Also known as: Dhonfan Thila
Baa Atoll pinnacle with an east-side swim-through from 30m to a sheltered pool, reef mantas, and grey reef sharks.
Last updated June 2026
A typical drop lands ahead of the oval pinnacle, and a mild current carries you onto the structure around 20 to 22 metres. Circle it and the thila shows two faces. The exposed outer edge is where grey reef sharks hold in the current and schools of jacks and barracuda orbit at mid-water. The leeward side is calmer, with hard corals on the overhangs and Napoleon wrasse drifting close out of plain curiosity.
The centrepiece sits on the east side. A passage opens near 30 metres and climbs through a narrow, overhang-lined corridor to about 18 metres, where it spills into a sheltered interior pool. The shift is physical: the current that pushed you along the outer wall drops away as you emerge into the calm. A canyon falls to 25 metres on one flank, with overhangs at 27 metres east and 20 metres north framing the deeper ground for confident divers.
If the monsoon manta window is open, rays may appear above the shallow reef at 7 to 8 metres or hold at a cleaning point while wrasse work them over. The top itself stays busy with schooling fish whatever the season.
This is the manta site you actually dive. Hanifaru Bay, a short boat ride away, is a snorkel-only feeding bay, so Dhonfanu Thila is one of the few places in Baa Atoll where reef mantas can be watched from scuba depth rather than from the churn at the surface. The encounters here are calmer and more deliberate than Hanifaru's feeding cyclones.
The swim-through is genuine architecture, not a crack to squeeze through. A 30-metre opening, overhangs framing the corridor, and a clean exit into still water at 18 metres make it the kind of passage divers remember. Grey reef sharks round out the appeal. They are the steady presence here, on every dive on the outer wall, which makes Dhonfanu the bigger-stuff dive of an atoll better known for gentle reef diving.
Carry an SMB. Current on the outer edges is variable and can sweep you off the pinnacle, so a dive can end in blue water with the boat tracking your marker. Buoyancy is the skill that matters most: the swim-through entry near 30 metres is no place to be fighting your trim, and good control keeps you off the coral and overhangs throughout.
For mantas, dive in the morning during the May-to-November window and work the lunar tides, since the plankton that draws them concentrates around the full and new moon. Bring a wide-angle lens for the rays and the fish schools. Mantas are seasonal and variable, so treat any encounter as a bonus rather than a certainty. The site is not one for novices when the current builds.
What makes this dive site stand out.
Enters near 30m and rises through a passage to a calm interior pool at 18m
Mobula alfredi feed and clean here in the southwest monsoon, May to November
Patrol the current-exposed outer wall year-round
Mantas at diving depth, where the nearby snorkel bay allows no scuba
Top at 7-8m, canyon to 25m, rarely shared with other boats
5.1724°N, 73.1162°E
Summary
Easy on the reef top in calm water; the 30m swim-through entry and exposed outer wall raise it to moderate
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.
Within the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; no anchoring on the reef and no fishing.
Yes. Unlike Hanifaru Bay nearby, which is snorkel-only, Dhonfanu Thila is a standard scuba site. Reef mantas use it for feeding and cleaning during the southwest monsoon, so divers can watch the behaviour from depth rather than from the surface. Encounters are seasonal and never guaranteed.
It splits into two seasons. May to November is the southwest monsoon manta window, with the most reliable rays from late July to early October around the full and new moon. December to April brings the calmest seas and the clearest water, 25 to 35 metres, though mantas are less likely then.
A passage on the east side opens near 30 metres and rises through a narrow, overhang-lined corridor to about 18 metres, emerging into a sheltered interior pool where the current eases noticeably. It is short and naturally lit, not a technical penetration, but it needs steady buoyancy at depth.
Open Water divers can enjoy the reef top and mid-wall in calm conditions. The swim-through entry near 30 metres and the 25-metre canyon are better suited to Advanced Open Water divers, and confident buoyancy matters because the outer edges can carry current.
Grey reef sharks are the reliable draw, patrolling the current-exposed outer wall through the year. Add curious Napoleon wrasse on the leeward side, eagle rays gliding past in the blue, schooling jacks and bluefin trevally, and the occasional silvertip shark.
They are different products. Hanifaru Bay is a protected snorkel-only feeding bay where scuba has been banned since 2009. Dhonfanu Thila is a scuba pinnacle a short distance away, where you dive the reef, the swim-through, and the shark wall, with a chance of mantas at depth in season.
Rarely. Baa Atoll thilas stay quiet compared with the busier southern atolls, and divers often have the pinnacle to themselves. That solitude, plus reliable sharks and the swim-through, is what makes it a standout dive within the atoll.
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