Sharks, Turtles and Rays: Snorkeling in Hurawalhi Island

Marine Life

Nudibranchs are usually pets of attentive divers; around Hurawalhi they can be found on the lagoon's sandy beaches. Sometimes you can see more than 80 mating nudibranchs that are thumb-sized and transparent enough to see their internal organs! Anyone who studies PADI Open Water Diver, Discover Scuba Diving, or just an introduction to diving can spot these colorful sea creatures.

Spotted Robust Ghostpipe Fish - very carefully look at the newly sprouted algae shallow lagoon, where this well-disguised creature can be found - it is not easy - they look like a piece of algae, but the fish is not attached to the bottom. Colorful and bright, small and fragile, motionless and similar to corals or algae, they so easily merge with their surroundings, which fully justifies one more name - ghost fish.

Giant frog fish - you can find one of these strange but wonderful creatures on the buoy line right in front of the dive center. Frogfish or anglerfish, as a rule, freeze for a while with their mouth open waiting for prey.

Guitar Fish - occasionally found on a dive side nearby, this strangely shaped shark (ray) treated the guests with a rare spectacle - it flew over the underwater restaurant 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, which is located in the lagoon Hurawalhi.

Common fishes that can be seen on the house reef include large schools of perch, red mullet, moray eels, and praying mantis shrimp. On the top of this reef, guests can spot young blacktip sharks, angel fish, butterfly fish and the occasional porcupine stingray.

Schools of Fusiliers, stingrays, napoleons, lobsters, puffers, boxfish, parrots and small reef sharks are very common on The Wall, diving and snorkeling spot on the opposite side of the island. The reef is very small, and it is easily accessible from any room for guests and from the back jetty, where there is a staircase directly into the water.

After dark, try night snorkeling at Aquarium, the island's most protected reef, and get ready to see baby sharks, crabs, shrimp, lobsters and even nursing sharks! The most magical thing that can be found on the night snorkeling in the 'Aquarium' is bioluminescence, which occurs when the water containing plankton moves due to the current. In the afternoon you can spot large schools of fish, including a beloved butterfly fish.

Tips and Recommendations

Hurawalhi Island has an amazing coral reefs that are a part of one of the most spectacular underwater environments in the Maldives that is home to a wide variety of marine life. But before you go and explore it during your forthcoming holiday at Hurawalhi Island Resort, here are some valuable tips to make your house reef snorkelling as enjoyable as it gets.

• Speak with the Island hosts or the dive center team about where you can safely enter and exit the house reef, ask for guidelines on snorkelling from your villa to see the very best spots.
• Never snorkel by yourself. If your partner isn’t a snorkeller, join a group of other snorkellers or sign up for one of the individual or group snorkelling house reef tours.
• Wear fins at all times. Currents on the house reef can be unpredictable and using a pair of fins makes your swimming a lot easier. If you’re new to swimming with fins, the watersports center team will be happy to teach you the basic technique.
• Make sure you protect yourself from the sun before you go snorkelling. To avoid sunburn, it’s best to wear a UV-blocking rashguard. Such shirts are available for purchase at the resort.
• Don’t touch anything in the water and admire the reef with your eyes only. Coral reefs are living organisms and should be respected. Furthermore, it is possible that some well camouflaged, sometimes venomous, marine life lurks on the reef or in the sand, so to protect yourself and the reef inhabitants, keep your arms straight down the side of your body, and your fingers on the camera shutter button.
• If you are not a water baby and prefer to get a glimpse of the reef through glass, you can book a Private Champagne Breakfast, lunch or dinner at 5.8 Undersea Restaurant to couple a luscious meal with views of an incredible coral reef!

Hurawalhi Island Resort

Best Experience: There are no kids on the island; a magnificent large overwater villas with stunning views of the lagoon; Superb house reef snorkeling, a fantastic '5.8 Undersea' restaurant

Hurawalhi Island Resort in the Maldives - this is incomparable, extraordinary and absolutely original. Ecologically innovative, a new 5*-star resort, the world's largest underwater restaurant, tropical champagne pavilion, stylish villas and politics just over 15 years old, and with no other resorts in the neighborhood as far as the eye can see - Hurawalhi Island Resort offers its own look at Paradise. Officially inaugurated in January 2016, the five-star Hurawalhi resort is accessible by a 40-minute scenic seaplane flight from the main airport, and offers 90 villas, including 60 Ocean Villas and 30 Beach Villas, for grown-ups who are seeking luxury and innovation. The villas are stylishly and beautifully conceived featuring soothing décor, sumptuous linens on king size beds, bleached wooden floors, and private terraces with panoramic views. There is an ocean of delights to take in at Hurawalhi: dining at 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, snuggling up with your darling under a blanket or sparkling stars on the iconic Dream Island sandbank, falling in love with the plethora of marine life on the island’s doorstep – in fact, one visit to the resort is hardly enough to experience it all. Read Full Review

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