Our friend Darryl and another diver head out to Blue Hole on their way to dive the caverns.

I was reading an article yesterday in Scuba Diving magazine about the Maldives and the danger rising sea levels poses. It's not the first article like this I've seen, only the most recent.

The Maldives holds the record for being the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 m (7½ ft) with the average being only 1.5 m above sea level. Over the last century, sea levels have risen about 20 centimetres (8 in); further rises of the ocean could threaten the existence of Maldives. Current estimates place sea level rise at 59 cm by the year 2100. There are concerns about global warming and the possibility of much of the islands being inundated with water from rising sea levels.

That said, we have been having the lowest low tides (and lowest high tides, for that matter) we've seen. There are more coral heads exposed to a greater extent for longer periods of time than I've seen before. You can see in the picture above practically the whole coral ring around Blue Hole is exposed. And this wasn't even at full low tide!

This is from the same KAP session as the beachrock photos posted a few days ago. You can see the whole set on Flickr.