The Maldives

Diving into the crystal waters of the Maldives are the dream of every diver. The waters of the Maldives are look like a big aquarium with an unlimited quantity of marine flora, that it represents just one of the main attractions of the archipelago.

The Maldives are located in the middle of the Indian Ocean at 735 km away from Sri Lanka and from India, and extending for about 754 km in length along the equator. The 1190 coral islands that make up the archipelago were originated on bases of magmatic rock formed more than 60 million years ago.

The archipelago of the Maldives consists of 26 natural atolls, which are made up of around hundreds islands. The only ones that can boast a stable population are around 200, less than an hundred can accommodate tourists in a comfortable resorts. The rest of the archipelago is completely at the disposal of nature lovers and divers, the remaining islands are uninhabited, sometimes simply made of white sand bank.

The islands are located both within the atolls and along the fence that borders the ocean atoll separating from the deep ocean waters and protecting inland waters from storm surges. Oceanic barriers are interrupted by channels such pass (Kandu Dhivehi) which permit the replacement of the internal waters of the atoll, but strong currents leading into and exit, especially during the tides. In addition, almost all the islands are surrounded by its own coral reef enclosing a lagoon. The islands are formed from a base of white sand of coral reefs resulting from erosion by the sea but also of some fish species (such as the parrotfish or titan trigger fish) that eats the coral to return it in the form of sand together with feces.