Diving in Maldives

The central atolls carry the standard first trip, and the choice inside them follows the animal. Kaafu wraps Malé and the airport, so it is the base for a short stay or the days either side of a liveaboard, with Kandooma Thila as its current-fed pinnacle. South Ari is where whale sharks decide the trip, and it also holds easy reefs and a cargo-ship wreck beside advanced channels. North Ari is the thila-and-channel half of Ari, built on hook-in shark dives and the whitetip night dive at Maaya Thila. Vaavu adds hook-in channel drifts at Fotteyo Kandu and Miyaru Kandu and a shallow nurse-shark night dive at the Alimathaa jetty, all from small local islands.

Baa is the atoll for the Hanifaru Bay manta aggregation, which peaks in the wet season from May to November. Scuba diving is no longer permitted in the bay, so it is a snorkel, and the tanks go to the gentle thilas and reefs around it, which Baa rates easy to moderate and which run best from December to April.

In the far south, Gaafu Alifu and Gaafu Dhaalu, the two halves of giant Huvadhoo, are moderate-to-advanced channel diving on current. Vilingili Kandu gathers schools of 50 to 200 grey reef sharks on the right current, and Short Cut is built around leopard sharks resting on sand. The best months are given as February to April or as October to May.

Visitors arrive through Velana International Airport at Malé, with Gan International Airport in Addu Atoll a second international gateway in the south. Onward transfers go by speedboat, seaplane or domestic flight depending on the atoll, and the far south is reached by domestic flight to Kooddoo or beyond. The natural atolls are counted as 20 or 26 depending on the reference, so treat any single figure with care.

One national rulebook covers every recreational dive. The maximum depth is 30 m and applies to liveaboards, and only no-decompression diving is allowed, with no exception for liveaboards. Entry-level divers are limited to 20 m. The minimum certification is an entry-level RSTC-associated certificate or CMAS 1-star, and centres ask for proof and a logbook. Dives less than 12 hours before flying are on the prohibited list. Feeding sharks is not permitted for divers or dive-centre staff. A permit may be required to dive marine protected areas, and in atolls outside the tourism zone diving is restricted except at designated sites. In October 2023 the government announced protection for twelve areas in Vaavu and Baa. Shark fishing was banned in territorial waters in 2009 and across the whole exclusive economic zone in 2010.

The season sets the animal. The dry northeast monsoon, roughly December to April, is the calm and clear window. The wet southwest monsoon, roughly May to November, trades clarity for plankton, and the feeders follow it to the downwind side of the atoll: east in the wet monsoon, west in the dry. Current is common at the headline sites, so a large SMB and a reef hook are standard advice.

Hyperbaric chambers are few. A chamber opened at Kandima resort in Dhaalu Atoll in 2021 and was described as the fourth operating chamber in the country, and the national defence force has received a portable transport unit for diving emergencies. Ask your operator where the nearest chamber is, and carry dive accident cover of your own.