white tip shark

white tip shark

Welcome!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Snorkelling in the Maldives, a blog designed to enable any snorkeller or scuba diver, whether novice or experienced, to get maximum pleasure from a trip to the Maldives. Many posts will concern the easy identification of the fish you see there as well. The one above is a Whitetip Reef Shark, the most widespread shark species on the Maldivian Reefs.

Our snorkelling career started in Australia's Hayman Island 20 years ago. Since then we have been fascinated by the world beneath the waves. We have snorkelled in Lord Howe, Australia, and seen the southern-most reach of the soft corals. We have bobbed in Brampton and Heron Islands in the Australian Whitsundays on the Great Barrier Reef, swum round Michaelmas Key in Cairns, dived in Indonesia and the Gilli Islands, sampled the warm waters of the south seas in Vanuatu, Rarotonga, New Caledonia and Fiji and explored the reefs of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. And never once did the underwater world lose its fascination. We are hooked on the Maldives and keep coming back - twice a year to atolls that seem to feature more exotic and rare fish than anywhere else.

Slideshow

Monday, December 10, 2012



Crescent-tail Bigeye (Priacanthus hamrur): Bigeyes, also called Goggleyes or Bullseyes are nocturnal. Hence the especially large eyes to make the most of the dim light. During the day they hang suspended off the reef face often with their mouths open filtering-out the zooplankton and fish larva swept in by the ocean currents. As daylight fades they start feeding on bottom-dwelling invertebrates like crustaceans. Growing to 35 cm, Bigeyes are mostly seen in their red livery but they can rapidly change colour to plain silver, or when the mood takes them silver and red bars.