We skipped the morning dive as it wasn't particularly highly rated and we were keen to do a night dive this evening at dusk. This meaned that we would have a slightly later rise and stayed in bed until 08:00 which actually made me feel more tired.
Our first dive this morning was at Kumburudhoo Thila which I found a little difficult as my mask was continuously flooding. However, I saw many barracudas.
Between the first and second dives we had a slow cruise to the next dive site and I believe we had found paradise. The ocean was so calm it was a pure reflection and there wasn't a single movement or sound in the water as we glided through. It was so beautiful. I wanted to capture the moment on camera but no photograph could do this image justice. It must be experienced first hand. After a while a pod of dolphins put in an appearance but they too remained silent as they swam into the distance.
The second dive was at Fish Head which was excellent! Soon after descending we saw a napoleonfish which was 1.2 metres in length. Then we saw a hawksbeak turtle! He was about 1 metre long and began eating next to a sea cucumber that proceeded to move. After I left him I had a small colourful butterflyfish pursing its lips at my hand. There was some current so we had to pull ourselves down the reef where we held on and watched a dozen or so grey reef sharks swimming back and forth about 2 metres away from us. Hiding behind a coral block was a grouper type fish which seemed to be enjoying watching the shark show too. He looked as 'though he was hiding from them. While watching the sharks I saw a trumpetfish and tuna and on our ascent we spotted another smaller turtle.
In the evening, as soon as it was dark, Imthi, Tomer, Ian and I headed out to Ellaidhoo House Reef. As we entered the water there was a very strong current which had immediate hold of us. We descended but as soon as we were submerged things felt as 'though they were going wrong. I was ahead of the group and I couldn't really see anything, only how far away from me everyone else seemed to be! I was very frightened because I couldn't tell where the reef went and was fearful of being forced towards it. Somehow I couldn't stay down and almost straight away I had unintentionally ascended to the surface. Determined to succeed I tried and tried to descend again and as soon as my head was underwater I signalled distress to Imthi who immediately came to my aid. He helped me to descend and slowed my breathing down, which had become rather erratic, by encouraging me to breathe deeply thus relaxing me. In seconds I was back in control and noticed the lull as the current had completely disappeared and I began to enjoy the dive. I saw many beautiful open corals, an open clam which proceeded to close, a sleeping stingray, camouflaged fish, parrotfish, jacks, lionfish, banded shrimps and a moray eel! It was a good experience but extremely scary at first in the current!
After our third dive we were presented with a traditional Maldivian dinner buffet and Maldivian dancing along with some music created by the Blue Shark Two crew and accompanied by the 'Budu Baru' which translates to big drums. It was very energetic and loud but it was also great fun and everyone joined in the dancing on the eve of Ramadan.
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.