Maldives: Scuba Diving and Snorkeling

 Scuba Diving

With its beautifully clear, warm waters, the Maldives has perfect conditions for scuba diving. An added bonus was Helengeli Resort setting up and loading our equipment onto the boats for us; usually, putting my tank together and dragging it onto the boat is the worst part of diving for me. We did three dives in total, and besides loads of tropical fish and abundant coral, on one dive we saw a group of three manta rays in the distance. Though I've seen rays closer up in the aquarium, it was majestic to see them flying free in the open waters.

Manta Rays 

Harlequin Sweetlip

Oval Butterfly Fish

Clown Triggerfish

Meyer's Butterflyfish

Humbug Dascyllus

Double-saddled Butterflyfish

Looks like a shark!

Snorkeling

Unfortunately, we never had good timing with the tide to check out the house reef at Helengeli Resort, so we can't report on that. We did, however, take a snorkeling trip to one of the nearby atolls, with the boat dropping us in the water a short distance away. After scuba diving, which once you get under water often involves just gliding along, snorkeling with all the swimming and kicking against the surface tide seemed like a lot of work. OD made use of his underwater camera again and got some great shots of schools of tropical fish.

Moorish Idol

Yellowhead Butterfly Fish

Powder-blue Surgeonfish

Our one souvenir of the trip, the book Reef Fishes of the Maldives by Dr. R. Charles Anderson, came in handy in identifying the fish in the photos above. And of course, learning the different types of coral and aquatic species is part of the fun.