When diving, you are floating above an expanse of living rock, millions of unseen creatures, and hundreds of visible fish that enjoy this stunning underwater rainforest.
The deep blue
The ocean may be a scary place with its relentless waves and unforgiving depths, but on touching the corals, you may realize that what lies beneath is not all that tough as the surface waves imply. Down here, some corals splinter and crumble when you step onto them. Waste materials discarded by humans directly affect their growth, along with a growing variety of human actions.
This fragility does not only apply to the shallows. When you go deeper, you will notice that corals get larger, some almost boulder sized. Gorgonian seafans may span out so much, its branches in intricate designs that you may not see medium sized fished warily peering out at you from the other side. Even these great monuments of nature, though, are not safe from effects of marine waste, and worse, climate change. The smallest fluctuation in temperature may kill off a great number of these corals, as had once happened in Maldives in the 90’s.
At the deeper end of the lagoon, you will begin to encounter sharks, the occasional eagle ray, and larger fish either pecking way at the corals or making a rush for the swarms of smaller fish. You may want to give every spot a second look, just to make sure you didn’t miss a quirky creature pretending to be part of the corals or seabed. Learn more about the underwater nature of the Maldives.