The Maldives- a Tale of Atolls and Mating Octopus, November 2019

Who can say where the wonder or the wanderlust ends? It should come as no surprise then that I’ve popped up in the middle of the Indian Ocean again for a week of scuba diving in the Maldives. Off the southern tip of Sri Lanka the Maldives is a confetti of more than one thousand coral atolls and lagoon- fringed islands scattered in tropical seas.

In history it was influenced by Muslim seafarers and its treacherous reefs and unpredictable currents feared by Spice trading ships. Now it trades on its coralline white beaches, swaying palm trees and the attraction of its underwater life… (oh and it’s tuna canning factory).

I’m still swaying with sealegs as I pen this after a week aboard a yacht plying the ‘central atolls’ of the Maldives. It’s a thrill to be part of the underwater realm even ever so briefly- to be flying along in deep water currents watching reef sharks hunt, crouching under coral ‘cleaning stations’ where giant manta rays wing and swoop while tiny wrasse pick them clean, watching octopus (x2) blushing and reaching out tentacles in secretive courtship – and to swim among the fish, thousands of colourful fish!

And that’s the story really- like a new movie reel every dive: never sure what the plot is or who the characters will be but you have to take the plunge to find out!

Acknowledgements to my co-photographers in my dive group Laura, Danotka and Patryck.

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