Maldives Under the Reef 🐠

Maldives Under the Reef 🐠

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The Maldives is renowned for its pristine white-sand beaches and crystal-clear waters, but what lies beneath the surface is equally as impressive. We spent 3 days exploring the vibrant coral reefs that make the Maldives a top destination for scuba diving and snorkeling enthusiasts.

For our part, we were mesmerized by the colorful marine life and amphibious landscapes that greeted us under the surface of the reefs.

The House Reefs

Your first underwater experience of the Maldives is likely to be your local house reef. All the islands have their own unique house reefs, and Makunudu is no exception. For many people, this is all you actually need. Just put on a mask and step into the shallows. You don’t have to go further than a few yards to enjoy this other world under water.

Immediately you are greeted with colorful corals and an abundance of small vibrant tropical fish. Typical are the ubiquitous Powder Blue Surgeon, Saddleback Butterfly fish and Oriental Reeftips, lazily feeding on the coral polyps.

Slip on some fins in the shallows, then head out a little further. As the water gradually deepens, you get to see larger, more graceful coral formations and shoals of small fish.

Of course you need to avoid touching the coral. Apart from everything else, the coral is the natural habitat for many small fish. You’ll see how defensive the little fish become when you get too close (see video below). You can also get some nasty cuts, especially from some types of fire coral.

Shallow Coral Formations

Towards the Reef Edge

As you gently paddle out to the reef edge, normally 20 or 30 meters from the beach, the colors start to change. Instead of the brightly-lit tones of the shallows, you begin to see the darker blue shades of the deep, stretching down to the much darker depths of the reef wall.

Blue Surgeon Fish

The reef edge is usually a great place for spotting the larger species. With a little patience, you can encounter Turtles and some of the smaller Blacktip or Whitetip Reef Sharks.

At Makunudu, they actually feed their community of sharks in the evenings from the end of the jetty.

Maldives Under the Reef – Saddleback Butterfly Fish

If you’re spending several days or longer on your island, you will quickly become familiar with the layout and landmarks of your underwater environment. You can then quickly navigate to places of interest.

We found that the same hideouts were regularly inhabited by different species at different times of the day/evening.

Some useful underwater landmarks

Manta Point

From the Makunudu Island Resort there are organized snorkeling trips each week. These are morning trips by dhoni to nearby ‘thilas’ (underwater reefs). We were told there was a good chance of spotting Manta Rays, so we didn’t need any encouragement to join the trip.

We boarded the dhoni with about a dozen other keen snorkelers, and headed off into the blue. We were accompanied by 2 Maldivian divers who knew exactly where to moor the boat and lead our group. Even before we got into the water, we could see 2 Manta Rays passing by close to our dhoni, occasionally breaking the surface.

Snorkeler’s Day Out

The reef we were visiting wasn’t visible from the surface – from the boat we just appeared to be somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Once we got into the water, however, we could see clearly the undulating forms of the coral. In some areas it was quite shallow, and the visibility was very good.

I had my camera ready, and was hoping for some decent footage.

Maldives Under the Reef – Parrot fish

With such a large group of people, we wanted to maintain a distance from the others while keeping an eye on the Maldivian group leader. The excitement level rose a few degrees when the first manta ray came into sight. It seemed curious, almost playful, as it gracefully glided in close to take a good look at us.

Then, like a stealth bomber, it drifted past only to turn again for a second pass.

Around the same time I noticed some commotion out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see our Maldivian Guide in determined pursuit of a large turtle. When he actually tried to touch it, the startled turtle suddenly switched gear, deftly evading his pursuer and the other snorkelers.

Lucky for us, he headed in our direction. We managed to get some decent images before the turtle decided enough was enough, and slipped away through the rocks.

Post-snorkel: Wet and Happy

All the excitement attracted a White tip shark, but he didn’t hang around for the photo shoot. In all, we spent an hour or so in the water, though it felt more like 10 minutes. It was a great way to start the day. On the boat trip back we drank water and dried off in the sun.

This kind of experience is really what the Maldives is all about.

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