| The beauty of the waters around the Maldives is | | | | For more advanced or qualified divers, the Maldives |
| inescapable. Being an island paradise with the ocean | | | | can rival the best dives sites of the Red Sea or |
| and reefs all around, every panorama is filled with the | | | | Great Barrier Reef. As well as turtles, guitar fish, reef |
| bright, sunlit water, startling in colour. Many people will | | | | sharks and eels, you might witness giant glimmering |
| opt to scuba dive during their Maldives holidays and | | | | shoals of silver tuna in the distance, or the graceful |
| find that the true beauty of this paradise is actually | | | | silhouettes of manta rays. Your hotel and dive centre |
| underwater. | | | | will offer a variety of dive sites so you can build an |
| With its gradually sloping sea beds, warm shallow | | | | exciting schedule of diving for your Maldives holidays. |
| waters, good visibility and reef-sheltered bays, the | | | | Your itinerary might include some wreck dives or |
| Maldives are a safe and easy location to be schooled | | | | reefs beyond the protection of the atolls where the |
| in the use of Self Contained Underwater Breathing | | | | currents are stronger, or perhaps a visit to the area |
| Apparatus (SCUBA). But as well as the practical | | | | where the sea shelf drops off abruptly into the |
| concerns, the aesthetic effect of the tropical | | | | darkness of the Indian Ocean, giving you the |
| environment makes Maldives holidays great for | | | | opportunity to see even larger fish. |
| learning to scuba dive. The sand of the beaches and | | | | The fish are almost unavoidable on Maldives holidays: |
| the sea bed is formed from powdered coral, so it is | | | | even knee deep in the gentle breakers, small |
| fine and white, which means the shallows are | | | | translucent fish approach with curiosity. Often hotels |
| illuminated by the intense sunshine, which easily | | | | will put out scraps, feeding the fish from the |
| penetrates the clear water. | | | | walkways or quays so that the residents can see the |
| There is something comforting about the shallow | | | | variety of life in the shallows. The reefs themselves |
| nursery pools where you will get accustomed to the | | | | which encircle the island atolls are home to |
| equipment; they offer a more natural surrounding | | | | innumerable species of tropical fish of yellows, |
| than the enclosure of a swimming pool. The first time | | | | purples, reds and greens, which move and feed |
| you rest on the seabed, at a depth of perhaps as | | | | among the reef. As you swim among them, you can |
| little as five metres, it is quite a sensation being able | | | | hear the parrot fish gnawing on the coral. |
| to settle without any urgency for breath. Once you | | | | With luck, by the end of your Maldives holidays, you |
| have passed the tests to ensure you know the | | | | will have earned a PADI Open Water Diver |
| safety drills, your dive instructor will accompany you | | | | certification, which will allow you to participate in |
| on dives further away from the island. This is when | | | | scuba diving worldwide on subsequent holidays. |
| your Maldives diving holidays get really exciting: | | | | However, you will have to choose your next |
| swimming farther out to deeper reefs and taking a | | | | destination carefully; the visually stunning underwater |
| boat out farther still, giving you the freedom to visit | | | | world of the Maldives is a hard act to follow. |
| any number of reefs in the local area. | | | | |