Diving in the Maldives

The first impressions of Maldives are made from the flight while landing. A group of islands that are clearly visible as the plane descends. The tiny archipelago is sustained on tourism alone and most locals are courteous while things move quite fast. We had booked a ferry to Mathiveri about a couple of hours after scheduled landing but we were out in half an hour. The island of Malé has numerous constructions ongoing to house its dense population. All items need to be imported as the tiny islands are not capable of sustained industry. Main mode of commute across islands is ferries, and while ferries to the airport from Malé are frequent, the other trips would have to be planned in advance.

The boat service company (Atoll) had already gotten someone to receive us there and get us to the ferry. A long and bumpy boat ride later, we got to Mathiveri with the sun just setting. Mathiveri is a lazy island with one football ground where the action occurs. The scuba, snorkeling and other water sports are there as options but this is an island mostly to relax. Came across a couple of sharks, moray eels and turtles while diving but we spent most of our time lazing on the beaches watching sunrise and sunset.

 

Going to Thulsdoo required a ferry to Malé and then one to the island. We got there and realized, our rooms were booked on a nearby island and there were no ferries to take us there. So, we got another room in Thulsdoo found the pool at the terrace and the open ocean in front for a few swims. Cut short the ocean swim when I found a lionfish very close to the shore and probably almost stepped on a sea snake. The next morning as we waited for our ferry after breakfast, we saw a large school of dolphins pass by at just a few hundred meters from the shore.
 

The last stop on our trip was Mafushi. We were going to spend only an afternoon there, but the first dive was so much fun, that we decided to cut time in
Malé and postponed our boat by 12 hours to do two more dives and a snorkeling trip. The dives had multiple moray eels, turtles, black tip and white tip reef sharks, manta rays and eagle rays. While getting surface time between the dives, manage to snorkel with 3 mantas which kept circling me very closely. Unfortunately, dropped the camera out in the ocean as I climbed back after the second dive and lost all photos of the day. The afternoon snorkeling trip was much better with 7-8 turtles, a moray eel and some stormy seas to end the incredible trip.