If you really have a crowd, then consider Kurumba’s own glass bottom boat for a undersea glimpse of the Maldives aquatic delights. The bigger boat with more glass area does provide a bit more opportunity to see a broader range. The excursion is great for under those under 6 too little to snorkel. Or perhaps anyone else who can’t take in the joys of snorkelling for one reason or another.
Unparalleled snorkelling and work class diving aren’t the only way to explore all of these QI curiosities in the Maldives. If you don’t want to spoil your finely coiffed ‘do, then consider a glass bottomed boat excursion. A number of resorts offer them – Reethi Beach, Kurumba, Baros, Conrad Rangali, Paradise Island, Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu and Taj Vivanta Coral Reef.
But the top of the line in this unique class of ocean vessels is the Paritetboat brand which both Paradise Island (photo above) and Conrad Maldives Rangali (photo below) feature.
“Paritetboat company developed unique ultra-durable bottom window shaped as an optically regular spheroid of never seen before size 2×3 m – it is the biggest size all over the world. Our glass is made of modified acrylic and has thickness 15 mm it’s more solid than fiber glass boat hull. It allows to enlarge field of view dozens times as compared to ordinary glass bottom boats. For instance, field of view at 9 meter depth is half basketball playground size.”
Question: What is this a picture of?
Answer: A Yellow Box Fish.
[Soundeffect]: Ding! Correct. You get no points because that was so easy (it is yellow and it looks like a box). Now, what is the fish below?…
Answer: A grey/green boxfish?
[Soundeffect]: Buzzzz! Wrong. This is also a ‘Yellow Boxfish’ or Ostracion cubicus. The Yellow Boxfish, which you can see quite prevalently in the Maldives, loses its bright yellow colour as it matures.
Thanks Chase (unofficial president of the Boxfish fan club).
Question: For those who have been paying attention this past week, what is this a picture of?
Answer: Now that is a Nemo fish! I know because it has the three white stripes!
[Soundeffect]: Buzzzz! Wrong. Actually, the Maldive species ‘Amphiprion clarkii’ has three white stripes when they are young, but as they mature they turn a dark-brown/blackish colour.
Whatever you want to call them, one of the best places to see Anemonefish is Four Seasons Landaa Giravaru. Not just Anemonefish in general, but specifically the babies as their Marine Discovery Center has a breeding research project underway. One downside to the popularity of the Disney film is the popularity of capturing ‘Nemo’ fish for fish tanks. Landaa hopes to be able to improve breeding knowledge to both stock the ocean and to provide an alternative source of supply for fish tanks so they won’t be hunted from the reefs.
If you thought that Anemonefish were cute, the babies are all more the cuter. I couldn’t get my wife out of the Center she was so entranced watching them dart in and out of their host anemones in an incessant tease of pseudo-hide-and-seek. And not just the anemonefish, but the anemones themselves provided a bit of action. You could see them in all different positions all over the tanks. Resident marine biologist Harry Masefield (see photo below) explained that the anemones were quite active and often tried to escape from the tanks by crawling out the top and so they had to devise all sorts of guards. With their swaying tendril-like arms they seem more like colourful vegetation than the quite animated animals that they are.
Question: What is this a picture of?
Answer: A Jelly Fish.
[Soundeffect]: Buzzzz! Wrong. This is a ‘Portugese Man of War’ which is not actually a ‘jelly fish’ but a “siphonophore. Siphonophores “differ from jellyfish in that they are not actually a single creature, but a colonial organism made up of many minute individuals called zooids. Each of these zooids is highly-specialized and, although structurally similar to other solitary animals, are attached to each other and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are incapable of independent survival.” In this respect, Portugese Man Of Wars, also know as just ‘Man of Wars’ or ‘Blue Bottles’, are more like coral polyps.
As it turns out, this fact was so obscure that it escaped the Ceremonial Master himself in the first series of QI. Stephen Fry referred to a ‘jellyfish’ as the ‘right class of animal’ as a ‘Portugese Man-of-War’. In reality, Man of Wars are not even the same of the same Order as jellyfish. They are in the order Hydrozoa, while jelly fish are in the order Scyphozoa…
Bill: Forget the buzzers. Off the buzzers now. I would hazard a guess and say the, erm, the Portuguese Man-of-War.
Stephen: Oh, now, do you know, I’m gonna give you five points, ’cause you’re so much in the right class of animal.
Bill: Ah! See?
Stephen: It is a jellyfish.
Bill: A jellyfish.
Stephen: Yeah. It is a jellyfish.
Just one of the many fascinating facts we learned about Maldive ocean life during the talk by Marine Biologist Verena Wiesbauer Ali put on by Kurumba.
In honour of Stephen Fry’s brilliant QI (short for ‘Quite Interesting’) TV comedy quiz show returning to BBC this weekend, we feature a couple of Maldives QI questions of our own…
Question: What common, colourful fish in the Maldives is this a picture of?
Answer #1: A ‘Nemo’ Fish.?
[Sound effect]: Buzzzz! Wrong. The character ‘Nemo’ in Disney’s film ‘Finding Nemo’ had three white stripes as a opposed to the single one shown above.
Answer #2: A Clown Fish.
[Soundeffect]: Buzzzz! Wrong. You are close in that the term ‘clown fish’ is often applied to all members of the family of ‘Anemonefish’, but not all Anemonefish are really clown fish including this specimen.
Anemonefish are from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae and only one specific species of Anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris, is actually designated the ‘Clown Anemonefish’. The fish shown at top is really a ‘Amphiprion nigripes’, also known as a ‘Maldive anemonefish’. With its cousin ‘Amphiprion clarkii’ (also known as ‘Clark’s anemonefish’ or the ‘Yellowtail clownfish’), they are the two species of Anemonefish (out of 27 that exist worldwide) found in the Maldive waters.
As it happens, a number of Anemonfish have also been dubbed ‘Clownfish’ in their informal names such as Amphiprion perideraion (Pink skunk clownfish) and the Amphiprion melanopus (Fire or Cinnamon clownfish) as well as obviously ‘Clark’s which I said is known as the ‘Yellowtail Clownfish’. But not this species here. Even Wikipedia describes the terms ‘Clownfish’ and ‘Anemonefish’ as interchangeable, but now you know the real distinctions.
Thanks to Sarah Kompatscher, Marine Biologist at Anantara, and Verena Wiesbauer Ali, Marine Biologist for Kurumba.
Proper ‘Nemo’ or ‘Clown Anemonefish’
If BBQ isn’t quite environmentally friendly enough for you, then maybe ‘Green Cooking’ would be more interesting.
No not ‘greens’ cooking. ‘Green Cooking’. Eco-friendly cooking. ‘Carbon-free Cooking’. As opposed to some of my BBQ’s where there is nothing left of the cooking except for the charred remains of a collection of carbon atoms.
Six Senses Laamu has introduced ‘Carbon Free Cooking’ (thanks Sakis)…
Just to add to the experience and bring you even closer to nature, Six Senses Laamu serves the environmentally savvy savouries at a special over-water, glass-floored table (see above).
To start with, one way to reduce the carbon emissions from cooking, is to leave out the ‘cooking’ bit. Or at least the ‘fire’ part. The ‘cooking’ as in combining ingredients into delicious concoctions can carry on. Salads and sushi were about the only ‘raw’ cuisine most people will eat, but Cordon Bleu chef Diana Von Cranach has pioneered a whole range of ‘raw cooking’ which she is bring to Six Senses Laamu (and Soneva Fushi) this coming week. She will be featuring such dishes as “Mixed Mushroom, Oriental Herb & Calamansi Ceviche on Lotus Root, Fresh Living Coconut & Fenugreek Green Soup with Angelhair Choko Noodles, Living Chickpea Chappati.”
The recently passed Summer Bank Holiday (UK) and Labor Day Weekend (USA) are traditionally celebrated with a grand finale BBQ (or ‘barbeque’ or even ‘Bar-B-Q’ for you southerners) of the season. And if BBQ is your thing, one the W Retreat’s signature restaurants is devoted to the cuisine of the flame. Dubbed ‘Fire’ in W’s characteristically succinct style, guests help themselves to one of 4 BBQs complemented by a range of side dishes on offer…
Like most of the W’s food, everything is prepared to order from a range of ingredients that you customise to your liking.
“Primal meets epicurean with spit-roasted whole suckling pig or lamb and BBQ-grilled marinated meat and seafood. Spice it up with Tandoor-cooked nan bread, chicken, fish or seafood accompanied by a variety of curries. Who’s feeling creative? Mix and match ingredients at the Mongolian BBQ where you choose your fave ingredients. Or opt for the à la carte sharing items like succulent whole fish, mezzeh and meat dishes.”
The central fire pit and pervasive tiki-torches fill the evening with a flickering glow for an ambience as inviting as the savoury delicacies.
If the Maldives is the ‘Best Snorkelling in the World’, then where would be the worst?
Hint – Think about the opposite of sunny, tropical weather. Also, think desperate nut cases.
The opening line to this MSNBC Today report says it all – “Wet and windy weather in Wales makes perfect conditions for…snorkelling.”
These creatures should get an endorsement contract with ‘Night Nurse’, the cold medication to help you sleep. It seems all these Nurse Sharks do is sleep. During the daytime when most dives occur that is.
My wife Lori got to see a couple of them diving Furana Thila from Kurumba. Her log book notes…
“Highlight of the dive was a young nurse shark resting in a shallow cave approximately 1.5 metres long. The mother is often there, but not this time. Saw another resting on the sandy bottom.”
Nurse sharks can be found through out the Maldives. They like caves where they can sleep during the day time. My nomination for the top place to see them is Fulidhoo Caves near Dhiggiri. According to Tim Godfrey’s book on Maldives diving, Fulidhoo Caves is one of 4 cave sites meriting the top 3-stars marks in his ratings and a great place for Nurse Sharks…
“The reef slopes from there to 50 metres with caves and overhangs ranging on depth between 25 and 40 metres. The most interesting feature of this dive are the nurse sharks sleeping in the caves.”