As some of you may have gathered, I was lucky enough to spend a week with my family on Bodu Hithi, an island in the Maldives, recently. We had been there once before in 2013 and it was the start of a huge change in our lives. When we travelled there the first time, we met Chiara, the marine biologist on staff at the resort. She spoke to us about conservation, the need to protect the coral reef, the incredible diversity of wildlife and the wide paths of destruction humanity is leaving in the ocean.
We stayed in contact with Chiara and it was a great pleasure to see her again this year, as well as meeting Lisa - the marine biologist intern at Bodu Hithi (http://www.cocoboduhithi.com/). The whole family had been looking forward to this holiday for a long time and the week far surpassed our expectations!
The coral reef around the island is amazing - and what is even more amazing is the effort put into rebuilding it. Corals are living animals and as such they need a particular environment to thrive. Unfortunately, parts of the reef easily break when careless swimmers and snorkelers connect with them. One of the things the marine biologists there have done is to have scrap metal structures sunk into spots where the reef has died and then tied pieces of broken - but still alive - coral to them. My son did this in 2013 and we had the great pleasure of seeing the massive growth of "his" coral over the past 2 years, photos courtesy of Chiara Fumagalli:
We stayed in contact with Chiara and it was a great pleasure to see her again this year, as well as meeting Lisa - the marine biologist intern at Bodu Hithi (http://www.cocoboduhithi.com/). The whole family had been looking forward to this holiday for a long time and the week far surpassed our expectations!
The coral reef around the island is amazing - and what is even more amazing is the effort put into rebuilding it. Corals are living animals and as such they need a particular environment to thrive. Unfortunately, parts of the reef easily break when careless swimmers and snorkelers connect with them. One of the things the marine biologists there have done is to have scrap metal structures sunk into spots where the reef has died and then tied pieces of broken - but still alive - coral to them. My son did this in 2013 and we had the great pleasure of seeing the massive growth of "his" coral over the past 2 years, photos courtesy of Chiara Fumagalli:
Because of the success of the program, more structures have been added and we were super happy to be able to "plant" some more coral this year, thanks again to Chiara for the picture:
After having met turtles in 2013 and one of them even being named after my daughter, we felt a connection to the important work the great people at the Olive Ridley Project (http://oliveridleyproject.org/) are doing. Ghost nets are a huge problem in our oceans and a small donation can really help to enable the search and removal of them. You can donate here: http://www.gofundme.com/oliveridleyproject.
This beautiful creature hangs around the Bodu Hithi house reef.
As long as you're not touching them, the turtles don't mind your presence (and will swim away anyway if they do). This particular one seemed to enjoy the paparazzi!
One absolutely incredible thing we did was snorkel with reef manta rays. We were very lucky to be in the area during the season in which the rays were coming to a cleaning station and managed to do a snorkelling visit there three times. Again, they are not bothered by snorkelers as long as you don't touch them (and in fact touching them can be quite bad - for the mantas! Bacteria in our skin can cause problems for them so - as always - the rule is keep your hands to yourself).
The Manta Trust (http://www.mantatrust.org) is committed to conserving mantas and I was pleased to know that this kind of snorkelling trip is actually helpful in two ways: first by helping to ID the mantas if you are able to take a picture of their bellies and secondly by paying for the privilege to see them - as they become more valuable economically alive than dead, governments will work harder at conservation.
I can't begin to explain what it feels like to be in the water next to these magnificent creatures. With some of them reaching 5 meters wingspan they are gentle giants that glide effortlessly through the ocean and it is a privilege to get so close to them. As they swim around the cleaning station with little cleaner fish nibbling away at them you can get a good look right at them and you really notice them looking back at you through intelligent eyes.
I can't begin to explain what it feels like to be in the water next to these magnificent creatures. With some of them reaching 5 meters wingspan they are gentle giants that glide effortlessly through the ocean and it is a privilege to get so close to them. As they swim around the cleaning station with little cleaner fish nibbling away at them you can get a good look right at them and you really notice them looking back at you through intelligent eyes.
Another thing we did as a family was to help in the weekly lagoon clean-up. Guests don't usually get involved but we found it was a great way for us to lend a hand and for our kids to get a feeling for the problems that non-biodegradable garbage in the oceans cause. My son and I joined the snorkelers in removing garbage from the shallow water while my daughter and wife walked the entire length of the beach picking up things. After working hard to unravel a few meters of fishing line from a coral I still found a battery and a knife handle while plastic items and even a ghost net were found by the others. Pictures courtesy of Chiara and Lisa.
What can I say - another fantastic holiday for the whole family and combining it with some learning and making new friends is just amazing. And, because I couldn't resist just one sunset shot... here it is:
f/16, 1/4s, ISO 100, 16mm. Reverse ND Filter.
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