Happy New Year!
We hope that you’re welcoming in the new year with a whole list of exciting resolutions to make 2017 a fun filled 365 days. We also hope that one of your resolutions is to spend more time enjoying the ocean and all the wonderful creatures in it. One of the best in water activities that we recommend adding to your bucket list is a snorkel with sharks! YES!
This is a Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) found swimming along the House Reef and Soneva Fushi. Black tips are the most commonly sighted sharks at both Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani, and are easily distinguished by the black tips to their fins. They prefer shallow waters and use lagoons as a nursery area. You may be lucky and see the tiny dorsal fin of a baby reef shark swimming past your villa or as you walk along the beach.
Sharks are greatly misunderstood and are hunted globally due to fear and for their fins, which are used for soup in China. We are lucky that on 15th of March 2010, a total ban on shark fishing was imposed in the entire Maldivian waters. Now sharks numbers (although still low) are seeing an increase. Every time we get to see a shark in its natural habitat, conducting normal behavior we get pretty excited. Last month alone we saw Black tip reef sharks, White tip reef sharks, Grey reef sharks, Nurse sharks and a Guitar fish (technically a ray but still cool!). We hope that you will join us in celebrating these amazing animals in 2017, come and help us spot them on our reefs.
Discover more: www.soneva.com