Manta “stand-by” in Dharavandhoo
Our first destination for our big trip is Dharavandhoo, an island in the Baa Atoll of the Maldives. We came here for two reasons. First, the close proximity to Hanifaru Bay – famous for it’s giant schools (up to several hundred at a time) of Manta rays which come here in the summer months from June-Aug to feed in the rich waters. But second, because I’d read it had a wonderful house reef just off the bikini beach.
On our first day, we mostly chilled on the house reef, although we did get a call for some whale sharks in the afternoon. Sadly, we didn’t manage to get in the water with them.
The Mantas are late this season (same luck as with the whales in Iceland – also late and we missed them ☹️). Hanifaru bay is so close, and monitored by locals with drones. As soon as they are spotted there, they inform the guides which, in turn, inform the guests, to go out as soon as possible to catch a glimpse and hopefully swim with them.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear anything at all…. So we just stayed by the house reef most of the time, on “stand-by” ready to go if we got the call.
However, it was true, it is a great house reef. Not much coral really, only in patches, but the abundance and variety of fish is amazing. We’ve seen almost every species which live here in the Maldives, including many types of triggerfish, little squid, black tip sharks, turtles, pufferfish, eels…
Our days so far have mostly consisted of waking up for breakfast at DFC (Dharavandhoo Fishing Club) – the only restaurant which seems open on the island at the moment because of low season! Then walking over to Kiha beach, which is actually the “private” beach of Kiha Hotel, and is the beach before the official bikini beach, but is much more sheltered, has shade, beach beds and a fresh water shower just off the beach. Again, since it’s low season, nobody has minded us going here or asked us for money. Although we have bought a few cokes from the bar, more just as a way to pay something. Then nipping back to DFC for lunch, back to the beach for more snorkelling and a nap. DFC for tea again, then bed!
Every morning we’ve seen little baby black tip reef sharks in the bay close to the rocks. Up to six in one go, at one point. I stood and watched them for hours, they were amazing.
One evening, Dave spotted a bigger reef shark in the bay too, and we spent ages finding it again to see it, as the visibility had gone quite poor that evening. I did eventually see it and got a great video.
That night, since the sky was quite clear, we watched the sunset, and then after tea, came back to the beach to get some sky shots. Dave likes astrophotography, and so got some amazing pics of the milky way.
On our final full day, we said even if there’s only 1 manta or even just a chance of manta, we would go to the bay. But it got to 2pm and nothing… But the dude ran over to us at 2:20pm and offered a snorkelling tour to us instead. To turtle point and then coral garden. Sounded great.
On the way over to the first point, we got a call that there was a whale shark in Hanifaru, so we took a diversion there. It’s only 5 min (probably less) by boat from the jetty. We didn’t see anything, but it was amazing to actually see Hanifaru, the lagoon was SOOOOO blue!
So we continued on to turtle point, where we saw 3 turtles, a Mobula ray, a HUGE school of moorish idols (which was probably our highlight), and a massive clownfish nightclub in the anemones.
Unfortunately, the visibility at coral garden was TERRIBLE, but you could just about see how good the coral was… shame, as I bet it was amazing in good visibility.
We were almost back to the jetty when we got another call… 5 mantas, but not in Hanifaru, at a cleaning station about 25 min away… We turned around and headed out…
We did see some mantas, but they weren’t stopping at the cleaning stations, and were running from the boat really… So we weren’t able to get in with them. But at least we did see them a little.
To save the day, on the way back to the island we saw a pod of spinner dolphins which put on a display for us! I didn’t get many good pics, but it was so amazing watching them play with the boat and jumping out and spinning.
Dharavandhoo was not the most beautiful island, with the airport taking up most of the land, and a hell of a lot of construction going on… But the house reef was great. It’s a pity we didn’t arrive at the best time for Mantas at Hanifaru, as I’ve seen, and read reports, of the kind of spectacle it can be… but hopefully we will see mantas on other islands. And who knows, maybe one day we will come back!! Ideally a full moon in July or August 😀
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