Fish-spotting in Biyadhoo: Biyadhoo is a great little atoll just half-an-hour by speed boat from Malé International Airport. It has a stunning reef and good snorkelling conditions. The mornings were very clear and calm with the water like crystal. Huge schools of blue-lined snappers hung motionless on the outer edge of the reef. Cruising in the deep were enormous Trevelleys, reknowned predators just waiting their chance. When they attack, the schools literally explode in all diferent directions which confuses the hell out of the Trevelleys because they have eyes at the side of their head and can’t see clearly straight ahead so grabbing a victim is very much the luck of the draw.

Afternoon snorkelling is different. The tide has changed and while the current isn‘t strong it brings plenty of sand. Plus the sun is no longer overhead but off to one side at an angle of about 45°. The dapples in the waves split the Sun’s rays prismaticaly into weak searchlights that probe the inky darkness below. It’s in these dim realms that many of the big fish dwell but often what you see is a mere glimpse of something big. A vague silvery blue outline – what was that? The imperceptible movement of something big – was that a Ray’s wing?

Damned right it was ! Since a minute later an enormous brown-spotted Eagle Ray swooped up from below and behind (imitating a fighter plane attacking and enemy bomber) and passed underneath me just an arm’s length away. I watched in awe as its highly-lethal tail flicked past scaring the crap out me. It banked gracefully and, Oh No, it’s coming back for another look at me but then decided I wasn’t interesting and disappeared back into the murky depths. The whole contact lasted a mere 10 seconds but, Boy, did they seem like long long seconds.

Among the rocks and corals of the lagoon, the water is shallower and carries less sediment. All manner of exotic fish cruise in, out and around: crimson rock cods, blue surgeonfish, sailfin tangs and here’s a rarity: a brown octopus, or rather a grey octopus, no its a pink octopus. Oh for Heaven’s sake, is it ever going to stop changing colour? It settles for brown with white spots and we observe it for half an hour taking many really clear pics. And just to cap the day off a massive Moray Eel squeezed in between two rocks. He’s looking really photogenic but while Rosmarie lines up the camera we are caught in a tidal surge and drift a little too close for comfort towards those gaping jaws.

The variety of fish that we saw was astonishing and included rarities never before seen such as a Yellow Margin Moray Eel, an enormous Star Pufferfish – very rare, and the highly venomous Lionfish.