We sent Dave, our videographer, to film this morning’s dive to Kuredu Caves.

Check out what the ‘Turtle Airport’ had in store and see on Facebook what impressions the guests have been left with.  Dont forget that you can rate Kuredu Caves this week and have the chance of winning some great prizes!

Carsten, Karin, Martin, Kenneth, Michael, Arno, Barbara and Yaafish, who was guiding the dive, said it was an impressive one, filled with massive turtles up-close, schools of butterfly fish, leaf fish, humphead parrot fish and great atmosphere on the boat!

Every day this week, we are planning to introduce you to some of the incredible things that you could hope to see while diving or snorkeling with us.  The first installment of this series features an incredible survivor of the natural world.

There are not too many things as cute as a turtle, and the Lhaviyani Atoll is one of the few places in the world where you have the unique chance to observe a green sea turtle community in action.

Capture that postcard moment at Kuredu Caves or in the lagoon right on your doorstep and keep your fingers crossed to come across baby turtles crawling out of their nest and help them head for the sea. The world’s toughest survivors can be admired by both divers and snorkellers alike, so make sure you pay them a visit during your stay.

Tomorrow, we are sending Dave, our videographer out to Kuredu Caves to see what the dive site throws up on a daily basis.

Check back later on this afternoon and help us to rate Kuredu Caves as a dive site!

It was the 23^rd of August around 8:30 pm when one of the room boys of the 100 bungalow side suddenly stumbled over hatching turtles!

Immediately he informed the hotel and us and of course no one wanted to miss out this special event!

At 9:30 pm we took the chance to inform all the guests joining our Divers Night in the Babuna Bar to have them experience the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to see turtles hatching.

We encouraged all our guests to watch out carefully for little turtles around the nest. Due to the hard work digging themselves out of the nest, some of the hatchlings got so confused and were heading towards the island instead of the water.

All of us managed to help around 60 to 70 hatchlings to find their way into the water and it was an unforgettable moment to see all those little creatures swimming for their life out into the big blue ocean.

For the first year they will go with the ocean current and trying their best to survive but only one out of a thousand hatchlings will make it to adulthood. The first predators are already waiting in the lagoon when the hatchlings starting their journey.

All female turtles that hatched on Kuredu will find their way back to our famous snorkel and dive site Kuredu Caves again while the male turtles are cruising around our reefs.

Best of luck to all our little turtles out in the big blue ocean!

Green and Hawksbill Turtles are the most common species of Turtle in the Maldives. Usually known as solitary creatures, we have the privilege of seeing them enjoying good company.

Kuredu Caves, located right on our doorstep on the outside of the Atoll, has provided shelter for a large population of green sea turtles for more than 20 years.

A diving or snorkeling excursion to “Turtle Airport” promises reencounters with old friends – the turtle with only 3 fins for example – as well as the discovery of a few new “dudes” enjoying the advantages of this beautiful reef formation.
Resting in the overhangs, feeding on the reef, getting shiny all over again on the cleaning stations or flying around, coming or going for a breath on the surface… Turtle Action is guaranteed!

This weeks installment of The Last 7 Days…On Kuredu features some of the characters that are part of the Kuredu Caves Community!

If you’re not too busy avoiding a crash or landing on a turtle, have a look around for napoleons, moray eels, porcupine, lion, scorpion, even ghost pipe and leaf fish… it’ll give you a surprise – it’s always a pleasure!

There’s not too many things as cute as a baby turtle, and early this morning (27^th January) we got a call on the Turtle Phone (it’s a bit like the Bat Phone but Darren doesn’t have a superhero costume, we don’t think…) to say that a nest was hatching.

So at 1:30am five of the Prodivers team went off to the beach near room 130 to go and have a look for themselves, and sure enough, lots of baby turtles were crawling out of their nest and heading for the sea.  All in all about 50 hatchlings appeared, and considering the amount of Green Sea turtles that live around our island they are most likely to be this species, but when they’re this small it’s a bit difficult to tell!

It is said that only one turtle in a thousand makes it to adulthood; let’s hope one of these girls makes it back to Kuredu Caves one day to add to our resident community.

Kuredu Caves is a pretty unique dive site, not only in the Maldives, but across the world’s oceans.

Turtles are normally solitary creatures, preferring their own company to that of others.  What makes Caves special is the community of green turtles that has taken up residency there.

Over the years, we have been fortunate enough to pick up on some interesting behavior and relationships that take place almost everyday on the site.

Located on one side of the site is an area that the turtles use as a cleaning station. Green turtles are meticulously clean.  They keep themselves well groomed, and regular trips to this cleaning station ensures that their shells and other body parts are kept clean.

We were fortunate enough to capture on film, a bizarre ‘rubbing’ action which one of the male turtles undertook with his back fins after visiting the cleaning station.  This initial incident took place around a year ago, and was almost forgotten about…until yesterday.

This weeks ‘Last 7 Days…On Kuredu’ installment shows, what we believe to be the turtle actually wiping its bum!  Take a close look at the video, and after enjoying the stunning visibility and close turtle action, pay attention to the turtles being cleaned, and what follows.  Keep an eye out as well for the opportunist bat fish looking for a quick snack.  Let us know what you think…

It wasn’t even DJ night and the dive center team were running around late in the evening this week!

At around 11:30 pm, the ‘Turtle Phone’ rang to let us know about that there was a turtle nest hatching on the north side of Kuredu!

When we arrived on the beach, it was clear to see that some help was needed as the beach was swarming with the baby turtles!  Unable to locate the nest itself, some Kuredu Resort staff together with guests staying in the O Resort bungalows took to offering the stray hatch-lings a helping point in the right direction as some of them appeared to have lost their way.

Turtles normally hatch around full moon, but these little guys made a surprise appearance around the new moon, meaning there was less light in the sky to help them navigate to the water.

Turtle hatch-lings have to make their way into the ocean on their own.  This helps them to program their built in GPS system that will ensure that any female turtles that survive will make their way back to Kuredu one day to lay their own eggs, completing this incredible tale of survival.

Once the turtles made it into the sea, they started swimming towards the outer reef and to the next step in one of nature’s most incredible stories of survival. During their first year, the turtles they will drift along with the ocean currents trying hard to to survive, but only 1 out of every 1,000 will make it to adult hood!

If you’re interested in learning more about the life cycle of the Turtle, check out the Turtle Specialty Course that we offer to both divers and snorkelers alike.  The course also includes a dive or a snorkel at Kuredu Caves where you can enjoy the unique community of green turtles that live there.

We would like to wish the turtles the best of luck, and hope that they one day make it back to Kuredu.

To watch baby Turtles hatch, or to swim eye to eye with one and be captivated by the incredibly graceful, but almost lazy way that it moves through the water, has to be top of most divers and snorkelers wish lists.

But did you know that all seven of the Earth’s species of marine turtle are classified as being threatened or endangered.

To help bring attention to the threats being faced by one of the Ocean’s gems, ‘World Turtle Day’ looks to help develop people’s understanding and knowledge of turtles and the threats that they are facing.

Prodivers is pleased to offer guests on Kuredu the chance to find out more about Turtles, and in particular about the unique community of Green Turtles that is resident just around the corner at Kuredu Caves.

In support of ‘World Turtle Day’, we are offering both snorkelers and divers the chance to take part in our ‘Sea Turtle Course‘ for a special discounted rate. As part of the course, we will also include a snorkel trip or a dive at Kuredu Caves, where you have the chance to see and experience the community of Green Turtles first hand.

World Turtle Day Special Offer:

Sea Turtle Course – Saturday 22nd May 2010 18:00 (snorkelers and divers)

Snorkel Trip to Kuredu Caves  – Sunday 23rd May 09:00 (snorkelers only)

Dive Trip to Kuredu Caves  – Sunday 23rd May 14:30 (certified divers only)

If you are going to be on Kuredu on Saturday and Sunday next week and if you are interested in finding out more about Turtles, the please drop us an email to find out more about this special offer.  A special discounted rate is available for certified divers, providing you book before the 21st May.

Find out more about what you can do to help the world’s Turtles – join us for ‘World Turtle Day’.