[Maldives] Trip Report : SEP. 22-28, 2018, Male and Baa Atoll Route Vol.2

[#Maldives] Trip Report : SEP. 22-28, 2018, #Male and #Baa Atoll Route Vol.2

The day 3, it was cloudy. The 1st dive of the day was at Kihaa Rock in the Baa Atoll. The big school of Yellowback Fusiliers welcomed us as if there was a big yellow curtain in the water. The colorful soft corals at the overhang here was very beautiful. An underwater torch is the must to enjoy the real color of the corals. The Five-lined Snappers, which were unusual here, were seen. The 2nd dive was at the Dega Thila, which has the characteristic two tall  towers of reeves. A school of Luminous Cardinalfish was too huge and thick for us to see anything else. The Bluefin Trevallies were attacking the school of Neon Fusiliers. The regular Longnose Hawkfish were seen a lot. The 3rd dive was at Dhonfanu Rock. We saw a couple of Green Turtles and a Hawksbill Turtle. One of the Green Turtles was impressively big. Besides, we enjoyed cute Macro diving.

The day 4, the 1st dive of the day is at Dhigu Thila in the Baa Atoll, which was the site with a long long wall just like the Great Wall in the water. A couple of Spotted Eagle Rays were slowly swimming circle around us. Nice! My favorite was a school of Collare Butterflyfish.  The 2nd dive was at Dhonfanu Thila again. There was a different current from former dive here. The visibility got worse but the number of the fish was much more than before. We found about five Spotted Eagle Rays in a great formation. Besides a big Napoleon appeared. The 3rd dive was at Dharavandhoo Corner, aiming for Manta Rays passing by from/to the Hanifaru Bay. But,,, where did they go?  What’s happened with Manta Rays here!? Oh, well, we observed Oriental Sweetlips getting cleaned and also the cute Black-blotched Porcupinefish.

The air temperature was 26-33 deg.C. The water temperature was 28-29 deg.C. To be continued…