Up at first light, with the dhoni leaving at 0615 was not for the faint hearted.  Most of our diving to date has been within the protecting outer reef, but this was an opportunity to dive a coral wall on the outer side, with nothing shallow between us and India.  Unfortunately this exposure has meant that high swells have broken up much of the hard coral, so there was very little to see on that score.  However, a fair number of fish, including many of the butterfly fish and grouper that we are recording as part of the marine survey.  At the end of the dive some of the diving pairs made it to the channel into the lagoon, and had an exciting, if bumpy ride, for the last bit of the dive.  The strong current attracted a white tip shark, which was a bonus.

 The 1100 departure on a 15 minute transit to the wreck of the Lady Christine went well up until it turned out to be over an hour’s transit; another example of the different time zones used in the Maldives.  Easy to locate due to parts of the wreckage being on the reef, the dive started with a brief exploration of some caves at 30m.  A fantastic sheer wall, rich with vibrant coral led up to a 7 metre plateau, alive with coral and smaller fish.  The wreckage was strewn everywhere, due to the wreck being blown up by dynamite after as much as possible had been salvaged.  Large sections proved ideal homes for morays and smaller fish, interspersed with branching coral and a teeming reef.  After a most pleasant and air conservative dive in the relative shallows, a final trip to above the drop off was a good place to deploy DSMBs and enjoy the drift before surfacing.  An excellent dive.

  The final dive of the day was a superb drift dive to 20 metres on a site outside of the reef called Gilafu.  The reef was a sloping wall, teaming with a variety of Marine life and an abundance of coral. The team were dropped off on a plateau at around 6 metres and descended with a smooth yet quick drift down to the allocated depth. During the dive a White Tipped Reef Shark and a curious Hawk billed Turtle were seen by various members of the party. On our gradual climb from depth an array of smaller species were noted, these included large shoals of assorted Butterflyfish, and several types of Grouper. The speed and clarity of the water was enjoyed by the divers, who all finished a successful day on a high.