The lush tropical islands of the Maldives offer more than just an opportunity to relax beneath the palms on a white-sand beach, beside a turquoise lagoon - as if that were not enough! An increasing number of tourist forgo some of their time on the beach to see some of the other regular visitors to these waters - the many species of whales and dolphins that live in or migrate to the Maldives each year.
The Maldives are one of the world's premier locations for whale and dolphin watching. More than 23 species of whales and dolphins have now been recorded, and more are seen for the first time almost every year. Unlike many other whale watching locations, the Maldives enjoy almost year-round sunshine and warm waters - very different from the grey skies and polar winds of Alaska or the stormy southern latitudes. There are very few places in the world where you can relax under tropical skies and watch giant whales swim by, and the Maldives are among the best.
Dolphins are particularly abundant in the Maldives, and the Spinners Dolphin is the most common sighting. Tens of thousands of these small dolphins live year round in the channels and central atoll lagoons of the islands. They have a regular daily routine, feeding offshore at night and coming into the atolls in the early morning, before leaving again for the open ocean in the afternoon. This regular schedule means that it is very easy to find Spinner Dolphins each day, and many Maldivian resorts offer morning or afternoon dolphin tours. Spinners form large groups, or pods, and sometime hundreds of dolphins will be seem in the same area. They are highly acrobatic, often jumping and flipping themselves out of the water.
The best locations for seeing more exotic species of whales and dolphins are the most remote northern and southern atolls of the Maldives, and several specialist tour operators run whale and dolphin watching cruises that last a week or more. In many cases scientists and conservationists join these cruises as specialist tour guides, helping to locate the animals and to explain their behaviour and characteristics to the guests with lectures and slide shows in the evenings on board. Most of the whale and dolphin watching vessels are based at Male. From there a trip to the northern atolls and back can take up to a week, and a trip to the furthest southern atolls can take almost two weeks. These specialist live-aboard boats anchor in the lagoon of a tropical island each evening, providing plenty of opportunities for swimming, snorkelling and diving during the voyage.
Spotted Dolphins, Striped Dolphins, and Dwarf Sperm Whales are a few of the most common species sighted in the furthest atolls. Melon-headed whales are also common near the southern atolls, where they are sometimes seen in enormous pods of 500 animals or more. Larger whales are less common, but Sperm Whales, Blue Whales and Bryde’s Whales are often seen.
The main season for whale and dolphin visitors to the Maldives in from February to May. The weather at this time of year is usually calm and sunny, although there can be occasional showers of rain. The whale and dolphin watching tours offer an excellent opportunity to see other types of Maldivian wildlife, including manta rays and whale sharks, and a wide variety of sea birds and sea turtles.
Playing in the sea is a way of life for the Maldivian people - most local people are accomplished swimmers, sailors and surfers, and no wonder: there is more sea than land in the Maldives, and the warm clear blue waters around the islands provide one of the most appealing ocean playgrounds in the world. While some tourist prefer to just relax in the luxury of their resort or just paddle in the shallows, many quickly take to the waves - on sailboats, kayaks, windsurfers and water skis - or head beneath the waves, by going snorkelling and scuba diving.
Each of the many resorts in the Maldives has a sports centre with facilities for a range of water-sports and activities, and a resident diving school that offers dive training and guided tours of the best nearby dive sites. Those resorts that strive to maintain the tranquillity of the surroundings tend to specialise in non-motorised activities such as sailing, windsurfing, and kayaking, while the larger and family-oriented resorts generally have very large and extensively equipped sports centres that cater for waterskiing, jet-skiing, kneeboarding, wakeboarding, and parasailing A few even offer more exotic water activities such as kite-surfing, water bicycle polo and underwater hockey.
Wakeboarding and kneeboarding are increasingly popular water-sports that combines techniques used in water-skiing, snowboarding and surfing. Like water-skiing, the rider is towed behind a speedboat or jet-ski. On a kneeboard the rider sits on their heels and is secured to the board with a strap over their thighs. Wakeboard riders stand on the board with their feet in rubber bindings, usually with one foot forward like a snowboard. Kneeboarding is often preferred by people just starting out in "tow sports" and is relatively easy to learn, especially compared to water-skiing which can involve a lot of falling over when you are just starting out. But many of the skills and techniques learned in knee-boarding can be used in wake-boarding and water-skiing as a rider gains more confidence and experience. Kite-surfing, or kite-boarding, uses a stand-up board like a wake-board - the ride is propelled not by a speedboat, but by a large para-foil kite controlled by the rider.
Kayaking is a popular way to get around the resort islands, and most resorts can arrange kayaking tours where guests can carry a picnic to a remote island beach. A few specialist tour operators based in the capital Male run sea-kayaking tours of parts of the islands, accompanied by a motorised "mothership" that carries equipment and provisions for several days. Most of the resort use simple open-deck plastic kayaks that are effectively unsinkable, and some offer open-decked kayaks made from clear plastic that give the paddler a view of the fish, corals and other sea life as they skim across the surface, just like a glass-bottomed boat. Kayaks also make excellent transports for snorkellers who want to explore further away from the house reefs - it is easy to get into and out of them from the water, they can help keep your food, drinking water and camera dry while you swim, and they are easily towed by a snorkeller in the water by holding the rope attached to the hull.
While the lush tropical beaches of the Maldives feature on the front covers of glossy travel magazines around the world, the colourful living coral reefs just below the waterline are the real natural wonders of the islands. The Maldives owe their existence to one of the largest coral formation on earth - a vast undersea landscape that provides a habitat to more than a thousand types of marine plants and animals, many of them rare or even unique to the region. The abundance of small marine life on the reefs draws larger species of fish, dolphins and whales from the open ocean into waters around the atolls to feed. As a result, the Maldives are one of the foremost ocean habitats in the world, renowned for their diversity of undersea life. The seawater of the calm atoll lagoons and channels between the islands is also remarkably clear, and so the Maldives have become one of the most important and popular scuba diving locations on earth.
And yet you do not need to be a certified scuba diver to experience this extraordinary underwater world. Snorkelling is a simple and safe way to explore the surface reefs, and most marine life is found in the upper layers of the ocean where the light of the sun can penetrate. Scuba divers can get a deeper view, but most of the underwater wonders of the Maldives are accessible to anyone who can put on a snorkel and mask.
The basic snorkelling equipment consists of a rubber and glass mask to keep the salt water out of your eyes, a snorkel to breathe through, and a pair of swim fins for your feet. Even relatively inexperienced swimmers can use these items to explore the shallower reef areas, and you can quickly build up the confidence to explore further. Each of the the many resorts in the Maldives has a "house" reef near the main beach that is perfect for learning to snorkel, and a resident dive school that can help with equipment and supervision for those who are just starting out underwater.
If you do plan to spend some time snorkelling while on holiday in the Maldives, consider spending a little bit of money to purchase your own mask. This can be done before you leave home, but most dive schools in the islands run their own dive shop that sells basic equipment. Masks can also be hired at the resorts, but a well-fitting mask is the most essential item for any snorkeller and so it pays to be prepared before you arrive. the mask should fit snugly around your face, and stay fixed without a strap when you breathe in through your nose. Your own snorkel is nice to have as well, since it won't have been chewed on by anyone else, but it is not so important. If you are really keen you can also purchase a pair of good swim fins - but these can be bulky and troublesome to carry in aircraft luggage, and renting or borrowing them from the resort usually presents no problems. A Lycra reef shirt can also help protect your skin from the sun while you are snorkelling, and keep you warm when you have been in the water for a while - your body will lose some heat even when swimming in the warm waters of the Maldives.
Sailing is the traditional mode of transport in the Maldives, where the gentle seas and scattered small islands of the atolls provide an ideal location for beginner and experienced sailors alike. The traditional sailing vessel of the islands is the dhoni, a craft similar to the small dhow sailing boats of India and the Middle East. In the past dhonis were made from coconut wood, almost the only boat-building material available in the Maldives, but today imported wood from India and south-east Asia is usually used instead. Most of the small dhonis used for fishing and transport between the resorts and other islands are now motorised, but some pleasure craft at the resorts are equipped with traditional triangular lateen-rigged sails. The largest dhonis used for sailing cruises between the islands can now feature covered decks, bathrooms and upholstered cabins.
Many tour operators based in Male and the other main island use large and modern catamarans for sailing cruises that can last from a few days or several weeks. Catamarans yacht are ideal vessels for island-hopping in the Maldives - they have a shallow draft that allows them to be brought close to the shore over the coral reefs of the lagoons, and they provide easy access to the water for guests on board who want to go swimming, diving and snorkelling. The large deck areas between the hulls provides plenty of room for sunbathing, and some are large enough to hold up to six large and private cabins. Catamaran charters in the Maldives are very popular with honeymooners and couples celebrating anniversaries. They can be chartered along with an experienced local captain and crew, or as a "bare boat" for experienced sailors. Large luxury "super yacht" charters are also becoming available in the Maldives. These can feature facilities for scuba diving, a galley staffed by an experienced chef, and jet-skis or small boats to carry guests to the beaches.
Most island resorts in the Maldives have small modern catamarans for day-sailing. These are ideally suited to the conditions in the atoll lagoons: they are very stable, easy to sail, and can comfortably carry two or three people. Their shallow draft allows sailors to easily bring them up close to shore, and to skim safely over shallow sandbanks and reefs without sacrificing any stability. In the right winds, and in hands of an accomplished sailor, they can also build up considerable speed, so you have a choice of a placid and relaxed cruise - or a thrilling dash across the clear azure waters of the lagoons.
Several cruise ship operators and island resorts in the Maldives specialise in surfing. The most popular surfing areas are at North and South Male Atoll between April though to October, which is otherwise an off-peak season for the Maldives when flights are generally less expensive The more southern atolls of Laamu and Huvadhu have good waves at any time of year, but particularly during the north-east monsoon months from January to March, when they are exposed to large ocean swells generated by the Roaring Forties winds in the southern Indian Ocean.
The Maldives have become famous as much for the marine life under the water, as they are for beach-life above. Thanks to their location far from the mainland, the waters around the islands are renowned for the abundance and variety of fish species. The lagoons include coral gardens and pinnacles teeming with schools of reef fish and other life, and deeper waters that are the haunts of zebra sharks, hammerheads manta rays, and whale sharks. The bright sunshine, clear water, and living colours are perfect for underwater photography.
Most resorts in the Maldives have a scuba diving facility and there are many specialist resorts offering dive training and advanced diving tours, as well as live-aboard boats that cruise among the archipelago's best dive sites for several weeks at a time. Scuba diving runs all year round, but the months from December to March have the best water visibility of up to 40 metres. Plankton blooms in the hottest months from April to June, attracting large pelagics such as manta rays and whale sharks. From June until August the Maldives have their wet season which reduces visibility and may restrict access to some dive sites.
The flow of the tides through the many atolls and islands of the Maldives creates significant currents, and so most boat dives here take the form of rapid drift-dives through the channels and lagoons formed by the corals reefs. These channels are filled with life and nutrients, and predators such as sharks and barracudas can often be seen cruising the currents and hunting nearby the divers, as well as sea turtles and giant Napoleon wrasse. Colourful frogfish lurk along the walls and caverns, and the reefs are home to many unique nudibranch species. Diving from the shore is also possible, and each resort has mapped out its nearby "house reef" for divers and snorkellers.
The atoll lagoons harbour many pinnacles of rock reaching almost to the surface, known locally as "Thilas". Water from the ocean floor rises along the slopes of the thilas, and they are crowned with hard and soft corals, sponges and fans. Many thilas also serve as cleaning stations for larger animals like manta rays who may circle slowly nearby attended by schools of cleaner wrasse.
Ari Atoll is the second-largest atoll in the Maldives, and is considered one of the best for diving. Resorts on the islands of the atoll will be able to reach many of the major dive sites here in a half-day boat trip, and can organise longer trips to the further sites. Ari has several thilas known as good spots to see mantas, and sites such as Maamigili and Gangehi Maavaru, where whale sharks are seen in season. Rasdhoo Atoll to the north-east of Ari is famous for its school of hammerhead sharks.
Because of the strong currents, divers in the Maldives must pay close attention to their depth at all times. All dive operators require the use of dive computers, and most will offer them for hire. Divers also need to carry and know how to use a signal-marker buoy to summon the dive boat at the end of their drift dive. There are hyperbaric chambers are located on North Male atoll and Rasdhoo Atoll. Nitrox is rarely available.