Swimming with the sharks in The Maldives 9/2023 (Stop 1)

Caption: Itinerary on this trip through The Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal:

• The Maldives
• Sri Lanka – Sigiriya
• Sri Lanka – Anuradhapura
• Sri Lanka – Trincomalee
• Sri Lanka – Kandy
• Sri Lanka – Ella
• Sri Lanka – Merissa
• India – Mumbai
• India – Ahmedabad
• India – Udaipur
• India – Jodhpur
• India – Jaisalmer
• India – Jaipur
• India – Agra
• India – New Delhi
• India – Varanasi
• Nepal – Pokhara
• Nepal – Kathmandu

12 Sept 2023 I flew to the middle of the Indian Ocean, trying to land on the Maldives, made up of many small islands scattered across many thousands of miles, that you can’t see on the map unless enlarged. It could get worse, some fear it could be submerged, thanks to global warming.  So I better hurry. 

Its 2 nearest neighbors are Sri Lanka and India. I promise to eat a lot of curry. 

Both these countries are more than 600km away. So it feels adrift from the mainland and cast away, as it were. Privacy is therefore assured.

Landed in Malé, the capital, at night. Early the next morning, I caught glimpses of Malé walking to the boat jetty. As expected, it was surrounded by sea. The men have tan skin, many with thick beards and hair, thanks to the sea and hot sun. The girls were wrapped up in hijab and long robes – this country is Islamic.

After about 30 minutes, the speedboat arrived in Maafushi, one of the popular islands.  

This is a small island. I could walk the entire length in less than an hour. This was not the peak season, so there were fewer chances of visitors getting annoyed by each other. 

The beaches look their natural best. The beaches were laid with the finest and purest power, white and soft. Your beautiful tan will look and feel great against the white sand. The water was crystal clear, understandably, as these little pieces of land were in the middle of nowhere. But nature makes it sublime. Its turquoise is unequaled – the Maldives is said to have the most turquoise water in the world!

There was a bikini beach, meaning bikini was allowed. And there are no-bikini beaches. This does not mean you do away with bikinis and wear nothing.

Every which way I went, the shops, the local village, were paved with white sand. They wouldn’t have it any other way. So Maafushi is through and through a beach. 

Be in the middle of the ocean. Your relatives back home become distant relatives and have to leave you alone. You will enjoy your privacy here.

Fulidhoo, Maldives 14 September 2023

From Maafushi, a small group of us sped to Fulidhoo Island in a speedboat. A group of about 10 stingrays were swimming close to the shore. We took turns to stand around them. We were instructed to stand still. I knew they had killed people before, so I thought it was an insane idea. But everyone seemed to feel privileged to have their photos taken with them. I did not like it one bit when they stroked my legs with their fins. My heroics captured, I hopped out of the hot water instantly.

I did the unthinkable in Maldives. I joined an excursion to “swim with the sharks”. I thought I would be swimming at a distance from them. 

On arrival at Shark Bay, the guides kept throwing baits into the sea to lure the sharks. The water was infested. They were monstrous, easily 3 meters long. When a big school gathered, we were taking turns being fed to the sharks. It was scary. There were body contacts. I was jostled. I dared not look them in the eyes. Though they were nurse sharks, supposedly nonaggressive, they were capable of biting out of curiosity. I was scared stiff. I was sweating a sea of water. I achieved my highest level of stupidity.

We would speed past islands and islets under the tropical sun. Patches and strips of turquoise water would appear out of the blue, out of the deep navy blue sea. They were turquoise, light green and blue, refreshing and bright. It means shallows.

We came to a sandbar, in the middle of the sea, out of nowhere, totally randomly. Everyone came prepared to capture the best of themselves and the moments. Drones were flown overhead to frame your most appealing self against the pure white sand surrounded by the most mesmerizing turquoise.

Not many moments in life are likely to be so captured again, of the simplest, purest, minimalistic, with the best natural colors.

Last year I snorkeled in Sipadan, Malaysia, one of the top diving spots in the world. I saw the underwater world I had not seen before. I wanted to see what the Maldives has to offer. 

The guides drove us in a lumbering big boat to a few diving spots. Through my goggles, the deep blue looked bottomless and a bit scary, but the brighter water penetrated by sunlight was like swimming in a giant aquarium decorated with reefs and fishes. Armed with a snorkel, a mask and a pair of fins, we were confidently chasing after fish, like sugar-high children.

Two tour guides plunged into the sea looking for turtles to entertain us. When they spotted a giant turtle, they guided the turtle our way so we could befriend her. I think they felt their job was to guide us and the turtles. We snorkeled alongside as she glided gracefully and effortlessly in the shallow. She looked a bit confused seeing us over-dressed for the swim, with our stylish masks and exaggerated long fins. A rare experience, nevertheless, for both of us.

As we drove home after a hard day’s work, the guides spotted some dolphins in the water. Before we could ask what happened, a couple of the guides already dived into the water in pursuit of the dolphins tens of meters away. A hysteria ensued, as everyone onboard was pointing at the distance. Then a few of the tourists also jumped into the sea, including some who were too scared of depth, and a couple without their fins, peddling hard but remained almost stagnant. I don’t blame them. To play with these creatures in the wild is a childhood dream. Regrettably, these playful creatures did not stay to play this time.

Click here to go to the next stop – Stop 2 Sigiriya, Sri Lanka