Innahura’s Snorkelling Hotspots
To visit the Maldives and not go snorkelling would be a BIG mistake! The colours, abundance of life, all things weird and wonderful and the chance of meeting some of the world’s most iconic creatures are just some of the reasons to grab a snorkel, mask and fins, pop along to the dive centre and embark upon a snorkelling adventure! There are lots of snorkel sites near to Innahura and to give you a glimpse of the experiences available, here are 3 of our snorkelling hotspots:
Faadhoo Etere
This is our local Manta cleaning station! Surrounded by a shallow reef, the cleaning station is at a depth of 6 metres and the coral goes up to about 4 metres, so you can get really close to manta rays. If there are no manta rays we snorkel the inside of the Faadhoo Channel where the top reef is full with corals and we can see schools of red humpback snappers, blue striped snappers, yellow back fusiliers, neon fusiliers, banner fish, triggerfish and sometimes eagle rays pass by as well as black tip reef sharks and hawksbill turtles. On the sandy slope from the top reef into the channel we often see stingrays hiding in the sand.
Innahura Etere
After the long lagoon from Innahura, stretching into the inside of the atoll, we arrive at a top reef full of big coral blocks where schools of fusiliers, midnight snappers, sergeant majors, and unicorn fish gather around surrounded by small sand patches where stingrays hide. Under the big corals blocks we sometimes see nurse sharks which sleep under them as well as hawksbill turtles. The top reef is between 3-6 metres deep and slopes down into the atoll to a depth of 22 metres.
Hudhufushi Beyru
An outreef which starts with a very shallow top reef and slowly slopes down to 9 metres where the reef edge is and then drops to 28 metres. We snorkel at spots between 2-8 metres depth and we can find everything from blue striped snappers, red humpback snappers, unicorn fish and tunas, sometimes we spot hawksbill or green sea turtles as well as stingrays, eagle rays, and black tip reef sharks. A special thing about this site is the numerous sightings of yellow boxfish – something we don’t often see at other sites.