Hey guys,

today I would like to take you further on my trip to the Maldives. I've been back in Germany for a few days, but there is still so much to tell. If you want to know more about the resort and the island in general, feel free to check out my last post. For my sister and me, when choosing the atoll and the island where we wanted to spend our Maldives vacation, it was especially important that the reef around the island has great corals and a great underwater world to offer, with lots of marine life ;). Especially the Reethi Beach on Fonimagoodhoo Island there are the most diverse marine life such as rays, sharks, turtles, crabs and quite a few different species of fish. Also the corals look great here.

Fonimagoodhoo Island is especially popular among snorkelers and divers

The island is a very popular spot for snorkelers and divers. There is even a WaterSports center here, where free introductory diving courses are offered, in which you practice breathing with the bottle in shallow water. My sister and I had no diving experience so far and found out too late about the diving exercises, which always take place in the evenings. We have then rather decided for a manta ray tour, where you can snorkel with manta rays (the post about it komtm soon;)). Nevertheless, it is for shure a good opportunity to see if the diving is something for you. So if you are here once, you should definitely take the opportunity ;).

An incredible snorkeling experience at the house reef

We snorkeled at the house reef. The house reef is on the west side. We were recommended by some staff to snorkel rather to the side where the restaurant and the reception were located. Because here you had a clearer view. That is true. But here there was no particularly impressive underwater world. Sure, corals are always beautiful no matter where you are. But the house reef was a completely different number.
We were told that the visibility here was not so good because of the partly high waves and a stronger current, which actually existed. I am a competitive swimmer and still it was partly difficult to get ahead with fins. But also only in a few places. And had you left the really shallow places behind and between you and the corals there was a greater distance, the visibility also became much better. On the east side, on the other hand, there is hardly any current but also much less coral, fish and we didn't see any turtles there either.
The snorkeling here at the house reef was just incredible. I was snorkeling several times on this reef. I liked it best in the morning. At 6:30 we got out of bed for a shark tour. I'll tell you about the shark tour another time. After the tour we were already awake and instead of going back to bed I thought I could go snorkeling.
The times before we had unfortunately never seen turtles, great colorful fish, but no sharks and turtles (which I really wanted to see).

A calm and peaceful underwater world in the morning

What was extremely convenient: We had booked a beach villa, directly on the house reef. We did not know that ourselves before, but we were very pleased. Directly from the villa you had to walk only ten meters and I was already on the beach and the house reef.
So I went snorkeling here about half past eight in the morning. It was much quieter. Somehow it seemed more peaceful than usual around noon and afternoon. Maybe it was just my own feeling because I had a little less adrenaline in me. The underwater world with the many colorful fish had a very calming effect on me. And incredibly beautiful. Rarely have I felt such an inner contentment and simply happiness as here. It was simply beautiful to watch the fish swim, as they were gently rocked back and forth by the current. Right at the beginning of my snorkeling I discovered the first turtle. I was incredibly happy because it was the last day, our departure day, and before that we had never seen turtles. The turtle also immediately struck an incredibly great pose: She swam up and took a breath. I got some nice pictures, but see for yourself haha. After a short time you already come to the "end" of the reef. Here it goes abruptly steeply down, certainly 30-40 meters. I liked this part of the reef the most. You can still see the abyss and here there are great coral formations and fish to see. At one or the other place there are buoys that are attached to the bottom by a rope with an anchor. Here I have also made great pictures, against the sun, look for yourself:

The best spots on the house reef to see turtles

When I swam back, I saw a turtle one more time. This one was a different one. I could tell because it looked a little smaller and lighter. I think it was younger than the one before. What I noticed was that the turtles are most likely to be seen in shallow places, not too shallow, but not at the end of the reef. I think halfway is a good point to orient yourself. Here I saw both of them. The turtles like to eat here. They probably don't find their food in particularly deep or shallow places. And I think they prefer to be seen in the morning. At half past eight most of the snorkelers are not asleep. It is a very quiet atmosphere. So the best time for the turtles for a little snack ;).
We didn't see rays or sharks during any of our snorkeling tours, but on different tours or the ray feeding, which always takes place in the morning and evening (I'll post something about both another time, be curious ;).

I think to see sharks and rays you have to be a little more patient and snorkel longer than we did. We were snorkeling for about five hours in the whole six days. That may not sound like much, but we did a lot of tours and water sports and exploring the island, enjoying the sunset.... In addition, there is already the sunset at 18:30 in the evening. For snorkeling you have then actually as a late riser nott so much time haha. I can only recommend snorkeling once in the morning. It is a completely different experience!

A great biodiversity at Baa Atoll

And these are some of the fish we saw while snorkeling: keeper fish, white-throated doctor fish, cleaner fish, ship keeper, moray eels, jewel flagfish, peacock grouper, and and and.... Too many to list now. These are just a few of the ones we actually saw. Some of the corals are very colorless, but there are also some that still have a lot of pink and orange color (see pictures). Can I recommend the island? Absolutely, it was an extremely beautiful underwater world, especially the wildlife fascinated me a lot. For snorkelers and especially divers it must be a paradise. Time to get my diving license. Because I definitely haven't visited the Maldives for the last time! What do you say ? How did you like my post and what do you say about the underwater world ? feel free to write me your feedback in the comments. See you next time!

Here you can see a few videos that I have cut with the Gopro app (unfortunately there is advertising at the end, I am not sponsored;). I have made the videos and photos with the GoproHero9. Feel free to have a look at it on 3speak.tv:)