Thermoclines, Eagle Rays & Coral Anxiety

By Jade Hoksbergen & Henley Spiers

Of jaw-dropping splendour, the Maldivian atolls were created as volcanoes sunk back into the ocean. The rim of these former volcanoes create the circular landmass which surrounds the inner lagoons, and any gaps in the rim are now channels between the inner lagoon and the open sea. These locations see enormous water flow and become hubs of aquatic life, drawing in crowds of fish both big and small. Created by natural design and dotted in the middle of the warm Indian Ocean, the Maldives is an ocean-faring nation par-excellence and a dream destination for divers. During a recent shoot, we would be keenly reminded of both the wonder and the worries of the lowest-lying country on earth.

On this occasion, we would be based in the central atolls, on an underwater shoot for COMO Cocoa Resort. With water temperature ranging from 26°C to 30°C, Thermocline suits would prove to be the ideal companions, offering the perfect dose of thermal protection over extensive diving, as well as protection from the sun and accidental cuts and scrapes whilst navigating in current-rich waters. Coming in a two-piece configuration, they are also so easy to don and doff, minimising any exertion pre-immersion.

To find yourself living in a house on stilts over the water is a dream come true for anyone who lives and breathes for the ocean. We immediately head out to familiarise ourselves with this new backyard. In just a few steps, with mask, fins and camera in tow, we can be underwater exploring. From early childhood snorkels until today, that thrill which comes with having eyes underwater and the sense of possibility at what you might discover remains undiminished. As the sun sets, we meet our new neighbours: approachable hawksbill turtles, impervious to our presence as they busily forage on the reef.

When it comes to underwater photography, you relish the possibility of repetition. Our goal is not a checklist of dive sites and a full logbook. When you are shooting underwater with wild animals, where time is constrained and encounters unpredictable, there are already enough factors stacked against your success. Our creative neurons start firing when a charismatic animal allows us the intimate access necessary to overcome the physical constraints imposed by photography through water. When there is a chance of repeating these close encounters, inspiration strikes hard. There is a natural human inclination to prize the exotic over the mundane, and when you ask dive pros what can be seen on their local sites, they will often describe the elusive and rarely-seen first. For us, there is an allure to the seemingly commonplace – what are the aquatic animals we are nearly guaranteed to see? Those who have become so normalised to local eyes that they lose some of their appreciation for them?

Fortunately for us, the closest dive site to the resort is Cocoa Thila, an underwater seamount flushed with powerful currents. We time our visits with the tides, the moment we drop through 25 metres of water to coincide with the current racing onto the pointed tip of the thila. When this happens, schools of fish come together to ride out the ripping water flow in one spot. This is the quandary for divers in the Maldives: to get the best from a dive site in terms of wildlife, you need to be there when the conditions are uncomfortable for human visitors. Operating bulky cameras in these conditions adds to the challenge and you quickly learn to read the water movement across the seascape. Just like wind moving over land, there are pockets of shelter to be found and an art to navigating without becoming exhausted. The one thing we cannot afford is to be blown off this magical point, because this is where the action lies. Our vision is filled with schooling snappers, surgeonfish and jacks, whilst grey reef sharks patrol on the edge, seemingly impervious to the strong current.

For all this oceanic bounty, our excitement does not reach a crescendo until another animal makes its way onto the scene: spotted eagle rays. This is the best site we know of in the world to swim with these spellbinding rays. The allure starts with their spotted patterning which covers their back and spills over to the underside of their fin tips. It is believed that the design on each ray is unique, the equivalent of a human fingerprint. Their nose is pointed and presumably where the eagle part of their name comes from, framed by cat-like eyes. If you get underneath the rays an entirely different picture emerges, with an oversized nose accompanied by two large nostrils and a mouth with an awkward smile. Strange yet beautiful, the anatomy of eagle rays is designed to help them feed from the seabed. As card-carrying member of the eagle ray appreciation society, we visit them as often as possible at this fabled dive site. More often than not, they will be there to meet us, and these usually shy animals seem bolder in our presence, perhaps due to the regular contact with divers.

Our gratitude for these unforgettable marine encounters is mixed in with anxiety for the health of hard corals in the country. The Maldives deserve praise for its efforts to conserve its ocean patrimony. Industrial fishing with nets is banned and the country created one of the world’s first national shark sanctuaries. However, the Maldives have suffered greatly at the hands of environmental changes which transcend their borders and strong El Niño events have killed 80-90% of all the shallow hard corals. Hope for the future lies in part with efforts to regrow the reef though coral gardening. The resident marine biologists at COMO Cocoa are devoted to restoring the corals, we visit them at work constructing and tending to the artificial coral structures around the resort. We hope their efforts will yield a brighter future and the restoration of the lost reefs.