In September 2003 Eve and I arrived by seaplane at Machchafushi Island in South Ari Atoll in the Maldives. This small island, 95 kilometres from Male, has 48 guest rooms and 10 water bungalows, a restaurant and reception, two bars, a swimming pool and a tennis court. In addition there is a dive centre run by Sub Aqua Reisen.

Shortly after arriving I had a checkout dive on the house reef with Liane Sieber, a local dive instructor during which I was required to demonstrate buoyancy control, removal and retrieval of my mask and an appropriate reaction to an out-of-air situation. Having done this I was then considered an "Independent Diver" entitled to dive locally without a guide. The house reef has its own wreck, the MV Kudhimaa which lies at a depth of 30 metres.  A 52 metre 4,000 tonne wreck, this was deliberately sunk for divers next to one of the resort's jetties. My next dive was a night dive later the same day, again on the house reef.  I saw a Nurse Shark under the wreck as well as a Whitetip Reef Shark, a Hermit Crab and the usual reef life.

During the week at Machchafushi Island when not diving with Eve, I was fortunate enough to regularly dive with Roland Kaiser. The daily Sub Aqua Reisen boat dives took us to Broken Rock Thila, Kudarah Thila, Dhagethi Meddu Thila, Mamigilli Beyru, Dhidhoo Beyru, Orimas Thila, Hudhoo Kuda Thila, Triton Thila, Utuhru Thila, Hudhoo Thila and Dhigu Thila. We saw Whitetip Reef Sharks, Titan Triggerfish, Barracuda, Turtles, Napoleon Wrasse, Marbled Rays, Giant Moray Eels and many other fish as well as a pellagically drifting Medusa otherwise known as a Jellyfish.

However the most memorable moment of the week came at Mamigilli Beyru on Day 4 at the end of Dive 743. The rest of our dive group had already surfaced and were waiting to get back on board our boat. After almost an hours dive, Eve and I had completed our 5 metre safety stop and Eve had started her final ascent to the surface. It was then that in poor visibility, I caught sight of a Whale Shark descending to my left. I immediately turned towards it to film it while trying to get Eve's attention with my "shaker".  The Whale Shark was descending quite rapidly and I could not fin fast enough to get any closer. Eve did not follow me and my air reserve was low, so at a depth of 11 metres I aborted the descent and ascended back up to Eve.  A very special dive: our first ever sighting of a Whale Shark.