The surface is just the start

Tim Ecott

• Last Updated: November 07. 2009 11:40AM UAE / November 7. 2009 7:40AM GMT

From the window of my seaplane, a bright red Maldivian Air Taxi, there is an endless expanse of rich blue sky and Indian Ocean. The air and the sea seem to join on the horizon, a dreamscape of bright colour where air and water are impossible to separate. Below me the water flashes sapphire, and I focus on the occasional patches of white sand that reveal the presence of the tiny atolls that have made the Maldives famous as the one of the world’s most spectacular island getaways.

I am heading for the relatively new resort of Iru Fushi, recently taken over for management by the Hilton group after being built by Maldivian magnate Ahmed Siyam Mohammed. The island lies at the southern tip of the Miladhunmadulu Atoll, better known as Noonu Atoll, a chain of small islands about 160km from the capital Male. Like all Maldivian resorts it boasts white sands, clear blue water and a shoreline fringed with waving palms. But I am here to investigate the beauty beneath the waves: the dive sites of the surrounding reefs and the marine life that inhabits them.

Guests arriving at the wooden jetty receive a typically hospitable Maldivian welcome; ladies proffering refreshing hot towels, tropical cocktails decorated with colourful miniature umbrellas and a party of men carrying palm fronds and beating a rhythmic tune on their traditional bulbul drums as we walk from the aeroplane to the lobby to check in. First impressions of the 21-hectare resort are deceptive, carefully landscaped sand paths and immaculately tended foliage disguise the size of the property, which has almost 180 rooms. I am in one of the over-water villas which are sumptuously appointed with indoor and outdoor jacuzzis, and a spacious sundeck with my own private steps leading down into the lagoon.

After a rest, it is time to investigate the scuba-diving facilities, especially as I have been told that here in the northern atolls there is excellent diving and a host of relatively unexplored sites with healthy populations of fish. Like everything else about Iru Fushi, the dive centre has a distinctive, not to say unusual style. Built of timber at the end of a long, long jetty, the curving roof makes it look like it could have been designed as some kind of futuristic spaceship. Inside, state-of-the-art equipment, classrooms and changing rooms allow divers to continue their top-class holiday experience. My guide will be Koen ­Zuurbier, a tall Dutch diver who has been exploring the underwater Maldives scenery for more than a decade.

Even before the resort opened, it was Koen’s job to map and research the best dive sites within easy reach of Iru Fushi. More than 30 individual dive sites are accessible from the island and our first stop was appropriately named – Koen’s Dream. Descending through the sunlit depths I soon found out why. Close to a shallow reef sitting proud on a bare sandy bottom, we hover at a depth of 22m as a large stingray creates a miniature sandstorm as it shovels the seabed in search of crustaceans. From a small hole in a coral head I spot the dark shape of an octopus peeping cautiously at me. I hover, as close to being motionless as I can manage, and slowly, inch by inch, the creature appears from its lair. Its skin is mottled, pulsing and flashing a succession of tones and shades like an illuminated disco floor in a nightclub. The octopus turns from grey to brown and its skin, at first smooth as polished marble, erupts in a series of bobbles and knobbles. I back away, hoping to leave it in peace in its home and follow Koen as he heads away from the reef and onto the sand.

Koen points towards the depths, where the water is darker. He is facing into the direction of the current, and at first I can make out only shadows, but then I spot it. The first shark. A slim torpedo shape heads straight towards us and I can make out a beady brown eye, a speck of brown agate against steel-grey skin. More sharks follow, at first the swift white-tipped reef species, and then the barrel-bodied bulk of something bigger. These are the grey reef sharks, about two metres long. In less than a minute we are surrounded by more than 20 sharks cruising in and out of our line of vision. So long as we don’t try to swim towards them they are happy to stay, content to tolerate us visiting their world.

Koen and I spent the following days exploring the outer reefs, to see orange-striped trigger fish at Angel Reef, and swarms of Moorish idols at Dhigu Faru. On the surface our boat rides were enlivened by sightings of dolphins, flying fish skimming the surface of the lagoon and solitary turtles coming to the surface to breathe.

Many of the holidaymakers at Iru Fushi are not divers. They are content to make use of the other watersports facilities, take some sailing lessons in a small catamaran or try windsurfing close to the beach. There are tennis courts too. If being outside is all too much for you, there’s also the option of the electronic golf simulator, or perhaps more seductively, the spa with 21 individual treatment rooms. Iru Fushi spa treatments follow a holistic model and include Ayurvedic massage and specific programmes aimed at helping people with sleep disturbances, although a full range of traditional relaxing massages is also available as well as steam rooms and reflexology.

As a diver, I often focus less on the amenities that resorts offer above water, and more on how well run the diving centre is, how comfortable the dive boat is and, most importantly, what kind of creatures I will see underwater. However, there is nothing so pleasurable after a day’s diving as to come back to the resort and enjoy a soak in the hot tub on your private deck overlooking the sea. Follow that with a good meal and the total package makes for a blissful holiday. Iru Fushi’s seven restaurants definitely deliver, whether you choose the rather grown up setting of the Flavours restaurant or somewhere more casual like the Islander’s Grill.

Even though everything I did on Iru Fushi was pleasurable, the days seemed to pass quickly. That’s the thing about diving, it takes up a sizeable chunk of the day. But for me, travelling to a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is always about being underwater. And for our last dive together Koen had promised something special.

Underwater, there is a greater chance of serenity. At a dive site called Christmas Tree, I find underwater heaven. The site itself is an irregular thila, or coral structure, sticking up from the sand with large overhanging ledges all around the base. Giant grouper skitter into the darkest recess at the bottom of the structure, while great clouds of blue-stripe snapper hang at the edge of the reef in the shelter of branching soft corals. In the coral rubble a mantis shrimp with powerful snapping claws scuttles behind a boulder, visible for just long enough to spot a flash of brazen blue-ringed eyes and legs in red pyjamas.

Christmas Tree is named after the zigzag shape of the coral ledges which protrude like a child’s drawing of a festive fir. You need to swim away from the thila to see the effect, but up close it is a case of starting at the 27m-deep seabed and circling the levels of the ledges as if visiting a department store. The outer tips of the reef are covered in healthy gorgonians and brilliant green and yellow cup corals. At the reeftop, 18 metres below the surface, the surrounding blue is buzzing with jacks and a few solitary tuna. They zoom past like jet fighters. Below me the reef is so filled with life that I scarcely care what bigger species pass by. Nudibranchs and flatworms slither, cowrie shells glisten and delicate cleaner shrimp fuss. The coral is so healthy and undamaged that I hope very much that only very careful and respectful divers will come here.

Koen and I fin slowly back to the sunlit surface, where the dive boat awaits and the crew has prepared a warming cup of tea for the journey back to Iru Fushi. My head is filled with images of the colourful reef, which begins to fade from my mind like a vivid dream upon awakening.


Tim Ecott is the author of Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World. His latest book, Stealing Water, is a memoir about growing up in Ireland and South Africa

The resorts

The Maldives now has more than 80 resorts to choose from, almost all with their own dive centre. The cost of dive -packages varies but generally expect to pay around US$40 (Dh147) per dive, although rates will change according to the number of dives made during your stay.

A full list of accommodation in the Maldives can be found at the -official tourism board website, www.visitmaldives.com