Maldives Underwater: The World's Most Spectacular Coral Gardens
Below the Maldives' famous overwater bungalows lies a world of equal beauty — coral gardens teeming with manta rays, whale sharks, and reef fish in colours that seem too vivid to be natural.
The Maldives is an archipelago of 1,192 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka. The islands are the tops of an ancient volcanic ridge that has subsided over millions of years, leaving only the coral reefs that grew on its flanks above the water. The average elevation of the Maldives is 1.5 metres above sea level, making it the lowest-lying country on Earth and one of the most vulnerable to the rising sea levels caused by climate change. The underwater world that surrounds the islands — the coral reefs, the channels between atolls, and the open ocean beyond — is one of the richest marine environments on the planet.
The coral reefs of the Maldives support over 1,100 species of fish, 200 species of coral, and five species of marine turtle. The channels between the atolls — known as kandus — are swept by strong currents that bring nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean, creating conditions that attract large pelagic species: manta rays, whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, and schools of tuna and barracuda. The South Ari Atoll is the best place in the Maldives to see whale sharks — the world's largest fish, which can reach 12 metres in length — which are present year-round in the waters around the atoll.
The manta rays of the Maldives are among the most spectacular marine encounters the archipelago offers. The reef manta ray — which has a wingspan of up to 5 metres — congregates at cleaning stations on the reef, where small fish remove parasites from its skin, and at feeding aggregations where it filter-feeds on plankton in the surface waters. The best manta ray diving is in the North and South Malé Atolls, where the channels between the atolls create the current conditions that the rays prefer. Snorkelling with mantas — which are completely harmless and often curious about humans — is one of the most magical experiences the Maldives offers.
The bioluminescent plankton that lights up the beaches of the Maldives at night is one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena in the world. On dark nights, the waves breaking on the shore glow with a blue-green light caused by dinoflagellates — microscopic organisms that produce light when disturbed. The phenomenon is most visible on beaches away from artificial light, and the experience of walking along a beach that glows with every footstep, or swimming in water that trails light from your hands, is one that visitors to the Maldives remember for the rest of their lives.
The resort islands of the Maldives — each resort occupies its own island, separated from the others by stretches of open ocean — offer some of the finest diving and snorkelling in the world, with house reefs accessible directly from the beach or the jetty. The quality of the diving varies significantly between atolls and between seasons, and choosing the right resort for the type of diving you want to do requires research. The liveaboard dive boats that cruise between atolls offer access to the most remote and least-dived sites, including the outer atolls of the far south and north that are rarely visited by resort-based divers.
The Maldives is one of the most expensive destinations in the world, and the all-inclusive resort model that dominates the tourism industry means that most visitors spend their entire stay on a single island without experiencing the local culture of the inhabited islands. The capital, Malé, is a densely populated city of 130,000 people on an island of just two square kilometres — a fascinating contrast to the empty luxury of the resort islands, with its mosques, markets, and the colourful fishing boats that supply the resorts with fresh tuna. Day trips to local islands from the resort are the best way to experience the Maldivian way of life.
The best time to visit the Maldives is from November to April, during the dry northeast monsoon season, when the skies are clear and the seas are calm. The wet southwest monsoon season from May to October brings more rain and rougher seas, but also warmer water temperatures and the plankton blooms that attract whale sharks and manta rays. The diving is good year-round, but the visibility is generally better during the dry season. The Maldives is a year-round destination for those seeking beach and water activities, and the shoulder months of May and October offer lower prices and fewer crowds than the peak season.
