Kuredu Express

You drop in on the inside of the channel and go down fast, a negative entry to reach the reef corner at 20 to 30 metres before the current carries you off. This first stretch is the shark show. Tuck behind the reef out of the flow, hold position, and watch grey reef sharks patrol the channel. A dozen at a time is a normal count. When you are ready, you let go and the current takes you.

From there the dive opens into three distinct zones in sequence. The deep channel and its overhangs pull in the bigger animals where the flow is strongest. The outer reef is a wall draped in hard coral, and the large Napoleon wrasse cruise along it. Last come the sheltered bays at the start of the reef, where the current drops and smaller fish life is thick. Eagle rays and stingrays cross the sand in summer, green turtles work the reef, and tuna, barracuda and schooling jackfish hang off the edge. The drift wraps with a safety stop in calmer water before the boat picks you up.

Structure and current land in one place here, and that combination is what other Lhaviyani sites cannot match. This is a channel corner where the reef terraces at several depths, and the fast tidal flow through it draws grey reef sharks in numbers the atoll's giris and thilas do not hold. The shark action is the most reliable in Lhaviyani.

It also packs a lot into a short dive. Few sites give you a shark-laden current section, an outer wall, and quiet bays in a single drift, and fewer still do it minutes from shore. The site sits off the eastern tip of the island, a short boat ride from the jetty, so it is an easy dive to repeat across a stay. Divers who have done it many times still rate it among the best dives they can do close to the island.

Plan for current and time the dive to the tide. The crew picks the drop to the conditions, so the same corner can be a relaxed drift or a fast channel ride depending on the flow. A negative entry gets you down to the corner before the surface current pushes you off, so be ready to descend promptly. Carry a reef hook for the shark-watching phase and an SMB for the drift-out and pickup.

The clearest water and calmest surface come in the northeast dry monsoon, December to March. The southwest monsoon brings rougher seas and lower visibility but keeps the current and the pelagic movement. Operators cap the dive at 30 metres even though the channel runs deeper, so plan gas and no-deco limits for that range, and consider nitrox. One last thing: this is the channel dive, not the nearby wreck of the same name.