Free diving with mantas

Free diving with manta rays in the Maldives was one of the best experiences I've ever had, and despite being a dedicated scuba diving instructor it got me thinking about the advantages of free diving and the importance of proper breathing control. 

Whilst in the Maldives I regularly attended meditation sessions which helped me to improve and control my breathing which was important not just when free diving but also when scuba diving. Now I am back home I have been researching free diving and yoga in the UK and will be writing an article on it shortly. Check back soon to read it....in the meantime I leave you with a video of my free diving experience with manta rays...

Free diving with mantas

The Ocean...

I find my peace in a force that’s forever and constantly changing. On a bad day, I’ll walk straight into it, clothes and all, and float on my back like a starfish. The

 rest of the world disappears. All I can hear is my own breathing. All I can feel is my own heart. Everything around me is moving, but finally, I am still.

The ocean never lets you down. It might surprise you, or frighten you, or challenge you, but it’s always there for you. There’s nothing more powerful. It’s stronger than wind, than fire. You can get to know it but you can never 100 percent predict it. Some days the swell will come up faster than you could ever imagine, and you’ll have to battle your way out. You’ll take waves on the head over and over again, swallowing water, barely able to catch your breath. You’ll be scared and exhausted, but you can’t give up. If you give up in the ocean, you’ll never walk out of it. So you keep swimming, keep thinking, keep moving. You find your inner reserves. And when you make it out, you’ve never been so grateful. You have accepted what the ocean has offered you, and you’ve proven yourself in the process. It’s a metaphor for life. What you believe you can do, you can. 

Top 10 diving myths dispelled

Top 10 diving myths

Top 3 Underwater Moments in the Maldives

Someone asked me today what my best dives, or favourite underwater moments have been since I've been here in the Maldives. I think my top 3 would have to be:

1) Seeing a huge grey reef shark

2) Free diving with 100 manta rays

3) Seeing a dolphin playing underwater

Perspectives on paradise...

Do we take a place for granted because we are exposed to it every day? Yes. But it is not as straightforward as a simple loss of appreciation; I believe that it is because our perspective shifts. 

As we adjust to a new place we become more comfortable and in doing so our initial observations of amazement soften. The crystal clear waters that filled us with astonishment become our daily surroundings, the star studded night sky, untainted with pollution is just the view through the window for a few seconds before we pull the curtains across and shut it out. We lose our initial gratitude for the place. It has not changed; it is just as beautiful as it seemed the first time that we saw it. We’ve changed, our perspective has shifted. 

Staff Dive Trip

Yesterday I organised a Staff Dive Trip for any staff on the resort who are certified divers. We had to change the dive sites that we had planned to go to because the current was so strong, so our first dive site was Dharavandhoo Thila where I taught a deep dive to 2 staff students. We went to 30m (the maximum limit for diving in the Maldives) and we saw lionfish, shrimp and lots of eels. The water temperature was 30oc and there was only a small current.

 Our second dive was at Finolhas. We checked the current and above 5m it was very small, however as soon as we descended it quickly became apparent that it was very strong! I was trying to teach Digital Underwater Photography which was incredibly difficult but towards the end of the dive we managed to ascend out of the current enough to get some good shots!

Drift Diving in the Maldives

This morning we did 2 dives, to Dhonfan Reef and Corner Bodu Thila in the Baa Atoll. Below are some photos from the dive.

Diving and asthma

This article is worth a read for any of you interested in diving and asthma....

Effects of asthma in diving

Underwater hand signals for marine life

Thought this might be useful for those of you wanting to communicate about marine life underwater...

Life is short, capture it

Life is short, capture it. 

I have always loved how a photo can capture a moment which is otherwise lost forever. Moments only happen once and are completely unique, by capturing them on camera you are able to preserve a part of the past and bring it forward into the future.

This is especially true of taking photos underwater, as you're also able to capture something that most people won't ever see and bring it back to the surface to share with them. This is one of the reasons I love underwater photography.

Dive at Dhigu Thila

Here are some photos from my dive at Dhigu Thila.

Maximum depth: 16m

Water temp 29oc

Viz: 30m

Anemone Fish

Moray Eel

Banner Fish

Scorpion Fish

 My favourite:

Blotched Porcupine Fish

Lion fish

Anemone Fish

Last 10 days in the Maldives...

If heaven is a place on earth then this is it. But even my wildest visions couldn’t have brought me to a land as beautiful as this.

 But it was not just here and now that captivated me, it was not just what was here, it was everything within these moments. It was not just being here, it was what happened here, it was the crystal blue waters pulled by the moon, the sun rising high unmasked in the sky and the stars unafraid to shine in all their glory at night. 

It is the people here; the spirit of love, the spirit of connection that found me here and in my heart it will stay. Something special happened here, we were free.

Seeing dolphins underwater is breath-taking

Yesterday I did 2 morning dives, the first to Nelivaru and the second to Dharavandhoo Thila in the Baa Atoll. 

We were blessed with 40m viz, 29oc water temperature and aquarium like conditions. The reef was teeming with life and on the first dive we saw mantis shrimp, tuna, scorpion fish, lion fish and batfish to name a few.

Mantis Shrimp

Glass Fish

Lion fish

Pufferfish

Anemone Fish

Aquarium like conditions

Scorpion  Fish

On the second dive I was lucky enough to see dolphins underwater for the first time! It was a truly mesmerizing experience and one which will stay with me for life. Sadly I didn't get a photo because I was enjoying the moment so much, however I did get some shots of a huge moray eel and other life we saw on the dive.