Vakkaru Maldives introduces Manta Ray experience

Guests will have  opportunity to swin with reef Manta Rays

Vakkaru Maldives resort has introduced the Manta Ray Adventure package from August to October. The Manta Ray package features the two-hour manta snorkeling experience. The package includes a half-hour speedboat ride to the Hanifaru Bay marine protected area, Baa Atoll where the crew will guide the reef manta rays towards the snorkeling guests.

Vakkaru Maldives has also announced its participation in the Manta Festival scheduled for 20 September to 21 September 2019. The property will sponsor snorkeling fieldtrips to Hanifaru Bay for local students in Baa Atoll with the aim to provide an educational experience about protected marine life in the Baa Atoll.

Source: hoteliermiddleeast

Why You Need To Visit The Baa Atoll Now

Make the journey to the Baa Atoll, Maldives, this season for mesmerizing marine life encounters and a stay at one of the atoll’s newest island resorts.

The Marine Life
First off, the Baa Atoll is a Unesco-designated Biosphere Reserve, making it a year-round draw for snorkeling and diving over thriving coral reef, as well as for sightings of bigger marine species such as dolphins. June to November, however, is the optimum time to go for encounters with the exceptionally abundant marine life.
Hundreds of manta rays and whale sharks gather here during this season to feed on the plankton that’s in abundance in some of the atoll’s bays. Hanifaru Bay is the best-known site to head to, as it’s here between a collection of small islands that you’re most likely to encounter these mesmerising sea creatures.
Boats zip across the atoll’s deep blue water to reach the shallow lagoon of this secluded bay. And it’s here that you’ll have the unique opportunity to get into the water and snorkel alongside these huge mantas. Whale sharks aren’t quite as frequently seen but chances are still high here at this time of year.

Source: forbes

You can swim now with the giant of the ocean while staying at this hotel

Spending your holiday just snorkeling seems passe now. A hotel in the Maldives now offers a one-of-a-kind experience, a swimming session with the extraordinary giants of the ocean — the Manta Rays.
Milaidhoo, located in Baa Atoll, offers escorted tours with the marine biologist so you can plunge into the sea and swim alongside these marine creatures Despite the fear associated with Manta Rays, they are peaceful and pose no threat to humans. The Manta Ray season lasts from June to November, the time when they migrate in hundreds towards the Baa Atoll to feed in the plankton-rich waters at Hanifaru Bay, a UNESCO world biosphere reserve.
Although Manta Rays can be seen on the Great Barrier Reef, in the Galapagos, Micronesia and Hawaii, the largest Manta Ray feeding station in the world is in the Maldives at Hanifaru Bay, a protected Marine Reserve just 12-minutes by speedboat from Milaidhoo.
These gigantic rays (from 12 to 24 feet in size and weighing up to 3,500 pounds) are filter feeders and listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Visits to view and swim with them are coordinated with the Marine Reserve rangers and conducted by a qualified team from Milaidhoo’s Ocean Stories Aquatic Center.
Accompanied by the resort’s resident marine biologist, you can go on a group trip or book a private excursion, including a picnic on a deserted sandbank after swimming with these stunning creatures.
On good days it’s possible to see up to 100 Mantas Rays and you don’t need special equipment or a Scuba diving licence, just a mask and a snorkel. To conserve the environment and avoid disturbing the Manta Rays, visits are carefully managed and limited to a small number of visitors every day.
Set over 13 acres in the Baa Atoll’s beautiful UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, each of Milaidhoo’s 50 private villas have been designed by a local Maldivian architect and each thatched-roof villa features generous private pools and is serviced by Island Hosts. The villas are just a short, barefoot stroll away to three world-class restaurants, incredible water sports, fitness, spa, yoga and world-class diving.

Source: esquireme.com