Maldives snorkelling trip - Oblu Sengali 3/3

 

Joined an snorkel excursion to see manta ray, the biggest ray with wing spans up to 5m.

They flip the wings and glide pass gracefully, big and black but not menacing at all. The mouth is wide open while moving to swallow plankton. 

 

After a few rounds getting in the sea to watch manta ray, as we just get back into the boat, the marine biologists shouted: get back in, whale shark in front.

 

Everybody turn round and jump back in. It is the biggest cold blooded fish in the sea, but only eat plankton too, not dangerous at all. What a shape, huge head and slim long tail, with sparkling spots on the body, beautiful beast.

 

Found out afterwards that it is not that easy to see whale shark as they only come out to feed, spend most of the time at the bottom.

Maldives snorkelling trip - Oblu Sengali 2/3

 

There is a ring of reef around the island, one part of it is close to the buildings. It is shallow and flat on the inside, steep slope down to unseeable bottom the outer side. 

 

In front of the sandy beach, there is another shallow area with a lot of coral, like a sunken garden.

Colourful coral fishes swim around, plus silvery pomfrets, trevally, turtle and reef sharks. All calm and peaceful in the underwater coral garden, it is such a pleasure to hang effortlessly in the sea to watch the spectacular display of forms and colours.

 

 

Maldives snorkelling trip - Oblu Sengali 1/3

 

Blue blue blue, the many shades of blue, is the first impression of arriving at the resort in Maldives.

 

We picked this resort after a lot of research on internet. Top priority is having a good house reef, where you can swim to see easily, without needing a boat transfer, like in the previous resort we went to many years ago. 

The water is so clear, and calm, a bit cool if you are just floating there watching the beautiful underwater world. There is not a piece of rubbish. 

If the main aim is to snorkel for 2 hours at a time, the advise is to wear long sleeve and ankle long swim wear, save using sunscreen, as no amount of sunscreen cream will stop from burning the back of the body.