Top Diving Spots in the Maldives

The Maldives is considered among the world’s best destinations for scuba diving for a reason – people from all over the world travel to the Maldives for it’s diving, and stay at the likes of the Lux Maldives; an ideally located hotel within snorkelling distance of the best dive spots.

It not only has a huge variety of exotic marine life and numerous unique tourist attraction sites, but also a perfect year round weather. If you love scuba diving, you should plan to night dive in the Maldives to enable you experience the abundant marine life it has that you won’t be able to see during the day.

The Maldives consist of one percent dry land; the rest is water. Its water body, which surrounds nearly 1200 islets, is made up of 26 atolls. Several diving sites are located in Ari Atoll, one of the largest atolls, which is located on the western side of the Maldives. There are also the North and South Male Atolls located on the Maldives’ eastern side. Here, you can find about 20 resort islands, which are very popular for scuba diving. Here are the top diving spots in the Maldives that you should consider visiting:

Kudarah Thila

One of the most exciting diving spots to consider is the Kudarah Thila. A 30-minute sea flight from Male, Maldives’ capital city will get you to Kudarah. With depths ranging from 14m to 30m, Kudarah features abundant marine life from caves, outcrops, coral reefs, to trigger fish. This place suits experienced scuba divers better than beginners.

Thamburudhoo Thila

Another top diving spot in the Maldives is the Thamburudhoo Thila. Also called the H.P. Reed, the Thamburudhoo Thila can be found in the North Male Atoll, and features stunning reef formations, as well as caves that you should consider seeing. In addition, you can also expect to see soft corals of different colours, in addition to various types of fish such as angelfish, silverfish and bat fish. It has diving depths, which ranges from 5m to 30m, which makes it perfect for diving the whole year.
If you’re a novice diver, this place is perfect for you. However, it is important to note that its currents can sometimes be very strong; therefore, it pays to closely monitor them, besides arming yourself with a safety balloon.

Banana Reef

Banana Reef is another popular diving spot that’s great for beginner divers. It is named after the island’s shape, and is among the diving spots that were discovered first in the Maldives. Here, you can expect to see many caves often containing thousands of banner fish, besides other types of fish such as grub fish, squirrel fish and puffer fish among others.

MayaThila

MayaThila, is another diving spot worth visiting. It’s found in the North Ari Atoll, and has caves, which houses turtles, octopus, white tip reef sharks, and stone fish. The contrast created by illuminating dive light into the dark water, makes these creatures look really beautiful at night. The glow of the light makes their colours even more prominent.

The MayaThila has depths ranging between 5m and 30m, and can be accessed all year round. It’s a great spot for all scuba divers.

FotteyoKandu

Lastly, we have the FotteyoKandu, which was voted among the five leading diving sites in the world. Located in Felidhu Atoll, FotteyoKandu features a huge variety of of fascinating marine life including, caves, corals, tuna, hammerhead, white tip sharks, jack fish, red snapper, glass fish, and midnight snappers among others. The best time to visit this place is during the Northeast Monsoon, which usually occurs from either September or October up to the year’s end.

Strong currents can occur here, so it’s important to dive carefully and have a safety balloon. Because of this, only experienced divers are advised to dive in FotteyoKandu.

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