Hi! We have returned from the amazing Male-Ari-Vaavu atoll route trip! Here is the trip report!
We thought that the dry season has finally come in the Maldives but the first morning of this trip started with a pouring rain. Still no change needed in the water as we had the 1st dive at Lankan Reef in the North Male Atoll. This site is very popular especially with the Mantas’ cleaning station. We made ourselves settled in the best position to observe! Yay! A couple of Manta Rays welcomed us at the beginning and ended up with 5 of them danced in front of us! Such a lucky start of the trip! The 2nd dive was at Fish Tank. We enjoyed the dense of fish here as always. Pink Whiprays came and swarmed from the deep sand area. Moray Eels were also the regular attraction here. The 3rd dive was at Maagiri Rock. There was almost no current. It was such a relaxing diving with many macro. Especially the three Zebra Mantis Shrimps made me happy!
The day 2, the 1st dive of the day was at Kan Thila in the North Ari Atoll. Yes, we moved from the North Male Atoll to the North Ari Atoll. Kan Thila is such a Shark point that we should expect encounter with many Sharks. We settled at the point where the current met up. Then, Grey Reef Sharks and Whitetip Reef Sharks appeared to us! Besides, Dogtooth Tunas and Napoleon were seen. The 2nd dive was at Fish Head, which named after the anecdote that fisherman fished a lot here long time ago caught mostly the fish head because sharks got their bodies while the fish were pulled by fishermen. Now, this point is reserved and protected as this is the one of the best dive points in the Maldives! There were many Fusiliers sometimes attacked by Giant Trevallies and Bluefin Trevallies. Plus, the schools of False Moorish Idols, Redtoothed Triggerfish and Bengal Snappers were all beautiful in colors. The 3rd dive was at Fesdhoo Goni as a night Manta dive. We had a great time with 4 Manta Rays maximum at a time.
The air temperature was 26-33 deg.C. The water temperature was 27-29 deg.C. To be continued…
