After a wonderful week in Sri Lanka Indian Ocean . On arrival in the capital Malé we joined our guide
Chas Anderson and boarded the live aboard boat Ari Queen, our home for the next
7 days.
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| The Ari Queen |
An ocean-lovers paradise of white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue waters, we spent our morning’s snorkelling amongst the colourful corals and beautiful fish of the reefs. Fish of all shapes and sizes, flashed in a brilliant array of colours among the purples, reds, pinks and blues of the coral. Occasionally we would encounter an octopus hiding amongst the crevices or a turtle gliding silently over the coral and sandy bottoms.
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| Just one of our anchor sites |
Vast pods of spinner and
pantropical spotted dolphins surrounded the boat, leaping clear of the water
and in the case of the spinners, spinning three, four, five even six times
before landing with a tremendous splash. On a couple of occasions we
encountered these dolphins with seabirds and yellowfin tuna, with the tuna
breaching almost as much as the dolphins!
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| Pantropical Spotted Dolphin |
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| Spinner Dolphin |
On two occasions we
encountered groups of Fraser’s dolphin, a species thought extinct until 1971! A
beautiful dolphin, often flushed pink on the belly due to the warm waters, they
travel in very distinct, tightly packed groups making the surface of the ocean
boil.
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| Fraser's Dolphin |
We encountered five separate
pods of short-finned pilot whales, with one extremely memorable occasion where
two whales surfacing leisurely alongside the boat, so close you could see the
whole length of the whales under the water.
Other species we encountered
included striped dolphins, bottlenose and indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins and
a couple of pods of Risso’s dolphins, including heavily scarred adults and
almost smooth, velvety grey juveniles.
After a day’s surfing around
the ocean watching these stunning creatures, we would head in to anchor next to
an island, and head in for another snorkel before dark.
Our final day was the icing
of top our whale wedding cake, the morning started with a snorkel with one of
the most magnificent fish I have ever seen, a manta ray. Appearing out of the
blue haze, parting schools of silvery fish, the ray glided towards us, turned
and disappeared, once more a mystery of the deep blue. As we headed out after
breakfast we were treated to numerous sightings of dwarf sperm whale (they look
like upside down surf boards!). So far the beaked whales had proved elusive,
but later that day as we steamed along, we heard the sound of a whale exhale
right next to the boat. Dashing to the side we saw a mother and calf Longman’s
beaked whale surface right alongside! Amazing! So little is known about beaked
whales in general due to their shy nature, and deep water habitat and Longman’s
is one of the rarest and least known, it really was a special sight.
Our trip was run by Chas and Sue Anderson, who run regular trips to The Maldives and
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