Last Updated on Sunday, 7 November 2010 10:39
Written by Admin
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Holiday Maldives
Today, for the first dive we went to Dega Thila, which is uniquely formed and home to thousands of invertebrates. This reef has lately been famous for seeing Frog Fish, and today we found 4 frog fish. Despite the poor visibility close observation on sponges and black coral bushes offered a great variety of small stuff to see.
The second dive was to Maalhos Thila, considered as one of the luxury holidays in maldives best in terms of hard coral and soft coral varieties, offers one of the best coral dives in Maldives. The jumping time couldnt be any perfect, with almost no current we managed to do an enjoyable an easy dive.
maldives sharks diving reef
Leopard Shark
The third dive was planned for Dhonkalo Thila but the current was running in, and after a brief explanation to the divers about the poor current direction, we decided to dive Dhonkalo Thila tomorrow morning and switch todays third dive to Ran Faru.
Located on the north side of Maalhos Thila, this reef is a common site for a third dive when current conditions are poor. The main attraction here is the caves and the chunk of coral block near the corner. These areas are covered with different colors of soft coral and the hard coral growth is average. Due to the sandy bottoms here, Leopard sharks visit this dive site to rest on the soft grounds, and seeing one here will be an unforgettable experience.
The first dive began today at 06:30 and we went off to Kuda Rah Thila. After checking the dive guide announce that there are strong currents, we let the divers know that a quick descend was necessary in order to get the best vantage point. We jump a few meters away from the Thila and began navigating to the reef.
The action of the up current created poor visibility but it was clear enough to see the giant dog tooth tunas that were chasing the school of fusiliers at the up current.
whale sharks maldives diving scuba reef
Whale Shark
After the dive, during breakfast, the Sting Ray sailed to the outer reef in search of whale sharks. Before the search began everyone agreed that we would make only 2 dives and gave more concentration on the search. About 3 hours in we found the first whale shark near Holiday Island Beyru Faru.
Everyone got to snorkel with it while divers who had cams could snap photographs and shoot videos of the massive fish.
For the third dive we moved to western side of the atoll to Raidhigaa Island and dove at Dhigaa Thila. The visibility remained poor on this dive too, but when we observed the caves and overhangs closely we managed to see loads of small stuff.
On returning from the third dive and after a snack everyone went of f to the barbeque feast on an uninhabited Island.
This morning at Kandooma Thila the current was running in at medium to strong, so we decided to begin the dive from Cocoa Corner and cross the channel and finish the dive at Kandooma Thila.
We jumped to Cocoa Corner and once all the divers were underwater we began to swim towards the corner and by facing the current we swam all the way to the middle of the channel and drifted inside the channel and finally ended at the Thila.
Many Gray Reef sharks were lingering at the channel entrance, while a few white tips congregated near the Thila and a school of eagle rays were also among the highlights.
eagle rays maldives reef diving scuba
Eagle Rays
The second dive we did at southern Ari atoll, Omadhoo Thila, with almost no current. This was not good for a big fish dive, but it was a rather relaxing dive with heaps of small fish instead.
The third dive was to 5 Rocks where the oriental sweetlip current was very strong, but all the divers managed to make a quick descent and get the protection of the reef. We saw a few white tips from the up current including dog tooth tunas and tons of fusiliers. After some time we drifted into the tiny channel and swam through it all until the shadow.
The visibility was poor in both the atolls but the dives turned out to very enjoyable. The weather is great with calm seas and the temperature remains at a sunny 30 degrees Celsius.
Tomorrow is a big day because we are going for a whale shark search after the first dive. For today our final anchorage is Dhangethi lagoon, and after the dive some of the divers went off to the island for an excursion.
Blogging
blog info
