Medhufushi Tila

A coral pinnacle is the whole route here. You drop onto the reef top, somewhere between 4 and 15 metres, and work around and down the thila, following the wall into overhangs thick with soft coral. The structure gives the dive its shape: you drop through swim-throughs and look into the caves that cut the pinnacle. Much of the time is spent close in, because the walls carry a high density of reef fish. Schooling snapper and fusilier hang off the coral, sweetlips and grouper work the structure, and morays and lionfish tuck into the overhangs.

The dive changes with the tide. When the current runs, you drift the thila and the blue edge draws in hunters, grey reef sharks on patrol and tuna pushing the schools. When the flow drops, the same pinnacle slows right down. Whitetip reef sharks rest on the reef and green turtles work the coral. Average depth sits around 16 metres, so the back half stays up on the structure before the boat collects you.

Most Meemu sites do one thing. The channels are for drifts, the manta point is for mantas, the reef corners are for sharks. Medhufushi Thila is the all-rounder, and that is why it is the atoll's reference dive. Soft-coral overhangs, caves and swim-throughs, and a wall of reef fish all sit on a single pinnacle, so one dive covers structure, colour and fish life without moving between sites.

Its second trick is range of difficulty. The current is variable, and the guides time the dive to it. On a calm slot it is gentle enough for newer divers to work the coral; when the flow comes up it turns into a proper drift with pelagic life on the edge. Because the atoll sees so little boat traffic, you tend to have the thila to yourself.

Dive it to the tide. Ask the guide whether the day's plan is a drift or a relaxed thila dive, and carry an SMB for the surface pickup. A torch is worth bringing, because it reads colour back into the soft coral in the overhangs and shows you what is sitting in the caves. The caves and swim-throughs are part of the route, so hold your trim and stay within the light rather than pushing into anything dark.

Plan the depth. The deeper coral runs to 25 or 30 metres while the average works out around 16, so take the deeper passes early and drift back up onto the shallows for bottom time. Nitrox helps if you want longer down low. The clearest water and calmest surface come in the northeast dry monsoon, January to April; the southwest monsoon trades some visibility for current, mantas and pelagic movement. Mantas and eagle rays are a seasonal bonus, not the reason to come.