I Went Diving With Ocean Explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau in the Maldives—Here’s What Happened

Every dive in the Maldives’ Fari Islands, surrounded by the endless rippling blue of the North Malé Atoll, promises to be unforgettable. The sea is alive with fish action, graceful manta rays, and kaleidoscopic coral. But as oceanographic explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau rolls up to the dock in a golf cart, dressed in his custom teal wetsuit to join me underwater, I know for a fact that this particular dive will top my list.

The son of Jacques Cousteau, the environmentalist has been partnering with the Ritz-Carlton brand since his educational Ambassadors of the Environment program—which encourages guests of all ages to discover and preserve the natural world—launched at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman in 2005. Now, the hands-on curriculum has expanded to multiple resorts, including at the the Ritz-Carlton Maldives. 

On property, Cousteau discusses future initiatives with his Ambassadors of the Environment team and interacts with guests and to provide a once-in-lifetime opportunity that money cannot buy—at least directly. To dive with Cousteau you’ll need to tap into Marriott Bonvoy Moments, a program that allows members to bid or redeem points on experiences (such as meeting racing legend Lewis Hamilton at the Dutch Grand Prix or sipping unreleased Dos Hombres mezcal with founders and Breaking Bad co-stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston).

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I ask some of my fellow divers—a young German couple living in Dubai—if they’re surprised they won the auction.

“I bid enough to make sure we would,” the man laughs. His partner, who is finishing her open water PADI certification, teams up with one of the resort’s attentive Dive Butler instructors. I tell her she’s peaking early, as I ruefully eye the Frette towels and think back to my first dives lugging heavy tanks up and down a rocky beach.

“Okay, let’s go!” Cousteau yells before jumping in the water. Pool’s open.

We descend, one by one, to Trix Cave, a reef full of overhangs covered in iridescent soft coral. Surrounded by so much natural wonder, I would normally remain focused on the abundant alien life in front of me—a frogfish here, a lobster there. But today I want to see the world through Cousteau’s eyes. He takes his time, examining each crevice of the rock for nudibranch and other small critters a less experienced diver might miss and a less grateful one might ignore.

To dive with Cousteau is to fall in love with diving all over again. You might think a man who was “thrown overboard” by his father at the age of seven with newly invented scuba gear on his back would be a little jaded. But not Cousteau.

“People like to ask me, ‘What’s your best dive?’ I always tell them, ‘The next one.’ Every dive I either find a new species or see a new behavior,” he says.

His words prove prophetic as we happen upon an unusual small brown, white, and yellow mottled fish that we later ID as a juvenile oriental sweetlips. Transfixed, Cousteau hovers above it with buoyancy so flawless I could swear a single hair doesn’t sway in the current.

Throughout the week, Cousteau connects with more guests, hosting several presentations and panels focused on marine biology as well as a beach cocktail party, during which he enthuses about the dining-table-sized corals he spotted in an earlier dive.

“This part of the world is unique,” he says. “It’s very precious—the diversity, the beauty of it. It’s one of the healthiest places on the planet. We need to do everything we can to protect it, not just in the interest of the local people, but for the entire human species.”

Inspired guests are able to lend a hand in the resort’s robust coral regeneration initiative, which planted over 2,000 coral fragments in 2023, and watch as naturalists monitor and discarded fishing nets (ghost nets)—many of which float down on currents from India and Pakistan—via daily drone flights. In 2023 the team removed 19 nets with an estimated weight of 2,425 pounds and successfully rescued five entangled olive ridley sea turtles.

In an industry rampant with green-washing, it’s one program led by trusted names. Dr. Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and oceanographer, has recently participated in sailings with B-Corp certified Aurora Expeditions, while Rosewood Baha Mar will soon be offering a new coral restoration trip led by professional diver and photographer André Musgrove and the Perry Institute of Marine Science.

For Cousteau, the most important part of the Ambassadors program is reaching out to the resorts’ younger guests and stoking their curiosity in nature. At the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, they can sign up for a Cities Under the Sea snorkeling trip to learn about the essential role every animal plays on a coral reef.

“[Children] are the best investment you can make—they’re like sponges,” he says. “I can’t remember some things from a week ago, but I still have memories from when I was a kid.”

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