TEK-ING The Temperature

Tek diving gives us access to rare and remote places, places not only inhabited by majestic hammerhead sharks, but that could also yield vital scientific data.

- Shafraz Naeem

RASDHOO MADIVARU is one of the Maldives’ most famous dive sites. Why? For its hammerheads, and for many divers, seeing these extraordinary sharks is their number one priority. I have guided countless divers at Rasdhoo Madivaru, and sometimes we have been lucky, but many times we weren’t, and not seeing them is always hugely disappointing.

Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in marine life, so I started to wonder about the reasons why sometimes the sharks could be found at Rasdhoo Madivaru, and sometimes they could not. I spent long periods of time in the area, diving to see these sharks. I dived the site many times, observing Nature, and comparing the conditions on each different dive. One thing I noticed was consistent in the shark sightings was the temperature; whenever I hit the thermocline, with temperatures between 28 degrees and 25 degrees Celsius, I saw several hammerheads, no matter the depth – from as little as 15 down to 40 metres.

I suggested my theory of seeing the hammerhead sharks whenever I hit the cold thermoclines to the scientists working for IUCN Maldives and they said that it might just be right. Since I am a tek diver, capable of doing deep dives, I suggested that I could place some temperature loggers (see box) in the Madivaru Channel. We placed five loggers from five metres to a depth of 60 metres.