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.