I was just recently talking with a diving friend about the places I’d most like to dive,
and both of us mentioned the Maldives. The Maldives are a cluster of small islands in the Indian Ocean whose elevation
is just a meter or two above sea level.
Some scientists have speculated
that if the global ice caps melt, the Maldives will disappear beneath the ebb and froth of the sea. But maybe you
already knew that?
One thing I’ll bet you didn’t know: the Maldives are actually their own country, and for a long time in years past,
they were famous for their cowrie
shells, which were used as currency. Sadly, no longer. You will likely get strange looks when you tip your dive
guide with shells. Anyway, the writer of
this piece goes on a live aboard in the islands and confirms what many dive magazines say: that the Maldives are
the locale of some of the finest diving in the world. One of the more common sights are whale sharks, which are
the size of greyhound buses, but amazingly docile.