Day 6 on the Black Pearl

Dive 1 (morning)

Dharavandhoo Corner, Baa Atoll

After a quick coffee we set out to have a look at Hanifaru but there was no sign of Mantas or Whale Sharks. So we headed to the neighbouring reef, Dharavandhoo Corner. It is the corner reef of the island of Dharavandhoo. It was an overcast day but the visibility was fairly good. We swam for about 10 minutes without seeing anything much. Then we started seeing Mantas flying by. First from a distance and then they seemed to come closer. We came across a pile of small coral blocks which was a cleaning station. Couple of Mantas was getting cleaned by the small Wrasses. As they swam away more Mantas came from the blue to utilize the cleaning station. At a single time we could count 8 mantas around us. Also couple of Mantas was at a smaller cleaning station just next to the main one. Since we were the only group everybody had a very enjoyable time watching the Mantas and had their own “Manta Moment”. It was a fairly long dive.

Dive 2 (noon)

Dharavandhoo Corner, Baa Atoll

After the excitement of the morning dive, the entire group wanted to head back to Dharavandhoo Corner for an encore dive. The Mantas were not at the cleaning station unfortunately. We saw them swimming by mostly. Schools of Snappers and Sweetlips were lazily swaying in the current.

Dive 3 (afternoon)

Dhonfan Thila, Baa Atoll

For a change of pace and scenery we went to Dhonfan Thila which is just next to the island of Dhonfan. It is a fairly small place. We descended along with a medium current and first made our way to the 2 coral blocks which is near the main reef. It was covered with glassfish. Different types of Groupers were moving around. We tried to spot some Ribbon Eels we saw on a previous trip but couldn’t find any. But we saw a Leaffish. There was a cave at the main reef just the opposite of the 2 coral blocks which was full of Blue-lined Snappers. The reef had quite a lot of Black Coral bushes which was quite lovely. After a while the current picked up and we went to the reef top to see if there was anything interesting. Our entire group was at the surface with their current hooks on the reef. As people enjoy a breeze at the surface everyone was enjoy the current.