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Diving the Maldives | Island resorts in North Malé Atoll, South Malé Atoll, Nilandhoo Atoll
leopard shark

All those dreams of playing Robinson Crusoe, being cast away on your own private idyll and living the natural life can almost come true on a Maldivian island. What’s more, you can do all that with hot and cold running water, have plenty of friendly staff to play Man Friday for you and go scuba diving at the same time.

Your first glimpse of the Maldives will be the spectacular aerial view of the North Malé atoll as your flight descends to the airport. There are about 100 designated resorts across seven atoll groups and all have similar charms – beautiful palm trees, pretty tropical gardens and perfect white sand beaches ringed by amazing coral reefs.

The marine life on these reefs is always plentiful and schooling fish are the order of the day, while Larger marine creatures like manta rays, leopard sharks and and whale sharks are common at certain times of year.

North and South Male Atolls, Maldives dive photo gallery Scuba diving features

Marine Life

Fish, fish, fish
Leopard sharks
manta rays
whalesharks

Seasons year round
Visibility 10 – 30 metres
Water temperature 25 – 29º C
Deco chambers Bandos, Male
Flights to Malé from across Europe or Singapore
Island resorts the numbers are growing and standards constantly rising.
INFORMATION EXPLORE
PROS and CONS

Tourism in the Maldives is an ever expanding business. All the islands can be charming and romantic – providing you choose carefully. Some are small and classy, some are family friendy while others are perfect for couples. Bigger resorts can get crowded and you may find yourself sharing a table with a stranger. Research your choice to get your preferred style. For divers, there are a couple of other things to look for. First, smaller islands with good house reefs allow shore and night diving and tend to be more focused on serious divers. The other factor is weather – see below.

SCUBA DIVING
The diving is good no matter where you go but conditions vary based on weather patterns. In the southwest of any atoll the monsoon season is May – November, in the northeast the monsoon is December – April. It’s better to choose an island location that is appropriate to the seasons or your dive time may be limited.
OPINION
Over the years, we have dived from six different islands: Bandos and Eriyadu in North Malé Atoll; Lily Beach, Vilamendhoo and Fesdhu in South Malé and Filitheyo in Nilandhoo Atoll. They were all very good in their own way but the resorts change, upgrade, redecorate and reinvent themselves frequently. We'd go back at any time, but probably on a liveaboard for diving flexibility.
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