Destination :: The Indian Ocean - Coral Gardens

Here is my second post about our recent holiday in the Maldives.  I promised a post about our time in the Indian Ocean, but there are so many photos that I wish to share with you that I am splitting our snorkelling adventures into two posts.  This post is about our time spent in the coral gardens around the water villas.

Before we had even dipped a toe into the water we were treated to the sight of juvenile black tip reef sharks and various fish swimming near our water villa.

The sunrises and sunsets over the ocean were spectacular!  I was awake early each morning, excited to start our day in this beautiful place.

We weren't the only ones looking for fish! :)

This was the first time I had ever tried snorkelling and I was hooked from the start.  For our first time in the water we swam near the villas where the water was very shallow and we had seen lots of fish from the boardwalk.

Nothing had prepared me for the amazing sights that were in store for us.

I tested our new underwater camera for the first time and can recommend the Olympus Tough as easy to use and the photos and videos were good quality ... when the user got the hang of it! ;)

Clown Tang

These are just a few photos of the many fish we saw.

Parrotfish

Some of the corals were luminous at their tips.

The corals were beautiful and we were so pleased to see that they were still alive.

Picasso Trigger Fish

Lionfish

Two Threadfin Butterflyfish

Gilded Pipefish, a relative of the seahorse.

This was the lionfish that was very interested in my husband.

Black Sea Cucumber - a delicacy in some parts of the world!  This was a baby compared to some we saw.

Humbug Damselfish aka Whitetail Damselfish

The clams were either yellow or blue; this colour is produced by the algae that symbiotically lives on the mantle of the clam.

This little Blenny or Goby was living under our villa.

It was hard to leave the ocean as there was so much to see!