The Maldives basically is an undersea range of mountains, the tips of which don't quite make it above the surface. Coral growing on those peaks has led to the formation of reefs, and eventually islands. The depth inside the atolls quickly drops to a couple of hundred metres, outside the atolls to a couple of kilometers!

Male' is in the middle of the country on the East side, and most of my projects were relatively nearby (shown by the purple dots).