Snorkeling in Maldives

[Flukester]

Hi all

Thought I'd share a little video showing the marine life I filmed in Maldives last week.

Reefs were in great condition with daily shark, eagle ray, moray eel and turtle encounters.

Filmed everything on a little Panasonic Lumix FT2 camera...uploaded in 720p

 

[ojrules]

what kind of shark is that?... .. brill video... reefs looked a bit brown, then again i've never been reef diving, and those reefs did look beautifully diverse... always wanted to go reef diving, never really had the chance though, however i do have a strong fear of sharks , even though i've never seen one outside probably the sealife centre when i was younger...

 

[Cosimo]

What a beautiful place to go snorkelling. These guys are fantastic:

How is landing and take-off in a seaplane?

Thanks for a great video.

 

[footman]

Lovely film, you were very lucky to get those rays when snorkelling. There's some really good colour in that film.

Were those shots on the reef around the island or did you travel out by boat to get them?

 

[Dutchman]

Awesome vid, brings back so many memories, we went to Kuramathi in 2008. I love the quality of both vid and stills, much better than the Olympus 790 I own, but back then there wasn't an awful lot of choice for waterproof cameras.
Was surprises you didn't have any parrot fish in your vids, they were amazing to watch.

As for the shark, it's a black tip reef shark, or reef tip black shark, can't remember which on, but the little babies swim all over the place, the ones in the vids are adults and I think they only go up to about 1.5-1.8m long and aren't after humans for a meal

 

[J1234]

The marine life in the Maldives is just fantastic. I got some great pictures when I went last year, shall post them up a bit later

Yeah they're black tipped reef sharks, very friendly!

 

[ringo747]

Great video! What was the weather like when you were there? Thinking of going there next July. Seaplane landing looks fun!

 

[Flukester]

Taking off and landing on seaplane was great, as sea quite smooth. As it was rainy season first week was quite cloudy, but 2nd week was fab.

I found water was very clear in early morning around 8:30am, but afternoons the water clouded because of plankton / strong currents...all those shots were from the house reef which was literally 20metres from the beach on the island.

The reefs look dull but in the flesh they were really good, and grown back from when they were killed in the late 90s. You see the crazy reef colours on TV when they are illuminated...

Sharks were ok and you soon got used to them, but the giant / titan trigger fish chased me on a few occasions, and they chase you a long long way

 

[robert.M]

lucky bugger =)

 

[Simian]

Did Kuramathi for my Honeymoon back in 2004.. went snorkelling, but only had 'disposable' underwater cameras available to me

Still got some fantastic shots!..

Rember walking allong the beach watching the shark babies sleeping and tapping along the edge of the sand.. round and round..

I'd love to go back, but I'm not sure my now Fiancée would like to go to the same place (albeit another of the 1100 islands) that I went to with the 'Psycho Hosebeast'..

 

[J1234]

Heres some pictures

 

[Flukester]

Fantastic photos. What time of year was that as the water looks very clear. Closest i got to that visibility was when filming the surgeon fish at 830am

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Titan trigger fish very amusing when there nesting ...........

 

[Flukester]

Titan trigger fish very amusing when there nesting ...........

tell me about it, had to run several times, and they just dont give up and will chase you for what feels like ages...

I followed a pair that were obviously in hindsight doing some mating ritual, the one at back turned round and chased me back to shore

 

[Fuzz]

Sweet video.

Don't shout about the place too much or everyone will want to go there.

Last time I went snorkelling out there I circumnavigated the island spending four hours in the water in one hit. loved the place.
Burnt my wrists and ankles to an absolute crisp though (only part of me that was exposed to the sun as I was wearing a full length wetsuit).

 

[footman]

Burnt my wrists and ankles to an absolute crisp though (only part of me that was exposed to the sun as I was wearing a full length wetsuit).

Tell me about it. We were on a dive boat and I was the only person with a wetsuit albeit a 3/4 size one. Everyone seemed to think I was daft wearing one.Comments along the lines of "overkill" and "looks stupid" etc.

I was the only one not to get a burnt back/shoulders.

 

[J1234]

Fantastic photos. What time of year was that as the water looks very clear. Closest i got to that visibility was when filming the surgeon fish at 830am

This was July last year, so also monsoon season. The viability did vary depending on what side of the island we were on and the time of day, but most of the time it was crystal clear.

tell me about it, had to run several times, and they just dont give up and will chase you for what feels like ages...

I followed a pair that were obviously in hindsight doing some mating ritual, the one at back turned round and chased me back to shore

Haha yes, me and my girlfriend got stalked by a tiny fish (can't remember what it was called) for about 20 minutes and it ended up biting my girlfriend, right in the belly button It bled quite a lot!

 

[yermum]

A lady got bitten by a trigger fish when we stayed on Athruga and it was a really nasty bite. She wasn't allowed to swim for the rest of her stay.

The snorkling on these reefs is incredible and should be enjoyed while we still can as the level of the sea is rising and threatening to cover some of the islands. The water temperature is rising too and killing the reefs.

 

[Wee Michelle]

wow guys I am so jealous that looks absolutely fantastic.

great photos justin.

 

[MattTheTall77]

looks absolutely stunning, amazing pictures!!!