Photos From the Reethi Thila And The Dhigurah Arches Dive Sites, South Ari Atoll, Maldives
Photos From the Reethi Thila And The Dhigurah Arches Dive Sites, South Ari Atoll, Maldives
One of the fun things about diving at an international resort, is that you get to meet divers who have dived all over the world.
I always make a point of asking fellow divers for their preferred diving destinations, and I try to get tips and ideas about why they loved those destinations.
Now, while the world is a bit upside down with Coronavirus-related travel restrictions, more people are coming to dive in the Maldives, mainly because it is so difficult to enter other diving destinations.
One of my dive buddies was a lovely woman from northern France.
She told me about how difficult this past year has been for her.
She said that France now has a “more relaxed rule,” in which she is allowed to leave her house, but not to venture out further than a ten kilometer radius from her house.
She said that this was actually an improvement from the previous rule, which required citizens to file a paper for each and every time they wanted to leave their own house.
This ‘out of the house’ filing system was done by stating how long you would be out of the house, and the reason for your outing.
All outings before six in the morning had to have a separately filed form.
She said that at first this filing system was done with actual paper, but later it became an online app.
Still, she said that it was very annoying and limiting to live like that for so long.
She ran her hands through her un-dyed hair and said that hair salons in France are still closed, as do all nonessential business.
She has not been to a salon in more than a year.
She also said that all restaurants and cafes were still closed.
Some are allowed to do takeout, but most were closed.
This is because keeping restaurants and cafes open, means that employees have to take public transportation, file and justify their outings and the more people are out of their homes, the more they need services.
She said that she gets an hour lunch break at work, which she spends sitting in her car and eating her home packed lunch, because all the cafes are still closed.
Needless to say, she was not looking forward to going back home.
The Reethi and Dhigurah dive sites are very beautiful.
Both dive sites have beautiful coral rock formations and lots of big fan-shaped coral.
We spotted lion fish hanging from the ceilings of the arches, and lots of camouflaged stone fish.
When the current is strong, the dive sites are not so easy to manage, but I have done some of them more than twice, and got some really nice dives.
With blessings from the blue Indian ocean,
Tali
