A number of governments have warned against unnecessary travel to the capital of Maldives, Male, after the country’s president resigned during a coup.

Spas and massage parlors in the Maldives archipelago must close, the government has ordered , bowing to pressure from islamists in a move that may imperil the mainstay tourism sector.

From July 2011 Worldwide Dive and Sail will offer four different itineraries around the Indian Ocean nation on their newest vessel, the S.Y. Maldives Siren.

One thousand and 192 islands, islets and sand cays string the 26 atolls of the Maldives; from the air they float like emerald necklaces flung upon a cobalt blue sea.

Last month at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) ‘Man and the Biosphere Program’ in Dresden, Germany the entirety of Baa Atoll in the Republic of Maldives was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

In what is seen as a historic move towards a total ban on both reef and oceanic shark hunting, the ministry of fisheries and agriculture has extended the moratorium on reef shark fishing to cover the territorial waters of the Maldives

Manta Point , Maldives

On Thursday the 4th of December the first Maldives Whale Shark Protection Area (MPA) meeting was held at the resort island Diva Maldives located in the South Ari Atoll. The Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) has been established by an international team of biologists, who since 2006, have been working to build up a profile of the whale shark population in the Republic of Maldives.