The Slowlife Diaries
Through the Captain's Eyes
A Maldivian Liveaboard Experience of a Lifetime
The pure white sails of Soneva in Aqua unfurl to catch the winds that skim the surface of the Indian Ocean. Sail to jewel-like atolls that are home to vibrant marine life and coral reefs, the majestic manta ray and the elusive whale shark. Visit …
Read more2nd January 2020
A Day in the Life – Grant Ruffel
Captain of Soneva in Aqua Grant has been captaining boats of all kinds in a multitude of places around the globe for more than two decades. After being in charge of one of the first electrically propelled super yachts in excess of 100t, he …
Read more19th August 2019
Creature of Many Talents
Today I’m going to introduce you to another of the many charismatic creatures that can be spotted around our jetty. This time it is the Squid! Squid, like the Octopus, are Cephalopods. This means that they are soft-bodied, with only a …
Read more12th January 2019
Look at What the Tide Brought In: Comb Jellies!
Don’t ever trust a marine biologist when they tell you what their favourite sea creature is, because it’s guaranteed to be something else the next day. Today, my favourite creature is the weird and wonderful comb jellyfish. Depending …
Read more9th December 2018
A Suprise Visit at Soneva Jani
As we all know, one of the highlights of Soneva Fushi (at least for us Water Babies) is the spectacular trip to Hanifaru Bay where you have the chance to encounter upwards of 50 Mantas’ in the bay. We have, however, been lucky enough at Soneva …
Read more10th August 2018
Mantas Are Back
And here it has arrived, my favorite time of the year, when Manta Rays come back to visit us in Baa Atoll. One of our first encounters has been with Racheebabes a female manta ray with a small damage on left pectoral fin. We didn’t manage …
Read more15th June 2018
Cute but Deadly
The Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) is a well-loved fish for its cute looks and bright appealing colouration. A small fish, reaching a maximum size of about 45cm, it’s body is comprised of a hard external skin, which is formed by many fused …
Read more21st May 2018
The Never Ending Story of my Favourite Fish
As you know I have a long list of favourite fish and other creatures, Bannerfish are amongst them. Schooling Bannerfish, Heniochus diphreutes, are somehow magical because they hang around in groups – as told by their common name- , often …
Read more27th April 2018
Mobula Rays – New Neighbours
Photo credits Alicia Warner Although we have been speaking in the past about Mobula Rays, something special has been happening in the past 3 weeks here at Soneva Fushi. I was on holiday when I received a message from Dayanne, “I have seen …
Read more13th April 2018
Shark or Ray?
Here’s one interesting creature which has taken a liking to our lagoon. The Guitar Fish, or otherwise known as the Guitar Shark. The Guitarfishes scientific name is ‘Rhinobatis,’ which derived from the words ‘Rhinos’ meaning nose and ‘Batis’ …
Read more6th April 2018