Maldives

We were in the Maldives from February 12 - 17 and what a great week it had been.

When we stayed in the Maldives, we didn't stay on land at all. Well, except for the selected few that decided to stay on the island for bed. We stayed at an atoll called Rashdoo and basically lived on a boat about half a mile away from shore. Everyday I would wake up, walk to the dock to get picked up, and head my way to the main boat.



Not only did the students live on the boat, the dive masters were with us too. Most the kids decided to sleep on the deck instead of their beds, but it was understandable. At night you could see so many stars, and wake up to the sun rise. During one of the days a group of us decided to jump off the boat into the water. It was a lot of fun.





After eating breakfast, having class, it was time to dive. We dived about 2 times a day and snorkeled in between.During the dives, we saw lots of nifty things. Beside from the coral, we got to swim with a school of shark, eagle ray, watch sting rays feed, a napolean fish, and so much more.

During the dives however, I did notice something slightly depressing. Even though I was scuba diving along the coral, there would be patched of where I just saw dead coral. Coral that have been bleached out because of some kind of mishap. Most likely from human impact. And this is why we were at the Maldives.

Our stay at the Maldives was organized by a group of volunteers called Blue Peace. They wanted to help spread the word that the coral reef is dying and something needs to be done. We went to speak to some high school students and they have noticed the change also. What I found so interesting about the Maldives, was on the island they have a trash dump area, like everywhere else, but their trash dump was right by the water. During a high tide the trash could get swept into the water, damaging it. And during low tide, the trash would come back. According to another member in our group, these school boys once were able to jump off from that area and see so many fish right by the water. Of course this isn't happening anymore. The maldives are trying to change by telling the locals to separate out their batteries, recycle as much as they can, and to use less plastic. But, I think we all can do our share of saving the world just by tweaking up some of the small things we do.

Besides from that, we head back to Mumbai, India for our spring break. A little too early right? But its all good, I need to catch up on my journal for Denny, and start my paper for David. So till then!