Diving in Baa Atoll

Reef mantas, and now and then a whale shark, stack into spiralling feeding trains near the surface of Hanifaru Bay, and you meet them in a mask and snorkel, because scuba is banned there. The rest of diving Baa is the quieter half of the trip: submerged pinnacles called thilas, haas and reef walls, dived in warm water with mostly gentle current, often with few or no other boats on the site.

Scuba here means the thilas. Dhigali Haa is a walled thila with canyons and grey reef sharks, and Dhonfan Thila adds a swim-through and, in manta season, reef mantas at diving depth. Two more thilas go steeper and deeper, and the coral across the atoll shows storm damage in places beside healthy patches.

The whole atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, designated in June 2011 and zoned into nine no-take core areas, buffer zones and a transitional area, with 250 coral species and 1,200 fish species recorded.1 Hanifaru is one of the core zones: it was declared a Marine Protected Area on 8 June 2009, and scuba has long been banned there. In October 2023 the government announced four more Baa areas for protection under Law 04/93, Huraafaru, Dharavandhoo Thila, Nelivaru and Innafushi, with no restrictions set out.2

Hanifaru snorkelling runs on a paid token, bought online, through your operator or at the Hanifaru Visitor Centre on Dharavandhoo, and each guide carries a Hanifaru Bay Guide License from the Biosphere Reserve. The visitor and vessel caps are why timing matters. Aim for May to November, and best from late July to early October around the full and new moons; the manta months are the wet southwest monsoon, so expect short, sharp rain. For the clearest reef water, dive from December to April.

The Open Water part of Baa is the house reef off Dharavandhoo, with a top near 6 m, among the easier dives in the atoll, and Hanifaru itself needs only a snorkel. Dhigali Haa and Dhonfan Thila are graded moderate, and the current at Dhonfan is the thing to respect. Nelivaru Thila and Madu Thila are graded advanced even though their crowns sit at 14 m and 7 m: the rating comes from what lies below, walls and passages running to about 30 m, and from tide-driven current that can pick up. The bases of both sit at the deepest depth a recreational diver is allowed here.

Water stays at 26 to 29 C all year, so a 3 mm suit does the job. Fly from Malé to Dharavandhoo airport in about 20 minutes, or take a speedboat in about two hours; resort islands are reached by seaplane in roughly 30 to 40 minutes. You can base at a one-island resort with its own dive centre, or on Dharavandhoo or Maalhos for budget stay-and-dive packages and short taxi-boat runs to the bay. Northern liveaboard routes include Baa in manta season.