Diving In Raa Atoll
Raa Atoll, in the north of the Maldives, is renowned for its incredible dive sites. Especially the beautiful underwater islands known as ‘thilas’ in the local language and to the Maldives’ dive crowd. The countless thilas are havens for marine life, bursting with color and diversity, an underwater photographer’s and videographer’s paradise. The Euro-Divers teams at Alila and Dhigali consider themselves very fortunate to live in Raa Atoll and to share amazing dive sites with their guests each day. Raa Atoll has some of the best diving in the Maldives.
Raa Atoll is a year-round diving destination. With the seasons following the Maldives pattern of the low season between May and November, there is more chance of showers and clouds. The high season between December and April brings less wind, less rain and greater visibility underwater.
As divers, there’s always a solution to a rainy day – go diving! Water temperatures remain a balmy 28-29 degrees Celsius all year round so a shorty wetsuit is all you should need.
The Top 5 Dive Sites in Raa Atoll
Whenever you decide to visit Raa Atoll, these 5 top-rated dive sites will impress even the most traveled divers.
#1 Labyrinth
The dive site is a maze of canyon-like passages that are covered in stunning gorgonian sea fans making this an interesting site to explore. It is a haven for a large variety of schooling fish of many different types. Healthy corals and anthias cover the top reef. Occasional turtles, sting rays and sharks are seen here or on the sandy bottom surrounding the reef.
#2 The Manta Points of Bodu Thila & Sola Corner
Both these dive sites are cleaning stations for the majestic manta rays. Mantas can be seen at Bodu Thila from June through to November and at Sola Corner from December through to June. Giving Raa Atoll a year-round manta season!
#3 Vaadhoo Thila
A great dive site for shark enthusiasts. Divers will love this small pinnacle where from January to April, you can see grey reef sharks swimming around at 15-18 meters. Turtles and stingrays can be found on the beautiful overhangs. On the top reef, large anemones with their resident clownfish, schools of fusiliers, and jackfish will welcome the divers.
#4 Beriyan Thila
Beriyan Thila is two dive sites in one – explore the main thila as well as the smaller adjacent thila. Dive along the reef wall. Admire the overhangs with ceilings dripping with colorful soft coral. Dive with the friendly school of batfish that likes to hang out here and follow you around the dive site!
#5 Kudathulhaadhoo Thila
Sitting in a channel, Kudathulhaadhoo Thila dive site can have strong currents at times and is considered an advanced dive. The plateau with big boulder corals provides just enough shelter to hide from the currents and watch the sharks cruising around. The reef boasts a variety of healthy corals and an abundance of schooling fish. Deep and shallow overhangs with an array of soft corals add to the beauty of this interesting reef.
Other Activities
During your free time from diving, or for non-diving holiday companions, we recommend taking a private speedboat to snorkel with turtles. Or a trip to Hanifaru Bay for unforgettable manta experiences.
Sunset dolphin cruises and catamarans are popular activities at Alila, and Dhigali. Take the opportunity for a bird’s-eye-view of the reefs and islands while parasailing.
See you in Raa soon, bring your bucket list and get ready to dive the top 5 dive sites of Raa Atoll!
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.
