March 2011: The Maldives were not top of my photographic hit-list - luxury travel photography isn't really my thing - but my wife was offered the chance to review a number of luxury resorts and I was lucky enough to tag along as her plus one. Not the sort of thing you get offered very often - or at least not the sort of thing I get offered very often...
My great regret of the trip was not hiring an underwater housing for one of my DSLRs. While the islands are very beautiful, the real action is underwater, and it really is quite spectacular.
For anyone reading this considering a trip to any of the resorts we visited, with an interest in underwater photography, I strongly recommend the W Resort and Spa - the reef here blew the others away. We swam with large turtles, rays, several species of shark and innumerable shoals of photogenic fish.
The thought of a beach holiday like this had never appealed to me in the past - but snorkelling and diving here really is the underwater equivalent of a safari in the Masai Mara. If armed with camera, flash, underwater housing and laptop, I could very happily spend four or five hours a day in the water and edit in the evening.
My great regret of the trip was not hiring an underwater housing for one of my DSLRs. While the islands are very beautiful, the real action is underwater, and it really is quite spectacular.
For anyone reading this considering a trip to any of the resorts we visited, with an interest in underwater photography, I strongly recommend the W Resort and Spa - the reef here blew the others away. We swam with large turtles, rays, several species of shark and innumerable shoals of photogenic fish.
The thought of a beach holiday like this had never appealed to me in the past - but snorkelling and diving here really is the underwater equivalent of a safari in the Masai Mara. If armed with camera, flash, underwater housing and laptop, I could very happily spend four or five hours a day in the water and edit in the evening.