THE MALDIVES IS AS FAMOUS FOR WHAT LIES BELOW ITS SKY-BLUE SEAS AS FOR THE DAZZLING BEACHES THAT REST ABOVE IT. CHRIS MITCHELL AND PHOTOGRAPHER JEZ TRYNER EXPLORE THE AMAZING OVER- AND UNDER-WATER SIGHTS OF THE MALÉ AND ARI ATOLLS

THINK OF THE MALDIVES AND YOU PICTURE tropical beaches, sunsets over aquamarine seas and beautiful beachside resorts. But what’s above the water is only half the story when it comes to this island nation scattered over some 800km of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is defined as much by the water that surrounds it as what’s on the atolls themselves. Where the sandy beaches provide little habitat for life, a few metres away there is an unparalleled diversity of marine life revered by scuba divers the world over.

But you don’t have to get into the ocean to appreciate the unparalleled richness of the waters surrounding the Maldives – just standing on Soneva Gili resort’s (www.. sixsenses.com/soneva) jetty and looking down into the water, you can see tropical fish and juvenile rays skittering across the sand a few inches beneath the ocean’s surface. As the first resort in the Maldives to be built wholly over the water, Soneva Gili also invested heavily in regenerating and protecting the marine environment around the island of Lankafushi, on which it’s based. Aft er painstakingly removing a large concrete wall built in the ocean by the previous resort owners, the waters around Soneva Gili were revived and became a burgeoning nursery for numerous sea species, including tiny blacktip sharks and baby mobular rays. A resident marine biologist at sister resort Soneva Fushi oversees coral regeneration and marine life care programmes.

It’s a rule of thumb for divers that for the most pristine reefs and abundant marine life, you have to be prepared to travel to the most remote places. But due to local conservation efforts there are some excellent dive sites a few minutes’ boat ride from the bustling capital of Malé and its surrounding resorts. Submerge into the water at a site like Nassimo Thila and you’re greeted by huge schools of yellow snapper, thousands of fish strong, moving in perfect synchronicity. Fronds of soft coral resplendent in electric reds and purples cling to the huge boulders that sit on the sandy bottom of the seabed, wreathed in clouds of tiny glassfish. Look away from the reef and out into the blue, and you can see for 40 metres, the deepening shades of blue shot through by the Maldivian sun, still visible above. The colours are vivid and saturated, like an image-enhanced picture postcard, except it’s all completely real.

The abundance of the reefs near Malé spark excitement about what’s to be seen in remoter areas hidden from boat traffic or other human contact. The lure of oceanic whitetip sharks, manta rays or possibly whale sharks – the biggest fish in the world at 12m-long fully grown – sees many divers take to a liveaboard. Originally, these were quite primitive affairs for hardcore dive enthusiasts only. Th e MV Sachika (www.sachikaliveaboard.com) typifies the new breed; a floating luxury resort with comforts including a Jacuzzi, spa

and massage treatments, and huge buffets of freshly cooked food. Non-divers can have just as much fun as their scuba-ready friends; with island hopping, snorkelling and sunbathing options, the ever-changing vistas of the Maldivian ocean provide a consistent background distraction.

Over the course of a week the Sachika traces a route between Malé, Ari and Felidhe atolls, crisscrossing between numerous tiny deserted islands within the atolls. These islands signify thilas, pinnacles of rock rising up from the ocean floor of which the sandy top is the only part visible above water. Down below, thilas are the aquatic equivalent of skyscrapers, home to all manner of marine life, from the tiny coral polyps that make up the enormous, man-size coral fans, to the dustbin lid-sized grey stingrays that shuffle across the sand, to the enormous but elusive whale shark which can sometimes be spotted straight off the boat’s sundeck, basking a couple of metres below the surface. Thilas are also the cause of a couple of shipwrecks, like the Kuda Giri and Kudima, which have now been reclaimed by the sea and become impromptu marine sanctuaries.

At the edge of the atolls lie the channels, where the outside ocean meets the atoll’s interior waters. Channels are magnets for divers; they’re one of the best places to see whitetip and grey reef sharks up close as they ride in on the strong ocean currents. This is a real Maldivian adrenaline experience, watching sharks eff ortlessly cruise by while hanging on to any available rock to avoid being swept away by the insistent movement of the water.

 

Sharks have an undeniable allure, but the highlight of the liveaboard trip for us was a more serene encounter with arguably the most graceful creature in the ocean – the manta ray. Known to congregate at certain coral bommies (a prominent coral outcrop), mantas will hover there, stationary, so smaller pilot fish can clean them – it’s effectively an underwater car wash. At Donkalo in Ari atoll, the cleaning station attracted not just one manta ray – a cause for celebration in itself – but three of them, queuing in orderly

fashion to await their turn before playfully hovering over the bubbles coming from the divers below. To see a four-metre-wide manta ray swoop over you only inches away, moving its black-cowled bulk with utter fluidity, is to witness one of nature’s greatest creations. As a finale to our liveaboard experience, it was unforgettable.

Back on land at the Sheraton Full Moon resort (www.. starwoodhotels.com) to relax before leaving, it’s impossible to resist the temptation to have one last dive – there always seems to be something more to see. The Sheraton is the nearest five-star resort to Malé Airport and has access to the same great sites as Soneva Gili. A final dive on Lankan Reef proved to be turtle heaven – no less than seven of these endearing creatures were spotted, busy munching coral, drifting on the gentle current or simply sound asleep. Moments before surfacing, one super-curious turtle circled around us, completely unafraid and thoroughly intrigued about the noisy creatures in its realm. As a friendly farewell from the underwater world of the Maldives, it was hard to beat.

LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE IN THE MALDIVES

With its warm waters, great visibility and incredible marine life, the Maldives is the ideal place to learn to dive. While it may look intimidating, scuba diving is easy to understand and also very safe. Besides the thrill of being able to breathe underwater, the sensation of being almost weightless while submerged is the nearest most of us will get to experiencing astronaut-like zero gravity.

Virtually every Maldives resort has an associated dive school that will be happy to provide you with scuba diving lessons. If you just want to give scuba a go without committing to a full course, pick the PADI Discover Scuba Diving option – this gets you straight into the water and only takes a couple of hours of your time. If you want to get a scuba certification that lets you dive anywhere in the world, you can do a PADI Open Water Diver course – this takes three to four days and includes four dives within the course itself.

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