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Now here is an angelfish, a shimmer of lemon yellow and neon-blue. And an aptly-named Picasso triggerfish, its markings a weird series of angular lines and colourful cubes. There is a black-tip reef shark sashaying past like a catwalk model – and a school of parrotfish, with pearlescent purple bodies and angry little faces chomping at coral, which they will later poop out creating a new generation of white sand.
The marine life in the Maldives is a marvel – and you don't even have to get your feet wet to enjoy it. Head to Huvafen Fushi in the North Malé Atoll and you'll find the only sub-aquatic spa in the world, with two of its eight treatment rooms submerged to a depth of eight metres next to a thriving coral reef.
Enjoying a rub-down in an underwater bubble of blue with a school of colourful fish for company is just one of a seemingly endless array of memorable experiences available in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Home to mind-boggling biodiversity, the Maldives particularly excels on the megafauna front – great hammerheads, whale sharks, lemon sharks, silky sharks, tiger sharks, sunfish, spinner dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, the largest population of reef manta rays on the planet – all of which are protected under local fisheries laws, which prevent the fishing, capture and export of the country's most valuable resource: its marine life.
Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll is the best known place to interact with manta rays. Every year, between June and November, hundreds of the creatures arrive in a mass aggregation coinciding with the new moon, when lunar tides draw enormous amounts of plankton to the area and the rays to feast on them. While the manta rays feed in a hypnotic cyclone formation, visitors are able to dive and snorkel around the vortex, a magical experience that the Maldives excels at - particularly in terms of accessibility.
“There are also many other lesser known locations to swim with manta rays in the Maldives year-round,” says Philippa Roe, head marine biologist at Six Senses Laamu. “Including Laamu Atoll, where manta rays gather throughout the year to visit cleaning stations (reef outcrops which mantas visit to be preened by cleaner wrasse). In these locations it's best to scuba dive, so you can enjoy manta rays swimming over your head, rather than just under your fins.”
Look up
It's not just the waters that are radiantly beautiful, the Maldives averages about 250 nights of clear skies a year. Look up and you can easily spot the pale orange glow of Mars and trace your finger along the constellation of Scorpio with the naked eye. “It's one of the best places on earth for stargazing – an astronomer's paradise.” says Ali Shameen, a native Maldivian whose fisherman father taught him how to navigate using stars as a guide, and who later became the resident astronomer at Anantara Kihavah, in Baa Atoll. “Light pollution isn't a problem and due to the close proximity to the equator, the region provides spectacular views of both the northern and southern hemispheres' skies.”
Stationed in the only overwater observatory in the Maldives, housing the most powerful telescope in the archipelago (a research-level Meade 16'' LX200), Mr Ali guides guests on a cosmic journey around the pale-yellow Rings of Saturn, across the colourful belts and zones of Jupiter, up and down the craters of the moon and through the hundreds of thousands of heavenly bodies that make up Messier 13, an enormous starburst also known as the Hercules Globular Cluster.
A unique culture
Between the sea and skies, you'll find a country with a singular culture. There's the language: Dhivehi, an offshoot of Sinhalese influenced by Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, French, Portuguese and English. And the food: a 2,000-year-old fusion of Middle Eastern, Sri Lankan, Indian, and island flavours. Plus the music: Boduberu, a percussion dance music drawn from East Africa, which begins gently and builds to a cacophonous crescendo.
Meanwhile, Maldivian arts and crafts transform palm leaves and reeds into baskets and hats; wood and coral stone into intricately carved pillars and panelling; shells are polished and threaded into necklaces and earrings; layers of glossy red, yellow, green, black and blue lacquers are layered onto wooden boxes, bowls and vases to create unique homewares, known as liyelaa jehun; and coir is ripped from the husks of coconuts and fashioned into floor mats, which are made by weaving separated fronds of coconut palms together in a tight pattern, also used traditionally for roofing. They are also used for hammocks and the ropes that hang from traditional Maldivian dhoni boats.
One of the Maldives most instantly recognisable symbols, dhoni have been used since ancient times for fishing and exploration. Traditionally built from coconut timber with distinct curved bow bending towards the sky, a number of resorts in the Maldives have incorporate the vessel's distinctive figure into their design, from the bright white two-storey Dhirun Bar at Mahaa Resort in the Laamu Atoll, to the nautical overwater villas at COMO Cocoa Island in the North Malé, to the beach villas at JW Marriott Resort and Spa in the Shaviyani Atoll which resemble upside down versions of the barges.
“Nothing sums up the freedom of the Maldives better than sailing a dhoni on Maldivian waters. They are at the heart of the Maldivian way of life,” says Mohamed Firaz, boat crew member at the JW Marriott Maldives. “The peacefulness that is felt when you travel by a dhoni is unmatched. You can only hear the waves which the boat is creating, and sometimes birds. You can see the beauty of nature come alive, the sky, the brilliant blue waters and then after a while you fall asleep on the deck counting the stars!”
