Also known as: Alimatha House Reef, Alimatha Jetty, Alimatha Kandu, Alimatha Night Dive, Alimathaa Night Dive
Shallow night dive on the Alimatha jetty reef in Vaavu Atoll, where nurse sharks, blacktips and rays gather in the torch beams.
Last updated October 2026
Dusk sets the schedule: depending on the guide, the group descends around sunset and swims in over the house reef toward the jetty. The first stretch is an ordinary reef dive, with time to enjoy it while the light drains from the water. Because the site sits on a channel, the briefing carries one instruction worth remembering: keep an eye on the blue for eagle rays and other sharks coming through.
Closer to the jetty the schools of nurse sharks appear in the torch beams, with blacktips, stingrays and marble rays moving among them. Dives here usually run from about 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
Nurse sharks in numbers, close enough to fill the torch beam, in shallow water beside a jetty. The channel at the edge of the reef keeps the night open-ended: the cast shifts, and an eagle ray or another shark may pass in the dark.
Hold neutral buoyancy, stay off the reef, and leave every shark and ray a clear way out: it is easy to kick or accidentally corner one in the dark, with this many animals close together. Keep the group together, because the channel edge is where animals move in from the open blue.
What makes this dive site stand out.
Large schools gather near the jetty once the light fails
Boats park a little way off and divers swim in over the reef
Stingrays, marble rays and whiptail rays work the same stretch
Eagle rays and other sharks can pass through in the blue
3.5994°N, 73.5043°E
The dry northeast-monsoon months are the preferred diving season across Vaavu
Open Water with some night-dive comfort is a reasonable minimum for a dive described as shallow; the guide sets the requirement on the night.
Summary
Shallow, but a night dive among many large animals beside a channel, so steady buoyancy matters.
Safety considerations
What can go wrong here, and what divers do about it. Conditions change - take the briefing from the operator on the day.
Multi-day safari boats with this site on their itinerary.
35-metre, 20-guest liveaboard - the original hull of Carpe Diem Cruises Maldives, refitted in 2022, running the fleet's shared catalogue from central manta and reef weeks to the Baa Hanifaru snorkel season and seasonal southern shark charters, out of Male.
43-metre flagship of the Carpe Diem Cruises Maldives fleet - 12 cabins and 22 guests across three decks, with a dedicated camera room - running the shared Maldives catalogue from Male, from central Best-of and Ari weeks to the Baa Hanifaru snorkel season and seasonal southern shark charters.
38-metre, 20-guest sister in the Carpe Diem Cruises Maldives fleet, with a jacuzzi and a broad 10-metre beam, running the same shared catalogue - central Best-of and Ari weeks, the Baa Hanifaru snorkel season, and seasonal southern shark charters - from Male.
36m, 11-cabin, 22-guest wooden liveaboard (2010) running Luxury Yacht Maldives' full atoll catalogue - North to Lhaviyani, Baa & Hanifaru, central Best-5 to Laamu, and northeast-season Extreme South weeks - with free nitrox and rebreather support.
10-cabin, 22-guest Maldivian-built wooden liveaboard running Honors Holidays' central Best of Maldives and Hanifaru-and-Ari weeks plus seasonal Deep South Huvadhoo-Addu equatorial safaris, diving from a dedicated 60-foot dhoni.
22-guest, 11-cabin steel liveaboard running Aggressor's central-atoll 'Best of the Maldives' weeks round-trip from Male, diving from a dedicated dhoni, with 10-night extensions north into Lhaviyani and south into Meemu.
Spacious 24-guest wooden liveaboard run by an Austrian-German operator, working Ari-and-South central weeks year-round, a seasonal northern route with a Hanifaru Bay manta snorkel, and one-way Deep South crossings to Gan that take in Fuvahmulah's tiger sharks.
Book a guided dive at this site.
PADI 5-Star IDC dive centre on the local island of Fulidhoo, northern Vaavu Atoll, running boat-based channel, drift and night dives with stay-and-dive packages.
PADI 5 Star IDC Resort dive centre at NAKAI Alimathà Resort, Vaavu Atoll, built around a tawny nurse shark house reef and Felidhoo Atoll channel dives.
Get in touch to add or claim your dive center listing on DiveCodex.
Central-route liveaboard guests stop at the jetty, and Fulidhoo, the northern local island, is close by. One diver recalls that local operators do not run it at night, so if you are staying on an island, ask the centre whether it takes guests to the jetty after dark.
One review calls it that, and the guide's briefing is the place to ask how the dive is run. Feeding wildlife is not something for a diver to join or encourage.
Occasionally. Reef mantas have been reported following lights laid out in a line, feeding on the plankton the beams draw in. It happens some nights and not others, so treat it as a bonus on top of the nurse sharks.
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