[Maldives] Trip Report : FEB.08-15,2020, Deep South (Equatorial) Route Vol.3

[#Maldives] Trip Report : FEB.08 -15, 2020,  Deep South #Equatorial Route 1 from #Male to #Gaafu Vol.3

Day 3, we were in the #Thaa atoll. The 1st dive of the day was at Dhiyamigili Corner. Originally diving outreef was our plan A.  But we were forced to dive inner reef because of the strong current. Yet, we saw many sea creatures. Whitetip Reef Sharks swam very slowly underneath of the layer where Grey Reef Sharks swimming in their top speed! There was a school of Two-striped Sweetlips all munching something. And a big Tawny Nurse Shark was asleep in the rocks. Although we were supposed to move to the next atoll after the 1st dive, we stayed in the Thaa for the better weather. The 2nd dive was at Nufenna Giri. We tried to observe the endemic species. The Evansi Anthias were beautiful yellow and purple color combination. The regular Maldive Anemone fish family was there. And the Indian Bannerfish with the cute curled eye-lash were observed as well.  The 3rd dive was at Guraidhoo Out. We let us drift with the nice out reef current. The schools of Humpback Red Sappers and Lunar Fusiliers were seen along with the reef. The Grey Reef Sharks and Whitetip Reef Sharks were moving to the same direction as ours using the current near the bottom. For the 4th dive we came back to the Nufenna Giri point for the night dive. The fish that we observed during the day changed their color in the night time. Nocturnal Spotfin Lionfish and Clearfin Lionfish were very busy looking for their food and once they found it, quickly harvested it in the blink of an eye. After the 4th dive we got the great news of Whale Shark appearance from our mother boat. Some of us jumped into the water with snorkel and the others observed it from the boat. The Whale Shark stayed there for a long time even after we went to bed. The water temperature was 26-31 deg.C. The water temperature was 26-28 deg.C. The visibility was 10-40 meters. To be continued…