Diving the Maldives | liveaboards

DESTINATION OVERVIEW | Planning a scuba diving trip to the Maldives can be overwhelming. Just how do you choose just one of those incredibly beautiful islands? If you feel thoroughly confused about where to go, make life easy for yourself. Hop on what is endearingly called a 'safari boat' out in the Maldives, a liveaboard to the rest of us.

After being met at the airport, a 10 minute transfer will drop you onto a comfy floating hotel. Depending on the prevailing weather, you then sail around two or even three atolls. Evenings are spent moored near uninhabited islands with almost no neighbours, while days are filled by crossing over to the dive dhoni: this second vessel shadows your floating home and takes you off to find the best dives around.

Routes can cover almost any atoll – some do a circuit of the best dives in 2 or 3 areas while longer schedules will go even further afield to distant atolls that are less busy than those closer to the airport.

Weather patterns influence the destination and dive site choices but being on a boat allows a much larger variety of dives than being on an island. The schedules can be adjusted daily – and all with the added convenience of your room going with you.

Maldives scuba diving features

PROS AND CONS | Being on a liveaboard means you can experience far more as it's easy enough to sail from one atoll to another and distances are smaller than you might expect. However, the number of dives per day is sometimes limited as it can be hard for the boats to moor up in appropriate night diving areas.

SCUBA DIVING | The diving is always good no matter where you go but conditions vary based on weather patterns. The liveaboards can also divert to follow specific animals as they move with the currents and weather.

OPINION | A few years back we travelled on Maldives Scuba Tours’ Sea Queen. She and her sister boat, Sea Spirit, are British owned. The boats are simple but comfortable and incredibly good value fo rmoney. There is quite a line-up of chefs that do fabulous curries. And cakes.

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