For those of us who use the ddmmyyyy convention to denote dates, today is 22022022 – and it will be the last palindrome date in this format for just under 8 years.
With this piece of useless trivia out of the way, let’s get to the topic: the photo above shows a view of the island of Biyadhoo in the South Male atoll. Below are some further shots of its palm trees, white beaches, and turquoise waters.
The island is almost circular, with a diameter of just under 400m. The photo below shows the whole of the island.
You can easily walk around its perimeter in about 15 minutes.
It is a pleasant walk, but it also clearly illustrates that there is trouble in paradise: there are several sections of the shoreline that have eroded badly and require on-going protection through concrete blocks and sand bags. The problem is far from unique to Biyadhoo. Over the years we have visited quite a few islands in the Maldives and they were all fighting battles against erosion. I vividly remember a palm tree on another island slowly collapsing into the water in front of our eyes.
There is also trouble below the gentle waves. Snorkelling in the Maldives can still be a very enjoyable experience, as these underwater photos taken around Biyadhoo illustrate.
However, you virtually never see pristine, brightly coloured expanses of coral any more. Coral bleaching, due to rising ocean temperatures, has badly affected many reefs. Increasingly, what you encounter are underwater deserts of ghostly white debris, serving as a sad reminder that time is running out to save what these islands have to offer.
