Geography | Formation | Origins | Weather | Water Temperatures | Currents | Diving Safety | Tides | Protected Marine Areas | Famous ShipWrecks | Diving Safaris

There are many words in Dhivehi used to describe an island. A "fushi" is a big island usually on the outside reef of the Atoll. Meerufenfushi, Kandoomafushi, and Farukolhufushi are examples. A "finolhu" is an island with few or no coconut palms. Islands like Dhigufinolhu, Kanifinolhu and Emboodhoofinolhu have grown in size early times but have retained their names, despite having many more coconut palms. "Dhoo" and "Huraa" are other words for an island and "le", as in "Male' and "Hulhule", is a contraction of the sanskrit word "liu", meaning island.

Reefs are usually called "farus" or "falhus". A "faru", is a reef partially exposed at low tide and a "falhu" is often a reef encircling a lagoon. sometimes with one or more islands inside. "Gaa" and "Haa" are other words used to describe coral reefs. A "giri" is a name for a small patch of coral close to the surface. Most island resorts have their own bodu giri (big reef), and Kuda Giri (Small Reef). A "thila" is a coral reef usually a few meters below the surface. Many dive sites, such as Okobe Thila, Nassimo Thila and Miyaru Thila, have names that indicate the presence of such a reef formation. The channel between two reefs is called a "kandu". There are many other names describing the natural features of the islands which the curios traveler will come across, but it is "maa kandu" the big sea outside the Atoll, in which most divers will discover the real attraction of the Maldives.

The outer reef slope of the Atolls are generally distinguished by greater depths and increased clarity of water. The visibility may exceed 50 meters. Looking down the reef slope, the coral communities change rapidly with increasing depth. At depths greater than 20 meters, wave surge is non-existent and extensive coral growth may occur to depths of 50 meters and more. Light availability is the main factor limiting the range of the coral here.

The upper parts of the outer reef slope may be affected by wave action, restricting the growth of more delicate plate coral. Coral growth can be wiped out in a single freak storm in this zone. In areas less exposed to wave action, extensive stands of stag horn corpora can dominate. A great variety of fish life occurs among the coral in this zone.

The reef front is the part of the reef which takes the full force of the ocean swells. The coral here tends to be gnarled and stunted as a result of the pounding by waves.

The reef flats can arrange in width from a few meters to a few kilometers. Rainwater can damage or completely destroy the coral in this zone if heavy or cyclonic rainfall coincides with very low tides.

Lagoons with good circulation of water may have large stands of branching corpora growing on the sand. Lagoons can trap many fish varieties as the tide recedes.

On the inner reef slope, coral growth may be rich if the slope is not too steep . Steep or vertical slopes may be bare. Many interesting caves, overhangs and gullies can occur in this zone. The Atoll floor consists mostly of sand and rubble and is usually at a depth of between 30 to 50 meters. Rising from the floor are the giris and thilas. The giris nearly reach the surface, whereas the thilas lay below at depths between 5 and 15 meters.

  Geography | Formation | Origins | Weather | Water Temperatures | Currents | Diving Safety | Tides | Protected Marine Areas | Famous ShipWrecks | Diving Safaris