Best of the Maldives
QUALIFICATION NEEDED: PADI Open water or equivalent - PADI Advanced Open Water advised due to more challenging dive sites.
Dive the best and most famous dive sites of the Maldives in a week of wonderful liveaboard diving across Male and Ari atolls. Take in the iconic sites of North Male, South Male, Rashdoo and Ari Atoll. Awaiting you are channels, drifts and pinnacles where you have every chance of meeting mantas, whale sharks and mesmerising marine life of so many varieties. This itinerary gives you a marine mix of big fish such as shark and manta dives as well as reef dives, reef fish, morays and the abundant macro life.
Although the Maldives are known for the stunning beaches and azure waters that typify the tropical idyll, it is the life beneath the water’s surface which garners the attention of scuba divers. While the Maldives islands have some good coral reefs, it’s the abundance of marine life throughout the country that sets it apart from other dive destinations. Diving the Maldives by liveaboard offers the opportunity to see the very best this island nation has to offer.
Please note: The following itinerary highlights are a sample only and any itinerary is subject to change without notice. The itinerary and dive sites visited will depend on several factors including, but not limited to, weather, diving ability of guests & the number of other boats already present at the various dive sites.
Itinerary Highlights
South Male Atoll
The six big channels, or kandus here are not known for coral, but they have amazing pelagic life, with big schools of fish and good shark action.
Cocoa Thila is one of the most famous South Male dive sites. If you've got the perfect amount of current, you can see rays and all the rest; luckily, there are some dips and caverns in the topography in which divers can rest as they watch the goings-on. Cocoa Thila is a big pinnacle rooted in deep, deep water, and it's located on the perimeter of South Male Atoll. This means you may well be doing a drift dive in the same current that brings in the big ocean life.
Guraidhoo Kandu South is a large area hosting varied topography warranting several dives. Here, divers can submerge on a vertical or horizontal plane, from walls to flats to channels to caves. Sharks glide along the waterways while an array of different reef denizens enjoy their holes and hiding places. However, for the best chance of sharks, Embudhoo Kandu comes at the top of the list with its healthy population of whitetip and grey reef sharks.
Kandooma Thila is another prime site, located in the thin channel alongside this thila. An intense current brings a crazy amount of activity, including schools of barracuda and other big predators. Other sites include Vadhoo Caves and Kuda Giri Wreck. At Vadhoo, one cave after another offers the chance to chill with reef inhabitants among a garden of colourful soft corals while watching sharks glide by in the adjacent open water.
North Male Atoll
There are dive sites here to suit all tastes and abilities. Manta Point may be the most famous; get ready to see more mantas than you can keep track of, as well as sharks and other reef residents. Another top location is Girifushi Thila; the current here is full-on, so expect a drift dive alongside scenery of colourful soft corals and water full of fish, including rays, sharks, and tuna.
One of the best-loved and first-discovered dive sites is known as Banana Reef, which still showcases healthy thickets of branching corals. Along the curve of this banana-shaped reef, giant groupers and morays can be found. A huge school of bannerfish hangs in the current at the edge, and a few incredible caverns call for investigation.
In another area, the impressive 100-metre Maldives Victory Wreck, has enjoyed over 30 years of colonisation by creatures of the sea. The current can be strong, but once you find it in sheltered areas, you can enjoy the big and small fish and invertebrates that have made this wreck their home.
More sharks can be sighted at Miyaru Faru, where divers watch the blue-water show from the safety of an overhang on the wall. The incoming current brings crystal-clear water and pelagics, including manta rays, eagle rays, tuna, and more. Two stunning sites for less experienced divers are Hans Haas Place, with plenty of overhangs and small caves, and Back Faru, which offers good reef and pelagic life in incredibly low-stress conditions.
Felidhoo (Vaavu) Atoll
In the waters around Felidhoo's relatively undeveloped 19 islands, deep, fast-flowing channels promise abundant sharks and big pelagics like manta rays. At this easternmost area of the country, the Fotteyo barrier reef stretches for 50 kilometres along the open ocean, offering plenty of opportunities to see large marine life.
While kandus (channels from the open ocean into an atoll) and thilas (pinnacles, or sea-mounts) characterise Maldives diving throughout the archipelago, Felidhoo boasts one of the best kandu scenes in the country. Besides kandu diving, Felidhoo also offers fantastic night diving. Fotteyo Kandu is considered one of the Maldives' top sites; within this narrow channel, reef sharks and plenty of fish can be expected, including big groupers and (if you’re very lucky) hammerheads. There are plenty of overhangs and swim-throughs, which add variety to the dive and give photographers plenty of opportunities.
Miyaru Kandu is another diving highlight with schools of grey reef and whitetip reef sharks, as well as a variety of other big pelagic and reef fish. Overhangs, small caves, and hard and soft corals diversify the channel's topography. Miyaru is known as a good site for mantas, and in general, the entire Felidhoo Atoll provides good manta sightings, especially between May and July. At Alimathaa Island, two kandus named Devana and Dhekunu offer the chance to see pelagic rays in the blue water, as well as sharks, tuna, and big schools of reef fish. The current in these channels can be very strong. For a slower-paced, but no less thrilling experience, Alimathaa Jetty provides the opportunity for a night dive with nurse sharks and stingrays.
Ari Atoll
Within Ari Atoll's 40-kilometre length and 105 small islands, site after site vies for divers' attention. It is the most reliable Maldives location for whale sharks and manta rays, as well as reef sharks and turtles. The area's general topography is dominated by kandus and thilas.
Ari's main draw is the large wildlife in the water column, and various marine protected areas ensure the conservation of its incredible underwater creatures. Maaya Thila is considered one of the top Maldives dive sites for both day and night dives. This pinnacle is famous for the wild abundance and diversity of its reef life, from nudibranchs and octopus to schools of pelagic fish.
Maaya's neighbour Donkalo Thila holds its own crown as a premier cleaning station for mantas and sharks in the western section of the atoll. Kudarah Thila and Rangali Madivaru, both in the southern section, host high-volume manta cleaning stations as well, while Ukulhas Thila is the most consistent manta cleaning station in the north.
Hammerhead Point in Rasdhoo Atoll, northeast of Ari, tops it all off. The deep water drop-off near this site gives divers a special opportunity to see hammerheads if you are lucky, the highlight for many divers. Fish Head Pinnacle is the best place for an adrenalin pumping dive. Here, throngs of bustling grey and whitetip reef sharks scour the reef for their dinner under huge schools of dancing fusiliers. Maamgili, where plankton-rich waters nourish whale sharks gliding over wrecks that also host large marble rays and nurse sharks.
For wrecks, Fesdu Wreck in the north is popular with macro critter lovers for its resident ghost pipefish and plethora of nudibranchs and flatworms. The fishing trawler was sunk to become an artificial reef more than ten years ago. Halaveli is a 33-metre long freighter where huge blotched fantail rays provide an impressive counterpoint to the macro-life tucked into the wreck's holes and corners and can be dived day or night. Rahdhigga Thila is crowned in its shallows with healthy branching corals and festooned on its sides with soft corals in every shade of the rainbow, not to mention other benthic organisms like sponges of many shapes and sizes. Pelagics lovers won't even feel left out here because Rahdhigga hosts shark action from silver tips, white tips, and grey reef sharks.
At Omadhoo Thila, the dive sites lie in the Omadhoo channel where two thilas meet, to give it the nickname of the “Big Valley”. The thilas large coral blocks form an interesting landscape. with numerous overhangs along the reef where there are many colourful hard and soft corals, as well as the infamous long-nose hawkfish hiding in the black corals. Looking out into the blue, divers can often see Napoleon wrasse, barracuda, eagle rays, and whitetip reef sharks. Large schools of bannerfish, snappers, and fusiliers are found swarming above the reef top. Omadhoo is widely regarded as one of the true highlights of South Ari Atoll. Kuda Giri is a small reef that starts at just three metres and has overhangs running around the coral block between 12 and 22 metres, before levelling out at 30 metres into a sandy plateau. The reef is covered in disc anemones and black coral trees; overhangs are home to lobsters, moray eels, and lionfish. In the blue water, keep an eye out for schooling fusiliers and bannerfish.
Please note: Due to weather and diving conditions, it's not always possible to visit each atoll. Your cruise director will decide the best ones to visit at the time of diving.