Shafts of sunlight pierce the bluest depths of the waters at Hanifaru Bay in the Maldives, transforming bait balls and air bubbles into glitter. I fill my lungs and free-dive down to get a closer glimpse of the dozens of manta rays passing beneath us. Some whirl in pairs like ballroom dancers; others soar in balletic arcs to the surface.
At one point, I’m so focussed on a manta ray skimming above a patch of coral that I nearly miss another, right beside me, its filter-feeding mouth a mysterious cavern and its pectoral fins beating like slow-motion wings. It’s mesmerising, swimming with these graceful giants, but the need to take a breath intrudes. Reluctantly, I return to the surface, where a fellow snorkeller sums up my breathless, awestruck state. “You look,” she says, “like you’ve just seen God.”
The Manta-on-Call program at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru runs during the southwest monsoon (June to November) and starts long before guests enter the water. At check-in the previous day, I’d received a ‘manta phone’, an old-fashioned Nokia model encased in a waterproof pouch, along with a laminated set of instructions. “Our research boat visits local manta hotspots every day,” it reads. “When mantas are spotted, we’ll give you a call.”
Thus summoned, guests have around 30 minutes to don togs, pick up mask, fins and snorkel, and head to the Marine Discovery Centre, where a speedboat is waiting to whisk them away to Hanifaru Bay, located in the heart of the Baa Atoll, a pristine UNESCO biosphere reserve. These waters are one of the world’s largest feeding stations for reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi). The unique shape and orientation of the site acts as a natural shoehorn. Here, large amounts of their food source, plankton, are funnelled in by the monsoonal winds and tides, says Simon Hilbourne of The Manta Trust, a UK-based conservation group.
The Maldivian Manta Ray Project, which is the founding project of the Manta Trust, is based at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru. So far, the project has documented more than 5,200 different reef manta rays in the Maldives using the configuration of spots on their bellies, as unique as a fingerprint. “Around 2,000 of these individuals have been recorded in Hanifaru itself,” Hilbourne adds. “We’ve documented the largest recorded single aggregation of manta rays in the world here with 247 different manta rays all feeding together.”
The Manta-on-Call program is just one way the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru and its sister resort on nearby Kuda Huraa are highlighting both the beauty and fragility of the Maldivian archipelago, a smattering of 1200 small coral islands and sandbanks, most of them uninhabited. As I bask in the salt spray kicked up by the speedboat taking us back to the resort, I realise that the experience of swimming with manta rays naturally evokes a deep desire to protect them.
A range of other projects are devoted to turtle rehabilitation, dolphin identification and coral propagation. For example, the Reefscapers project allows guests to attach dozens of live coral fragments to a sand-coated metal frame under the supervision of a marine biologist. These frames, emphasising the more resilient coral varieties, are then transplanted to help turn sandy sea floors into thriving reefs.
This project has assumed particular importance since 2016, when the worst global El Nino bleaching event since 1998 wiped out somewhere between 60 to 90 per cent of Maldivian coral. Since 2001, when the first experimental structures were deployed around Kuda Huraa, thousands of frames have been placed in the waters surrounding both resorts. During a pre-breakfast snorkel, I waded just a few metres off the beach at Landaa Giraavaru, to find a collection of frames supporting a profusion of marine life, including blue surgeonfish, triggerfish, blue green chromis, angel fish and a reef black tip shark.
The effortless melding of indoor and outdoor spaces in the resort itself also heightens awareness of the environment.
Restaurants are perched high on powdery white sand or with water lapping at their pylons, yoga classes are conducted in pavilions overlooking the ocean or set within the jungle, and massages offered through the AyurMa spa take place in high-roofed huts surrounded by garden courtyards.
It’s a resort that makes for the perfect blend of luxury and conservation.
