A natural sunken garden, the Maldives is a collection of atolls tossed on the Indian Ocean that comprise its tens of hundreds of coral islands. Home to a unique and extremely delicate ecosystem, at the Maldives either you are under the water drinking in its spectacular marine life or on the surface dipping your toes on its powdery white sands and taking in a tropical breeze. The Maldives’ palm-fringed beaches, the rustic resorts are known to be the byword for luxury and crystalline waters make it the stuff picture-postcards are made of. With no dense tropical jungles or volcanic cliffs like a Seychelles, Hawaii, Bora Bora or Fiji, the Maldives is flatter with the highest point not shooting any more than five feet above the sea level. The world here centers around the atolls within which thousand-odd islands have come up with their share of sandbars, lagoons and reefs that are home to some exotic reef fish and coral gardens.