With proper equipment like a safety balloon for open water safety stops, the dive is manageable with a knowledge of the tides. If the atoll is emptying itself out and brine is flowing out of the Atoll, then it’s a good idea to begin descent well away from the reef, as it is located at a depth of 16 meters, and connects to the floor of the atoll at 30 meters.
Shaped like a raindrop, the reef is about 300 meters long and is well known for spectacular geography and fish life. The reef is shallowest at the eastern edge, ie, the side that faces the interior of the atoll, and drops away to 20 meters, and can be difficult to navigate. The eastern tip is called Jack Corner, and at the narrow edge, at a depth of 23 meters you can find a cave full of soft coral and scools of big eye trevally and snapper, with occasional sightings of dog-tooth tuna and barracuda.
The northern side of the reef has several outcrops of rocks covered with soft corals, with a few black snapper, blue fin jack, eagle rays and sharks hanging around, while the caves at the edge of the reef are all filled with marine inhabitants.
Life in the Maldives
This sense of renewal and rejuvenation is what makes the Maldivian resorts unique from anywhere else in the world. Maldivians are well-known for the idyllic timelessness of their lives; spending a couple of weeks in a remote island can make you feel so blissfully disconnected that some people choose to make stops at smaller towns before heading back to their metropolitan lives, because they fear they might experience culture shock.
The beautiful islands of the archipelago imbibe a sense of serenity that soothes away all disquiet. People often dismiss travellers as people running away from their lives. People who grow up and find disillusionment from their childhood concept of a perfect world run, but they run towards life, to discover more about the world and leave behind that which cannot be resolved. Read more about the beauty of the Maldives.
