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Yes, this is all snorkelling. I do free dive down below the surface to get better footage, but no scuba involved.

No, I don't use any filters on my camera(s) when filming. I have tried a light red (pink?) snorkelling filter in the past and found that the videos came out too red. At depths above 5m the standard GoPro cameras (and other similar cameras) can get enough light to allow the colours to show through very well, especially if it is sunny. It's only really below 10m that they start to lose the colours and that filters become necessary.

@@SnorkellingintheMaldives what settings do you use? I am going snorkeling there soon and bringing my GoPro. This is a first for me. I really love your videos!

@@BlueSixGolf I don't have a current model GoPro (mine is a GoPro 8), and most of my footage is using a Sony X3000. For the latest GoPros I would set the video quality to whatever the max is (at least 4K 60FPS), turn stabilisation on (but don't set it to the maximum setting which is 'autoboost' I think), and then most of the standard settings should be fine. For the best battery life I would turn off the touch screen, as you can't really use it underwater anyway, and just get used to manually aiming rather than using the screen to frame the shot. I'd definitely recommend some kind of extension pole, and ideally one which floats. This will allow you to get the camera closer to the fish. Something like this: tinyurl.com/99s6jmnw

Thanks, very kind. In terms of equipment used, it is literally just a GoPro 8 and a waterproof extension pole like the one below. No filters, lights, additional lenses, etc. tinyurl.com/bdcmw6ya I do some basic video editing in iMovie once the footage has been filmed, but nothing beyond the basic settings (cropping, image stabilisation, colour matching, etc).

I just read March 2020. Good vid.

@@Pedro285 - Thanks! You can also check out the video below which was from March 2022: czcams.com/video/qCnexW6gm_g/video.htmlsi=n_cujnBA05Z-MgtT and also this extended version of this video which has more footage from 2022: czcams.com/video/J_6n__dF0-Y/video.htmlsi=a0ogBrJ31JiajzB9 They were also doing some sand dredging then and the visibility was still very good. I've read some comments about reduced visibility in low season (May- December) but we've always had good visibility in February and March.

The Eagle Ray towards the end of the video was on the longer side of the reef, between the water sports jetty and the water villas. In terms of settings it was 4K, 60FPS, Wide lens, Hypersmooth = High, and all other settings are as standard. Enjoy your time at Kandolhu!

The 3 month period from mid-January to mid-April tends to be the best time to visit for water clarity as this lines up with the 'high season' weather wise which generally means less wind and calmer seas. Unfortunately this is also the most expensive time to visit. We have always travelled in March and have been lucky enough to have fantastic weather and great visibility when snorkelling on all of our trips.

@@SnorkellingintheMaldives thank you

Try one in Raja Ampat to see the peak

Kandolhu (like all islands in the Maldives) was very heavily impacted by the coral bleaching which occurred in 2016. The reef was basically a coral graveyard for our visits in 2018 and 2019, but then in 2020 there were signs that the coral was starting to recover and there were patches of healthy regrowth starting to appear. Fast forward two years to our visit in March 2022 and the coral has come on very well, and there are now two large patches of the reef which look very healthy, and lots of other areas which have started to show promising signs of regrowth as well. It is still a long way short of the very healthy reefs that you would have seen in 2015 and earlier, but I am hopefully that in another couple of years we may start to see the reefs starting to look genuinely healthy again. Much of the footage in this video is from 2018, 2019, and 2020, but hopefully you can start to see the signs of recovery in the footage from 2022: czcams.com/video/qCnexW6gm_g/video.html

No, I did not use any filters. Personally I don't think that filters are really necessary in shallow water and the latest GoPros do a very good job of capturing the colours. Some people prefer to use a 'pink' filter for snorkelling, but red filters would definitely be too much and are really meant for deeper water when scuba diving. There is some colour optimisation done in iMovie when editing the video, but for 90% of the footage it is just applying the basic 'auto enhance' feature in iMovie, not manually editing white balance or other more advanced features. If you don't want to edit your videos in iMovie (or similar) then a pink filter may give better results than the standard footage.

@@SnorkellingintheMaldives thanks for comment

This video was in filmed in March 2020. Check out my Kandolhu 2022 video which was filmed in March this year and you'll see that the corals now look much healthier. Still a way to go until they return to pre-bleaching conditions, but big improvements over the last couple of years. czcams.com/video/qCnexW6gm_g/video.html

Indeed it is heartbreaking to see, and sadly it applies to all of the reefs in the Maldives. We never got to see Kandolhu at it's best unfortunately but did get to see Kuaramthi's reef when it was still healthy and some of their table coral was amazing.

Thanks to the seas getting warmer. of all pictures I look at from maldives, alot of the coral seems bleached. After the horrible year of 2016, were bleaching happend to all corals in the world, things are not the same anymore

Kandolhu is our favourite resort in the Maldives, so if is in your budget then I would definitely recommend it over Konotta. It's also a very small island, so much less walking needed, and also much easier snorkelling access. Here are our videos from Kandolhu in case you haven't seen them: czcams.com/video/VT6iVXRV3ek/video.html czcams.com/video/GwPhKuDyBvQ/video.html

It is my personal favourite reef that we have visited, but my wife's favourite is Baros. Obviously there are lots of other islands that we have not visited with very highly regarded house reefs including Mirihi, Ayada, Oblu at Helengeli, and Raffles Meradhoo.