What are the best dive sites in the Maldives?
Most divers will have the Maldives placed high on their bucket list of destinations to visit for scuba diving – it’s no secret that it’s one of the best places in the world for seeing mantas, whale sharks and a whole host of other marine creatures.
The area of the globe occupied by this island nation comprises of about 99% ocean with the tiny islands scattered across it; the surrounding reefs and submerged islands provide countless opportunities for diving rich and varied sites.
With so many dive sites, all abundant with life, it’s not an easy task to choose the Top 10 but the teams at Euro-Divers Maldives share their choices with you here…
Kandooma Thila –
located in the east of South Malé Atoll and accessible from our dive centre at Kandooma. Expect to see the grey reef shark cleaning station – this site is known as the kingdom of sharks! Eagle rays can also be seen flying past the reef.
Kandooma Thila
Nassimo Thila –
located in the east of North Malé Atoll and visited by divers staying at Kurumba, Club Med Kani, Club Med Finolhu and Meeru. There are amazing colourful soft corals, big schools of fish and overhangs to explore.
Nassimo Thila
Finger Point –
located in the west of North Malé Atoll and accessible from Eriyadu. A site for big fish, divers can see sharks and eagle rays here.
Finger Point
Kuda Rah Thila –
found in the east of South Ari Atoll and dived by guests staying at LUX*, and Vilamendhoo. There are nice overhangs, big schools of blue line snappers, eagle rays, a field of anemones and great corals.
Kuda Rah Thila
Labyrinth –
located in Raa Atoll and dived from Dhigali and Faarufushi. Divers can enjoy the nice canyon, big schools of fish and colorful soft corals.
Labyrinth
7th Heaven –
located in the east of South Ari Atoll and visited by divers from Vilamendhoo and LUX*. The amazing soft corals are the stars of the show at this beautiful site.
7th Heaven
Broken Rock –
lying in the east of South Ari Atoll and dived from Vilamendhoo and LUX*. This site is named such because of the spectacular canyon between the two rocks making it look like a huge rock split into pieces, there are great corals here too.
Broken Rock
Helengeli Thila –
found in the northeast of North Malé Atoll and dived by guests from Meeru, Kagi and Eriyadu. There is a beautiful overhang as well as the chance to see – grey reef sharks.
Helengeli Thila
Boduhiti Thila –
located in the middle of North Malé Atoll and dived from Kurumba, Eriyadu and Meeru. Divers can see sharks, turtles, napoleon wrasse and manta rays here.
Boduhiti Thila
Whale Shark National Park –
an outer reef on the east side of South Ari Atoll and dived by guests from LUX*and Vilamendhoo. The name says it all – whale sharks are the big attraction here but turtles and eagle rays can also be spotted.
Whale Shark National Park
We hope to show you some of these incredible Maldives’ dive sites soon!
Please note: due to the nature of marine life, we cannot guarantee sightings and visiting some of the sites may be subject to appropriate weather conditions and prevailing currents.
Everything started with my Open Water Course at Koh Tao, Thailand. I’m hooked with the first breath I took underwater – this magical and peaceful world with all these different colors and creatures made me forget about everything else. It felt like an addiction.
This time made me realize that I don’t want to keep diving only as a hobby. I wanted to become a Diving Instructor and make diving my profession.
I was working as an entertainer in one of the resorts in South Malé atoll. The first time I tried diving I absolutely fell in love with it, so every day off I would go diving.
I was lucky enough to meet people from Euro-Divers who helped me complete my instructor course and employment later on.
That trip changed everything. Since 2014, I visited more than 50 countries in three continents.
2019, 2020, 2021 – still in Maldives, enjoying what I love the most.
Im sonnigen Süden (Ägypten) lernte ich im Urlaub die unglaubliche Unterwasserwelt bei einem Schnuppertauchgang kennen und lieben.
Anfangs arbeitete ich im Tauchcenter im Büro, mir wurde jedoch schnell klar, dass ich die Gäste nicht nur über Wasser sondern auch unter Wasser begleiten wollte. Somit machte ich die Divemaster Ausbildung.
I studied Hotel management and ended up working for several years in different Hotels/Resorts around Italians seaside where I spend my days off diving and achieving the Dive Master rating.
I choose to stay in Oman because of its unspoiled dive site, beaches and many undiscovered dive places! We do not have mass tourism here and the country itself is spectacular besides being the safest place to live in.
Bored and burnt out of the stressful life in Holland, I quit my job as Manager Back Office & Finance and I went to Curacao for holiday. On this tropical island I took my first breaths under water with Instructor Marc, who is still my buddy in life.
Diving keeps me grounded, relaxed and connected with Mother Nature (myself). It supports me to let go, to put things into perspective and it helps me to stay focused and balanced in my position as a manager.
But diving was not at all my purpose of the journey, in fact I was not even a diver yet, I became a diver after I got passionate in freediving in Egypt in 2012 while freediving with dolphin in the wild, eager to become a snorkeling guide, I did my life guard licence and then my PADI open water!
I love freediving but scuba diving is an all other story for me, learning scuba diving make you discover part of yourself you didn’t know, you learn to control things that you would have never imagined possible, I regularly see many of my students discovering how calm they can be underwater when in life they tend to be hyperactive and then in the other hand I see calm or introverted persons becoming excited and move like a torpedo underwater 🙂 so diving might not be for everyone but it is definitely to discover!
I decided after my hospitality studies to enter this fascinating new world. I have started my career in Club Med as Guest Service and had the opportunity to travel some of the famous destinations for diving or snorkeling.
I am the perfect example of someone who was scared of diving, the only advice I could give is to believe in yourself.
But since I was young, I knew I wanted to travel the world, to go on adventures, have fun and meet people from everywhere. Unfortunately, those jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to do it so after 5 years I decided to move to Thailand.
Scuba Diving is a sport of passion.
During this time, I wanted to try something new, so I started scuba diving and I will never forget my first underwater experience. I felt nervous at first but at the same time a lot of excitement.
Some people might think that diving is a difficult sport, but there are many ways to enjoy safe diving for any age or gender.
