south ari atoll Archives - ETB Travel Photography

Sharks and Rays Swarmed in Epic Night Dive in the Maldives

Dive Sites in the Maldives

Kuda Rah Thila in South Ari Atoll

We took our usual ten minute journey to our morning dive site, this time, Kuda Rah Thila in South Ari Atoll. The boats rarely travel at night, thus our morning dive is generally positioned near the afternoon site we dove the previous day. This Thila had other small pinnacles next to it, so it made for nice wide swim throughs and was quite different from our continuous reef circling. Continue reading “Sharks and Rays Swarmed in Epic Night Dive in the Maldives” →

Searching for Whale Sharks in the Maldives

Dive Sites in the Maldives

Dhiga Thila

This morning we dove Dhiga Thila. It was a beautiful wall of soft corals, but before we explored the wall, we rested on the bottom and waited for sharks to come in. After a short time with no luck, we ascended to 60 feet or so and followed the reef along our left shoulder. Occasionally the sun shined down on the overhangs offering cool views. Continue reading “Searching for Whale Sharks in the Maldives” →

Octopus, Giant Clams, and Turtles at Fish Head Reef…The Maldives

Well, we were up by 4:30 am. The time adjustment has been poor at best for us. We certainly haven’t needed the 6am wake up call! Today our dive briefing was at 6:15 instead of 6:30 so that we could beat a few boats into the water.

Dive Sites in the Maldives

Hafza Thila in North Ari Atoll

We dove Hafza Thila in the North Ari Atoll, that is once we found the site. Our group of 6 dropped into deep blue with our dive master and didn’t find the pinnacle so we had to surface, board the boat, and drop again. At first the visibility wasn’t that great, but that seems to be the case where there a slight current. The trade off is usually for a few shark sightings as they like to rest in the current. We spotted a giant moray as we circled around the reef and other divers but the best part to me was on the top of the pinnacle. Here we found countless seastars and anemones with their clownfish counterparts. The table coral was lovely and large enough for two baby white tip reef sharks to rest beneath its ledge. Overall it was a pretty nice dive though still a bit chaotic with multiple dive groups in the area. Hopefully we won’t be competing with boats on every site. Continue reading “Octopus, Giant Clams, and Turtles at Fish Head Reef…The Maldives” →