Diving the Maldives | island resorts

Maldives scuba diving features

Fish, fish, fish

Leopard sharks

manta rays

whalesharks

DESTINATION OVERVIEW
All those dreams of playing Robinson Crusoe, being cast away on your own private idyll and living out the natural life can almost come true on a Maldivian island. What’s even better is you can do all that with hot and cold running water, have plenty of friendly staff to play Man Friday for you and you can go 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 nearly 100 designated resorts across seven atoll groups and all have similar charms. Apart from their hotel star rating there is little to differentiate the resorts. As time goes by they are all becoming more upmarket, taking on "international standards". This is good news for scuba divers as there will be a dive centre on virtually every island and the standards are high.

Marine life in the Maldives is always plentiful and schooling fish are the order of the day. Larger marine creatures like mantas and whalesharks are common at certain times of year. For divers contemplating which island to choose there are a couple of 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 is weather patterns – see below.

Seasons:
Year round
Visibility:
10 – 30 metres
Water temperature:
25 – 29º C.
Deco chambers:
Bandos, Male

Flights to Malé from across Europe or Singapore

Accommodation:
around 100 resorts across 11 atolls

PROS AND CONS
Tourism in the Maldives is an ever growing business. All the islands can be charming and romantic – providing you choose carefully. Seasons are important and some resorts are big and crowded so you may find yourself sharing a table with a stranger. Others are small but expensive. Research your choice carefully.

SCUBA DIVING
The diving is always 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 be on an island with a location that is appropriate to the seasons otherwise your dive time may be limited.

OPINION
Over the years, we have dived from six different islands: Bandos and Eriyadu in the 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 change frequently. We'd go back but probably on another liveaboard for diving flexibility.