Ocean Lifestyle
An encounter with a whale shark is an unforgettable experience. The average whale shark is around 9 metres long and weights an astonishing 9 tonnes yet when swimming alongside one, you are stuck by its elegance and beauty. Swimming alongside the world’s largest fish, you’ll notice the grace of its tail, its distinctive spotted markings and of course its enormous mouth, adapted over millions of years to effectively filter plankton from the water. These gentle giants grace Maldivian waters throughout a large part of the year. Although little is still known of their migratory patterns, Maamigili Beyru, just outside Sun and Holiday Island Resorts is a world-famous sanctuary to which to whale sharks return year after year, all year round.
Our marine conservation initiative DiveOceanus ecOcare, based at Holiday Island Resort and spearheaded by our resident marine biologist, is very proud to be partnering with the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme and the Maldivian government in order to identify the whales by their individual pattern markings so that we can monitor the number of sharks and see how often the same individuals return.