Night Diving at Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort, Maldives.

Before last night I had never been on a night dive, so as I set out into the house reef at Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort with Mohamed my dive buddy I had mixed emotions. I was anxious about how I would cope in the darkness but also excited about seeing the underwater world in the dark as I had been told that it is after the sun sets that this world truly comes to life.

As we dived into the water the sun was making its final decent through the horizon and was casting amazing beams of light into the depths that changed the hues of the coral almost by the second, By the time we had reached our diving depth of eighteen meters all light had gone and with our torches off it was like floating in space. Turn the underwater spotlights on and their strong beams would suddenly bring to life reef wall in front of us.

All of my concerns were immediately forgotten as we drifted serenely along in the current, watching Moray eels poking their heads out of holes in the rock face, turtles silhouetted above us, sharks cruising below and all around fish hunting and hiding. Under one outcrop where large lobsters were scuttling across the underside of the reef, lay a giant Napoleon fish fast asleep and completely oblivious to our presence; measuring at least eight feet long he was a truly majestic looking fish and well worthy of his namesake. Mohamed, ever the professional, kept a close eye on my progress and also proved himself to be an excellent photographer and I his able lighting assistant positioning myself to offer as much light with my torch whilst he poked his head and the camera into every crack and crevice in the reef.

The dive was a huge success and I am now a total convert to night diving and no trip to Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort in the Maldives should be complete without enjoying this most surreal of experiences.

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