Seaplanes, Swimming with Sharks and Some ESS- Maldives 2024

About three weeks before school ended, I had the opportunity to go to the Maldives with my Environmental Science and Societies (ESS) class. This trip focused on learning about sustainability (Unit 1), biodiversity (Unit 3), and solid waste management (Unit 8); all topics we learned or touched upon in class.  

Day 1 May 23, 2024: This day we started on an early flight from Colombo to Malé, which was followed by a seaplane trip from Malé to Dhigurah Island. Dhigurah is a small island in the South Ari Atoll of the Maldives. The seaplane was an amazing experience; it was so cool to see all the atolls of the Maldives from a bird’s eye perspective. We had a pretty bumpy landing next to LUX island, where we had to wait for a few hours for a boat due to the strong winds. Once it came we finally were able to arrive at Digurah. Later that afternoon after settling into our hotel we had a huge downpour come by for a while while we waited to finally go out and explore the island. The (WEST) side of the island had very high winds and it was very choppy so we ended up swimming on the (EAST) side where it was a lot calmer but still a little chilly.

Day 2 May 24, 2024: In the morning we went back to “Long Beach” where we had a much more successful swimming experience. I went snorkeling and saw a variety of fish (highlight: a few sea cucumbers and two pufferfish!). We had originally planned to go back to LUX resort to tour how they manage their waste but since the sea was still quite choppy we stayed on Digurah and did a tour of the island. We were toured by (NAME) and his wife (NAME), they took us to their waste management plant where they deal with wet waste. Sorting the waste into piles to make compost, we also found out that their plant layout was based on one in Weligama, Sri Lanka! After this, we saw their new up-and-coming desalination plant which was planned to open up soon. Here (name) explained how they deal with sewage waste and convert salt water to usable water for the island. Lastly, he took us to another waste plant where they deal with tin, glass, and plastic. All these are sorted and then sent to (ISLAND NAME) to be incinerated. After the tour we walked around the island town, stopping by the local school and a cafe. 

Day 3 May 25, 2024: Today we had plans to go whale shark watching!! We started the day early gearing up and heading to our boat where we got a short intro of the plan for the day. The choppy water was perfect for whale sharks, and with the sunny clear skies, we had a good chance of running into some. Our guides said we planned to go up and down the island in search of whale sharks. It took some time so some of us went to the roof of the boat to tan or take a nap. We first stopped at a beautiful coral garden off the LUX island. Jumping into the water was surreal, from above you can see some shapes but once my head was underwater it was a whole new world. There were hundreds of fish swimming around in schools with some sharks (sadly I didn’t see 😞them). After this, we continued on the whale shark journey which took a very long time. I’m pretty sure we went up and down the island once just looking. For this part, I gladly lay down and took the best nap I have had in my entire life. When I woke up we had found a group of other boats with not one but two whale sharks! When we jumped in we were told to stay together as a group, which did not last for more than 5 minutes with my class. At first, I didn’t see anything, until a group of people just slowly started swimming towards us, and in the middle of the people was a whale shark! Seeing them was amazing and definitely my favorite part of this whole experience and trip. As the whale shark started diving deeper another one joined it and they had a moment where they almost were circling each other. Some of the guides were able to free dive down with them, I even spotted some divers deeper down by the coral (on my bucket list of things to do now). Once the crowds cleared we got in one last time with just my class to look at the whale sharks again which was great since it wasn’t so packed. After this, we headed back to Digurah to call it a day since we were all wiped out.

Later that night we were presented by the ‘Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme’ which is an NGO that researches whale sharks to gain a better understanding of them due to the lack of understanding and knowledge.  Our presenters told us about the anatomy, environment, threats, and ways to help which was very interesting to listen to after seeing the sharks earlier that morning. 

Day 4: May 16, 2024: Today we had to get up even earlier to catch a boat from Digurah to Malé which was around 1.5 hours, I was feeling sick so this ride was horrible. Once in Malé, we were able to take the early boat ride to Summer Island which was around 45 minutes. We arrived at summer island with very sunny weather. Just off the dock, we could see the coral surrounding it with all different types of fish. Later in the afternoon, we went out to the dock to snorkel and we swam with 9 reef sharks! They were quite shy, hiding under one of the boats but they came out slowly and calmly swam by all of us. I also spotted an eel and a lot of cute clownfish.

Day 5: May 17, 2024: Today was our last day, sadly. After breakfast, some of us went out for a last swim. The day before I didn’t go quite far, only sticking by the doc but I was told there was a coral garden a little further. I went out to see it and it was amazing. They had set up structures underwater to restore coral and it was growing back very well. This coral garden was a lot deeper, and so many other fish were living there staying in big schools. Some highlights: garden eels, sharks, and a puffer fish! After our morning session, we toured around the island to see their desalination plant, generator, and some waste management for the resort. 

After lunch, we packed up and took a boat to Malé. As we were docking a huge downpour came by and got all of us soaking in water as we ran into the airport. We had a snack and then boarded our plane back to Colombo.