The Maldives - Vilu Reef

Imagine an island the size of a rugby pitch, where the highest point is three feet above sea level. This describes many of the islands collectively known as the Maldives. This chain of islands is an archipelago located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of a double chain of twenty six atolls oriented roughly north-south which are actually the tops of a vast undersea mountain range.
.
With the exception of Male, the capital, many of the islands look like this ...
.

.
.. but with a few palm leaf-roofed huts to house the visitors in some degree of opulence. We've all seen them in the press and, yes, it is bloody lovely.
.
The decision to visit should not be taken lightly. It's a reasonable distance and there is little to do except relax, eat, drink and enjoy luxurious spa treatments. Some islands have a gym, (but why would you !) and many provide diving and water sport facilities. It is also rather expensive and it appears to be getting more expensive as time moves on and the islands are, in turn, re-furbished and improved. Oddly, this is the main reason we decided to go now. At this rate, normal folk will find it hard to justify the cost in a few year's time. 
.
Home for the next two weeks .. It was a brutal commute to the beach, but we never ran the risk of anyone leaving towels on OUR loungers. 
.
Molly has been diving for a while and I started a couple of summers ago. We dived in Egypt last year and both enjoyed it and we came to the Maldives this time looking forward to seeing a greater variety of species and, hopefully, some bigger examples. 
.
What a start we had too :-)
.
We saw white tip reef sharks-a-plenty right from the off, mostly about 2 metres long and mostly disinterested in us. On our first visit to Thibissa Far Garden, we jumped in and went straight down on top of half a dozen sharks at about 20m. Later in the dive we met a few larger ones, at about 3 metres long. This was the pattern for the whole two weeks when we had sharks in the area - most were about 2 metres long and, perhaps one or two each time that were a bit bigger at about 3 metres.
.
About four days in, Molly had a morning off and I went out to do a couple of local dives in the morning with Samooh (one of the local guides) as my buddy. Well, I have seen the odd Napoleon Wrasse before but was in no way prepared for the monster that came past us. A full 2 metres long and drifting by without a care in the world.
.
This thing was the size of a Tuc-Tuc and it wasn't until I 'Googled' it that I realised that this is about the maximum size for a male. Less than a week into the holiday and so much going on. Brilliant.
.
Diving continued and each one was a great experience for me. I did, however, miss a notable spot the following day. The guys behind Samooh and I saw an Eagle Ray, but by the time they got my attention it was long gone.
.
After a few days, Molly suggested I have a look at the Rescue Divers course - she must have thought I was getting bored ! I chatted up the guys at the Sun International Diving School and decided to enrol and do this in my 'spare' time. 
.
I can thoroughly recommend these guys if any of you are in the area.
.

.
Patrick (third from left) has a great team out there and we were well looked after by them (and the boat staff) for the whole two weeks. Samooh (second left) and Hiro (third from right) took us out quite a few times and Monz (second right) had the dubious pleasure of running the Rescue Divers course for me. Molly and I can't thank you all enough for making the diving such a memorable experience.
.
It wasn't all going on under water though. We had established quite early on that the local Dolphins actually commute ! One way up the deep channel outside the house reef at about 09:00 and the opposite way at about 17:45. We stood on the beach to get a few photos one evening and the lifeguard waved to alert us that they were coming and then, very kindly, picked us up in his boat and we joined them for a mile or so. You cannot believe how many pictures I took just to get one decent one ... what a thrill though.
.

.
It got better. The following day, we were chilling out by the pool and noticed some interest at the jetty. A quick walk later and we were gazing down on eight eagle rays doing some formation swimming round the boats. This was the first time I had seen one and, before this trip, had never heard of them. A quick shuffle back to the room for the camera wasn't swift enough and I missed the chance of an aerial shot of the fantastic markings on these incredible creatures. I did get a pic later of them cruising in the lagoon on their tour of the island.
.

.

The lagoon is also home to a fearsome 'mini' predator, the black tip reef shark. They cruise about all day through the shoals of bait fish and snorkellers and, about the same time as the dolphins come past in the evening, they start to shepherd their dinner into the shallow water. They then gang up and start to harass the bait fish towards the beach and then snap them up as they try and swim back to all their friends.

The largest concentration we witnessed was nine of these hungry little fellas all swirling about and enjoying the feast.
.
The day after the eagle rays came by, Siyam and I were diving and bumped into three more eagle rays (one larger one of about a metre across) and one of them kindly swam all around our group just below us and allowed us all a really good look. No camera with me though ...
.
During the second week on the way between dives we had a 'Dolphin' day. It appeared that we couldn't look in any direction without a few more appearing. Overtaking us, chasing us, accompanying the boat, everywhere all at once. We saw lots, up to 50 at a time, so lord knows how many were actually out there.  Another hundred photos and two reasonable ones !
.

.

Could it get any better ? Er .. yes it could. Molly had missed the first visit to Thibissa Far Garden and swimming with the bigger sharks, so I made sure she didn't want a lie in on the day we went back. We saw loads, again. Rays, sharks, a big turtle, scorpion fish, a shoal of bat fish playing in the bubbles, blah blah blah .. At the end of this excellent dive we were all hanging about at the safety stop and, luckily the two groups were together. I saw Monz grab his 'shaker' to get our attention and we looked towards the reef. Wow !
.

.
Estimated wingspan of FIVE metres, barely five metres away and three metres deeper than us allowing us a fantastic view. Molly has seen a few, but never one this big. I am unsure that I will ever see the likes of this again. We think it is one of those giant mantas that are non-territorial and roam all over the place. Picture courtesy of Kaori Iwasa.
.
I managed twenty dives, Molly did eleven and I passed the Rescue Diver's course and returned a (slightly) better diver. More importantly, I came back a safer diver.
.
We also managed to come back from holiday fatter, but no heavier. I blame the food, which was absolutely out of this world. The finest cuisine I have ever had on any holiday ever, ever, ever. Fourteen days and twenty four fish curries of every style you can possibly imagine.  Awesome.
.

.
We arrived home relaxed and slighy tanned and walked into an Indian Summer where the Autumn temperature is hovering around 29 degrees. We barely have enough time to sort ourselves out before we are due to make our annual visit to Clive Powells for a weekend of wild Mountain Biking in one of my favourite places. Hope the weather holds ..