Maldives 2023, part 4 (Fulidhoo, Dhiggiri Shark Point)

Although my stay in the Maldives was relatively short, just seven days, almost every day I went on an excursion with the members of the travel group who came here through a Serbian tourist agency. I prefer to organise my trips myself, but last year I went to Zanzibar through an agency and it turned out pretty well, so I decided to do something similar again. This trip wasn't bad either, but I still think that in the future, I'll rely only on myself and my organisational skills.

Anyway, the next day was again scheduled for a longer excursion – about 3/4 of a day long. I mean, it wasn't a half-day or a full-day trip, but it was definitely interesting and full of different, even exciting events.

We headed to our first destination, riding on a speedboat across the relatively calm Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean

Every now and then, we could see some islands in the distance, either individually or in groups. Some had just palm trees on them, while others had small forests and human-made structures. But what they all had in common was that they were practically flat. The average ground level in the Maldives is 1.5 meters, and the "highest peak" in the country is only 2.4 meters above sea level.

A part of the Maldives

However, what struck me the most was when we encountered shallow areas where the colour of the water started to change.

Indian Ocean

At one point, we arrived at our desired destination, which was Fulidhoo Island which, by the way, is the northernmost inhabited island within the Vaavu Atoll. Let me mention here that the length of the Maldives, along the north-south axis, is 871 km, while its width along the east-west axis is 130 km.

Fulidhoo island

After disembarking from the boat, we settled in the shade of nearby trees to wait for our turn. The reason why excursions bring visitors to this island is to observe stingrays that come into the shallows where guides from different groups feed them from a concrete pier and then tourists enter the water in order to have photos with them taken.

While waiting for our turn, I chatted with other members of the group and wandered around, observing and taking photos of various scenes.

Grey heron on Fulidhoo island

I also spotted a stingray swimming towards the feeding area for stingrays. Clearly, it too wanted to get a free lunch.

Stingray on Fulidhoo island

Along the way I also took photos of parts of the island near the pier. In the following picture, you can see a typical speedboat used for excursions.

Fulidhoo island, a detail

At one point, it was our group's turn, so we all slowly lined up. Visitors enter the shallows while the guide stands on the pier with your camera and takes pictures from there.

By coincidence, I had already been near stingrays a few times before. Once in the Galapagos Islands (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/ecuador-5/), where I learned that the safest way to enter the water with stingrays is by not walking normally and lifting your feet, but instead dragging your feet along the bottom. As I was told, this way, there is no risk of accidentally stepping on any part of the stingray.

The other time, I had the opportunity to swim directly above stingrays and that was in Belize (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/mesoamerica-2008-39/). On that occasion, we didn't touch the bottom at all and we were also told to be careful not to lower our feet, but swimming above them was perfectly fine.

So, when it was my turn, I slowly entered the water where they told me to.

Posing with stingrays on Fulidhoo island

Needless to say, a video was also made, so here it is.

While waiting for all the members of my group to have their pictures with the stingrays taken, I returned to the shade and saw a couple of local residents working on something diligently. As it turned out, they were preparing thin slices of areca palm nuts (Areca catechu). When I asked them what they were doing, they offered me to try one of these slices. I thanked them and accepted.

Slices of areca palm nut are to the left

This nut is also called the betelnut and it is the fourth most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world (after tobacco, alcohol and caffeinated beverages). The nut slices are chewed, usually accompanied by a coffee leaf, just as they offered to me. Supposedly, chewing this combination creates a feeling of euphoria in users, similar to consuming too much coffee. I must say that I didn't like the taste of it at all, but I felt uncomfortable spitting it out. Later, I read that such behaviour would be considered very rude.

In any case, although scientists have found that the plant has carcinogenic properties, this does not prevent nearly 10% of the world's population from regularly chewing these nuts. I did this only once and don't plan to do it again, so I think I'm perfectly fine.

After I had finished chewing the betelnut slice with psychoactive substances and the rest of the group had their pictures with the stingrays taken, we boarded the speedboat and headed to the next destination.

However, at one point, we stopped somewhere in the middle of the ocean. The reason – there was a fairly large gathering of dolphins. They were mostly surfacing and diving, but occasionally one would leap out of the water and perform a pirouette before diving back in.

Here, they gave us the option to enter the water and "swim" with the dolphins. Considering my experience in Zanzibar, I decided to skip this. Later, I thought I might have made a mistake, but there was no going back. On the other hand, I enjoyed watching them from the boat we were on for this excursion.

Dolphins in the Maldives

Following that brief stop near the dolphins, we continued speeding across the Indian Ocean to our planned destination.

Now, we went to a place called Dhiggiri Shark Point with the plan to have our photos taken while being surrounded by sharks. These are nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum), known for being relatively calm and harmless. Of course, they are wild animals and one should treat them with respect. I had a "close encounter" with them as well when I was in Belize (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/mesoamerica-2008-38/).

When we arrived at the desired location, there were already several excursion boats there. The captain of our boat chose carefully where to park, so he moved the boat a bit further from that group. Again, there was no anchor thrown; instead, one of the guides tied the boat with ropes to spots designated for that purpose. Everything seemed calm. At least on the surface.

Dhiggiri Shark Point

Then, one crew member started throwing pieces of fresh (bloody) fish into the water and the sharks began to gather around.

Time for free lunch at the Dhiggiri Shark Point

As I’ve suggested, the idea here is not just to watch the sharks, which can be done from the boat, but agencies offer the opportunity for visitors to have their pictures with them taken in two ways.

The first way is to float on the surface while a crowd of sharks gathers around you because food is being thrown to them. And while this is happening, you are photographed from a drone. Of course, I had to wait until I got home to see how it turned out, but the experience was interesting.

I'm not too fearful, but I'm also not inclined to take unnecessary risks, so I easily decided for this option. However, I listened carefully to the guide's instructions and behaved accordingly later on. Namely, fins must be worn, and hands and fingers must be placed under the head. When you assume this position while still next to the boat, one guide pushes you to the place where the sharks are gathered and leaves you there to be photographed by the drone. You have to lie motionlessly and wait for the guide to come back and push you to the other side of the boat. This way, all the members of the group who want to have this experience are rotated like on a conveyor belt.

Floating above the sharks

When the guide pushed me to the designated spot and left me there, I was initially quite content, even smiling. Since I'm a strong swimmer and accustomed to being in the water, a little water entering my mouth didn't bother me. However, at one point, I tasted blood in the water and realised it must have been from some fish being thrown to the sharks. It was probably from a fresh catch and although I didn't swallow any of the water mixed with blood, I closed my mouth tight afterwards.

Floating above the sharks

I must admit it was a very interesting sensation to feel the sharks swimming directly beneath me and brushing against me with their fins. This gathering of sharks is much more apparent in the video footage than in the previous photographs.

At one point, I saw the drone fly away and that period, while I patiently remained in the same floating position in accordance with the guide's instructions until he came to "tow" me where needed, seemed the longest. After that, I was free.

They told me I could continue diving on the opposite side of the boat if I wanted to, so I took my snorkel mask and my mobile phone in its case. This time, I recorded everything in video format so my photos wouldn't be blurry. On the other hand, although there were various fish, it was sad to see completely destroyed corals. In the video, besides my breathing, you can occasionally hear the sound of a distant boat engine.

I have to admit, I was surprised when I saw a smaller nurse shark swimming over the shallower part of the coral reef and I also captured two sharks passing by together a bit further away. I remembered that calm ocean surface visible from the boat.

When everyone lined up to be filmed while floating surrounded by sharks, it was offered for those who wanted to be filmed while diving with sharks now. I wanted to try that and it was much more interesting than expected. Although I was very careful not to wave my fingers too much (apparently, sharks might bite), several of them passed directly in front of me, "brushing" against me and almost pushing me, and since my hands were in front of my chest, I clearly felt their skin. It turned out in the photos as if I was petting them, which certainly wasn't my intention, and I can report that their skin is relatively rough, like sandpaper. However, don't try this at home or anywhere else.

Now, there's a whole series of photos and a couple of video clips that repeat scenes from the photos (or vice versa), but I simply didn't know which one to choose to post, so I posted (almost) all of them.

Socialising with sharks

And finally, my favourite photograph. I'm thinking of turning it into a proper wall poster. Just kidding, of course, but... I really like it.

Socialising with sharks

After all the shark activity was over, we all boarded the boat again and then we sailed for a while longer to one of the numerous sandy shoals. This one had no vegetation on it. As I later saw on the Maafushi, it was low tide and it's entirely possible that this shoal is completely covered with water during high tide. I simply marked it on my map as Sandbank, as it can be found under such a name on Google Maps.

To reach the shore, we had to navigate slowly through the shallows, behind the sandy shoal. A bit further away, the silhouette of a private island with a hotel of famous name can be seen.

Reaching the sandbank

The view of the shallows was equally impressive from the "land."

Sandbank, a detail

We disembarked there to swim, stroll and take photos. Those in the group who wanted had the opportunity to be filmed from a drone. I wasn't interested in that. I was perfectly content capturing the beautiful details of that sandbank, especially considering the dramatic changes in the sky that further highlighted the various colours and created spectacular effects.

Sandbank, a detail

At one point, I asked a very kind man from the group to take a photo of me and he agreed. I am very pleased with the result.

Enjoying myself on the sandbank

And when we had all taken as many photos as we wanted, we returned to the boat and headed back to Maafushi, the island where we were stationed.

However, before that, I took a few more photos from the speedboat while we were still moving slowly.

Black-naped terns (Sterna sumatrana) can finally enjoy themselves in peace

Maldives

I was hungry, so since it was still early for dinner, I went straight to have something light to eat and then I retreated to my room. Later on, I went for dinner and afterwards I returned to my room once again. It felt good to rest because the next day I was going on another excursion. This time - a full-day one.

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