{"id":41858,"date":"2024-01-27T11:29:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T11:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=41858"},"modified":"2024-01-27T11:29:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T11:29:55","slug":"save-the-beach-the-maldives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/01\/save-the-beach-the-maldives\/","title":{"rendered":"Save the Beach – The Maldives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a final night on Dhigura<\/a> we had another early start and a very quick breakfast at the guest house. We then caught the 2-hour speedboat all the way back to Mal\u00e9. Although we still had things to do today and another night in another hotel on Hulhumal\u00e9 it felt like the beginning of a long journey home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speedboat made decent time and we soon moored up at the airport. Here we all jumped into taxis for a ride to the Newtown Inn which was an odd little hotel above the Bombay Darbar Indian Restaurant on the island of Hulhumal\u00e9. Here we dropped off our luggage then jumped into another taxi that took us across the Sinimal\u00e9 Bridge once again and into the streets of Mal\u00e9 where we were dropped off at the Villingilli Ferry Terminal. Here we all jumped aboard a local ferry that took us on a very short trip to the small island of Villingili (known administratively as Villimal\u00e9). This is considered the fifth district of Mal\u00e9 City and lies about 2km west of Mal\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Save The Beach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We were on Villingilli to visit the Save the Beach<\/a> project, a conservation and research project that is restoring and rehabilitating damaged reefs in the Maldives. We had a quick presentation from them and then all headed into the water from the sandy beach at the watersports centre. We snorkelled above a vibrant reef and over the top of some reef restoration work. We were tasked with noting the fish we spotted on a Fish ID sheet, but with so many fish around it was harder than one would think! As well as all of the fish we had seen elsewhere in the Maldives the reef was alive with lots of large Moray eels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n