Hakuru thila

A shallow coral pinnacle is the whole route here. You drop onto the thila, whose top sits up around 3 metres, and work around and down the structure to its deepest point near 13.5 metres. The summit is a garden of healthy hard coral, broken in places by small overhangs and cavities, and the dive stays close in on it rather than dropping into the blue. Reef fish are the constant company. Snapper, sweetlips, surgeonfish and damsels move over the coral, morays tuck into the crevices, and glassfish shoal in the shade of the overhangs. Green turtles work the reef, and an eagle ray sometimes slides along the edge. The shallow average depth leaves long bottom time on the coral before the boat collects you.

Most of Meemu asks for current comfort. The atoll's named sites are channel drifts and manta points that want a running tide and an advanced ticket. Hakuru Thila is the easy one. It is a shallow thila near the Hakuraa Huraa resort, dived calm and close to home, the kind of pinnacle a newer diver or a relaxed reef session is built around. The draw is simple and honest: a healthy hard-coral summit and dense reef fish at a depth that leaves plenty of time, with turtles and the odd ray as a bonus rather than the headline. Because the atoll sees so little boat traffic, the coral is usually yours.

Hold your trim over the coral. The pinnacle top is in good shape and it stays that way with no contact, so hover and stay off the structure. The overhangs and cavities are open swim-overs, not penetration, but a torch reads colour back into them and shows the glassfish and morays in the shade. The shallow profile gives long bottom time, so pace the dive. Carry an SMB for the surface pickup. The clearest water and calmest surface come in the northeast dry monsoon, January to April, though the thila stays calm year-round.