Angsana Ihuru has celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Rannamaari Wreck with a 24-hour live dive event.

The event started at 10am on August 31 and ended at 10am on September 1, thus the title, 10 to 10.

The event live streamed on the resort’s youtube channel, showing a series of activities such as dives to the Rannaamari Wreck, which included day, night and dawn dives, as well as free diving sessions, coral planting, and special marine talks by the resort’s Marine Lab team as well as other organisations present during the event. A role play about the legend of the Rannamaari was also showcased.

The Rannamaari Wreck was previously used as a dredging ship and was towed to Ihuru Island in 1999 to be used as an artificial reef through the initiative of Shahul Hameed, former Banyan Tree and Angsana Maldives’ Assistant Vice President Maldives Corporate, and Abdul Azeez Abdul Hakeem – more familiar as N.D. Azeez, environment champion in the Maldives, former Director of Conservation for Banyan Tree and Angsana Maldives and one of the Directors of Ihuru Investments Pvt Ltd.

The ship sank “mysteriously” two days before the planned event and has since become a home for thousands of sea creatures at a depth of 26 metres.

To celebrate the wreck’s 20th anniversary, Angsana Ihuru welcomed over 120 divers from different dive centres, as well as representatives from organisations such as Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, Allied Insurance, Maldives National University and various like-minded groups and individuals who not only joined the dives and signed their attendance on the underwater guest book but also shared information about their conservation programmes.

Several personalities and advocates of environment conservation also attended the event. Amongst such dignitaries were: Ahmed Mujuthaba, Chairman and Managing Director of Ihuru Investments Pvt Ltd; Jeehan Mahmood, Member of the Parliament and environmental champion; Matt Wenger, Regional Director of PADI; Zoona Naseem, Managing Director of Moodhu Bulhaa who had been part of the Marine Team that initiated the 10 to 10 dive event.

This yearly event aims to create a delightfully educational experience to all participants and spread awareness of the importance of conserving marine life in the Maldives.

Located just 25 minutes away from the international airport, Angsana Ihuru is a small boutique resort surrounded by one of the most vibrant and well preserved house reefs in the Maldives. The resort is a pioneer in terms of Marine Conservation being the first resort in the Maldives to have its own Marine Lab in 2001. The resort started conservation projects such as the Rannaamari Wreck, the Necklace Project and numerous programmes and activities to help preserve the reefs.