After visiting Malaysia twice and Costa Rica once, I had realised that I really did have a fondness for Asian Wildlife. The species themselves fascinated me, and the hard work you had to put into seeing the wildlife was just so rewarding at the end of each trip.
Costa Rica almost felt like we were cheating. This may sound odd, but there was so much wildlife, that we rarely had to actually open our eyes and really look for it. Most of the wildlife came to us, whereas when I have visited Asia, I had to really put in the hard work, hours of driving and walking around to finally see what you've been praying for, there was no better feeling!
But where to next? That was the most important question. After many discussions and estimations on price we had juggled with the idea of heading to the Maldives for another wonderful diving adventure. But we were convinced it would cost an arm and a leg to even get there. Besides, 2 weeks in the Maldives, that would be too long wouldn't it?
After looking into flights, they were indeed coming out rather expensive, funnily enough for no extra cost we actually managed to split our flight 3 ways and ended up booking a week in the Maldives and a week in Sri Lanka. This was because on the way to the Maldives, Bandaranaike Intentional Airport was the main stop over. This turned out to be a brilliant idea... £500 all in for the flights and we had another trip on the cards!
As both myself and Nick had only logged a few dives after our PADI in the Philippines, we really wanted to make the most of the incredible diving the Maldives had to offer, deciding on 10 dives across 4 days. We managed to squeeze in 3 dives per day and one extra on our last full day, before heading to the mainland. Choosing which island to visit in the Maldives was not particularly difficult for us. Myself and Nick knew exactly which marine life we would like to see. The top 3 on the list where:
- Whale Sharks - Manta Rays - Turtles
I can safely say, neither of us where disappointed. Most of the images from the Maldives are lower quality as they were taken on and iPhone or GoPro Hero 5 Black. Some of the images are stills taken from videos. First stop: The Maldives *TME Resorts*
Whilst in the Maldives, we not only got to see a whale shark, but we actually saw 3! Unfortunately I only managed to get a quick snapshot of 2 of them. The third was extremely quick at descending to the murky depths away from any pestering eyes. This was the moment we encountered our first Whale Shark, and one of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced.
Of course the beaches lived up to their reputation... Pristine white sand lined the entire island. We will back to diving again soon!