away by speedboat from Male, the Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma has 160 villas in four different styles of beach and garden villas, beach houses, family villas and overwater villas. Each villa type has been designed with cool clean lines with white washed timber providing warm texture to the unshod foot. Large picture windows mean that you are only a glance away from the great blue outdoors.

Whether you are a seasoned diver, or an absolute beginner, Kandooma’s Dive Centre is thoughtfully set up to cater to all your diving needs. Run by internationally accredited dive operator, the dive centre welcomes divers of all ability levels and nationalities for a sojourn beneath the clear blue waters of Kandooma Fushi.