Underwater Sights

This past Saturday was Maldivian Independence Day. We took the opportunity to go to a resort, during the three-day holiday weekend. The Paradise Island resort was about a fifty minute speedboat ride form Male. Almost immediately after arrival we headed for the dive boat. The first day we went on a normal reef dive. While the reef itself was not spectacular, there were dense schools of fish as well as large numbers of eels, some of which were completely out of their holes. We also saw a rather large nurse shark sleeping under a rock shelf. The resort itself was huge and I enjoyed kayaking and sailing as well.
The best dive I went on during my time at the resort was the wreck of the Maldives Victory, a large cargo ship that sits about 95ft underwater. The ship still has cargo in its hold, mostly cement bags and photo albums. It is also possible to see the wheel house and adjacent head. We almost didn't get to dive on it because a recent storm moved the wreck and the dive boat had trouble finding it. Later that day we also dove on a manta ray "cleaning station." We saw at least seven of the large and majestic animals. The dive gear was on the metric system, with the air pressure in bars and the depth in meters.