Diving Sites

 

We have more than 35 dive spots available in the area around Maafushi, depending on weather conditions and currents.
The following 20 are the spots we visit most frequently.

1 – Kuda Giri Wreck

 

Distance 40 min
Level Medium
Drift No Current
Highlights Leaf fish, dracula goby, splendid garden eels, lion fish, peacock mantis shrimp, durban dancing shrimp, marbled octopus, banded boxer shrimp. Black corals, staghorn corals, overhang overgrown with ascidians, yellow sponges.
Photo Good for macro and panorama shots
Video Good for video shots

 

Description

The wreck lays head first towards a giri, the bow at 18 m. of depth and the stern at30 m.

Stony, stag horn and table corals and a variety of sponges take care of the surface of the wreck and every now and then a pair of black bulky frog fishes hide somewhere on the top part.
Clouds of glass fishes swirl around in the captain’s hut and machine room.

Big hunting blue fin travellies steer hundreds of fuseliers around the wreck trying to play “Dog eat dog instead” of “Hide and seek”. For the experienced divers there is the possibility to penetrate the wreck, either through the machine room and exciting at the stern or at the front cargo spaces and exciting at the bridge.

After 20 min. “exploring” the wreck the reef next to it is ideal to extend the bottom time at shallower depth.

Pretty over hangs with white acabria corals, yellow Chagos calcite sponges and Faulkner’s carols give a Sylvester ambiance when you shine your light around.

Nice swim troughs at 15 m. meters and 7 m. of depth!

 

2 – Maafushi Out

 

Distance 25 min
Level Medium
Drift Light/ Medium Current
Highlights Mobula, eagle ray, yellow-edged moray eel, bluescale emperor, powder blue surgeon fish, bignose unicornfish. Green cup corals, sea fan, mushroom coral, ridge coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots

 

Description

Maafushi out is a typical outside reef. It is an excellent site for divers who are prepared to take their time and concentrate on the smaller fish and interesting features of the reef. A lot of reef inhabitants are hiding among the corals and rocks like for example lion fish, stone fish, different types of shrimps and moray eels. You can also see mobula rays, lobsters and sometimes eagle rays passing by. This is a dive that is never boring due to the immense variety of life.

Higu Thila

 

Distance 10 min
Level Medium
Drift Medium/ Strong Current
Highlights Green turtles, napoleon, schooling banner fish, blue fusilier, magnificient anemone, giant puffer fish, dappled soft cora. Column crater coral, gorgonian sea fans, whip corals, leafy soft corals, dappled soft coral.
Photo Good for panorama shots

 

Description

Live is beautiful and so is Dhigu Thila!
Dhigu thila is in comparison with Kandooma thila easier to dive and shallower of depth. It has stunning overhangs, soft corals, coral patches and swim throughs.

The reef starts inside the channel at 7 meters of depth and finds the bottom at approximately 20 meters of depth.

Leaf, stone and scorpion fish fancy the rich, colorful rims and ridges, puffer and box fish huddle in the red menella branches and the variable thorny oysters snap their jaws when they smell you bubbles.

Juvenile white tip reef sharks tend to sleep on the bottom part and have you ever seen an anemone soft corals shallow a fine spine heart urchin? This might happen just before your eyes at Dhigu Thila.

 

Cocoa Out

Distance 15 min
Level Medium
Drift Light/ Medium Current
Highlights Green turtles, napoleon, schooling banner fish, blue fusilier, magnificient anemone, giant puffer fish. Sea fan, spiny row coral, maze coral, column crater coral,mushroom coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots

 

Description

Cocoa out is a perfect spot for all kind of divers, from beginners to experts. At this characteristic wall dive you find next to nice hard corals a great variety of reef fish and other marine creatures inhabiting the reef. Fusiliers and different types of snappers, surgeon and unicorn fishes, turtles and sometimes napoleon wrasses can be seen. If you come close to the corner at the end of the dive you can encounter also hunting trevallys, eagle rays, tunas and white tip reef sharks. A nice dive for the fish observer, or just relax and enjoy the scenery.

4 – Cocoa Corner

 

Distance 10 min
Level Difficult
Drift Medium/ Strong Current
Highlights White tip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, eagle ray, blue striped snappers, dark banded fusiliers. Whip coral, giant sea fan, net fire coral, spiny row coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots

 

Description

Drifting along the outer reef of Cocoa Corner you can see many Fusiliers and Turtles as well as white tip reef sharks and spotted eagle rays near the corner of the channel. As soon as you enter the channel small overhangs with beautiful soft and hard coral, sea fans and sponges cover the reef wall offering a fantastic choice of colors. Many big groupers, oriental sweet lips and snappers can be seen. With sometimes strong currents this dive site requires good skills in drift diving.

5 – Kandooma Thila

 

Distance 10 min
Level Difficult
Drift Strong Current
Highlights Schooling eagle rays, white tip and grey reef sharks, nurse sharks, green turtles, dog toothed tunas, huge school of bigeye trevallies. Spiral black coral, gorgonian sea fans, magenta spiky soft coral, dappled soft coral, ridge coral, bushy lemnalia.
Photo Good for panorama and wide angle shots
Video Good for video shots

 

Description

Kandooma Thila is regarded as one of the best dive sites in the world in any circumstance, whether there is strong or medium inside, slight or strong outside current or no water movement at all.
This thila rises up from the bottom of the channel between Kandooma and Cocoa Island.

The top reef, close to the Indian Ocean dropps off, starts at 26 meters and elevates after 200 meters stretch inside the channel to 14 meters of depth.
Covered with stag horn and large table corals and larger builder coral blocks function as cleaning stations for a variety of reef fishes.

At the shallower part many large log head and green turtles lay comfortably between the rich soft corals.

Grey reef and white tip reef sharks, barracudas, tons of jack fish, large Napoleon, sailfish, stingrays, red snappers, you name it is all there in large amounts.

The thila is surrounded by overhangs, totally covered by cauliflower and dappled soft corals. The more current, the more fish, to leave you in a perfect bliss!

6 – Kandooma Caves

 

Distance 10 min
Level Difficult
Drift Medium/ Strong Current
Highlights Green turtles, napoleon, schooling banner fish, blue fusilier, magnificient anemone, giant puffer fish, dappled soft cora. Column crater coral, gorgonian sea fans, whip corals, leafy soft corals, dappled soft coral.
Photo Good for panorama shots

 

Description

Kandooma Caves is probably one of the largest cavern complexes in the entire tourist atolls. A group of four large caves in a row, with one about 65m long guarantees an interesting dive time. There are beautiful sea whips, fans and soft coral found around the entrances of the overhangs. Inside are soldier fishes, sting rays, moray eels to find as well as beautiful yellow sponges on the roof of the main cave, lighted up with a torch they shine like stars. It is almost guaranteed to find big green turtles here. Also massive napoleons are common and white tip reef sharks. Sometimes with a little bit of luck, you can even have a look at a sleeping leopard shark. Depending on the currents this dive site can be a challenging drift dive only for the experienced diver.

Napoleon Reef

Distance 15 min
Level Medium
Drift Light Current
Highlights Napoleon, hawksbill turtle, two spot snapper, honeycomb moray eel, giant clam, varicose wart slug, glorious flatworm, cowrie shell, white mouth moray, zebra moray, anemone crab. Leafy soft coral, gorgonian sea fan, whip coral.
Photo Good for macro and wide angle shots

 

Description

This leisurely wall dive incorporates plenty schools of fish located on the reef edge. You can see blue striped snapper, two spot snapper, butterfly fishes, numerous turtles and tunas. But first of all the reef got its name because of the great quantity of napoleon wrasses in all sizes seen here. Overall napoleon reef offers a relaxing dive for all levels of divers

8 – Kuda Kandu

 

Distance 20 min
Level Difficult
Drift Medium Current
Highlights Sting rays, white tip reef sharks, purple fire goby, oriental sweet lips, giant moray eel, bluefin trevallies, humpback red snappers. Ridge coral, pore coral, orange sponge, staghorn coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots
Video Good for video shots

 

Description

The channel on the north side of Medu Faru has a very shallow, narrow sandy entrance 10 meters wide at a depth of five meters. The channel drops off to a sandy bottom at 30 meters. There is an abundant fish life inside including oriental sweet lips, butterfly fishes, and schools of snapper, tuna, napoleons and white tip reef sharks at the exit of the channel. There are also large morays, and during the south-west monsoon sometimes manta rays are passing by. Divers that have a closer look can also find the purple fire goby in about 30 meters depth.

9 – Medu Faru

 

Distance 25 min
Level Difficult
Drift Strong Current
Highlights Grey reef sharks, dolphins, hawksbill turtles, black fin barracuda, giant trevallies,jack fish, harlequin sweet lips. Whip corals, giant sea fan, fire coral, staghorn coral.
Photo Good for wide angle and panorama shots

 

Description

The south side of Medu Faru has many impressive features making it one of the most interesting drift dives in the Atoll. A large rock draped in soft coral lies near the corner forming a small canyon at 18 meters. Sharks, big stingrays trevally, tuna and fusiliers can be seen here. The channel ground is at 35 meters and at 10 to 18 meters, there are caves and ledges well worth a visit. One big overhang cuts through the reef from three to 30 meters. Also turtles, napoleons and sometimes dolphins are greeting us after the dive.

10 – Guraidhoo Corner

 

Distance 25 min
Level Difficult
Drift Strong Current
Highlights Grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, sting rays, dolphins, tunas, longfin bannerfishes, bat fishes. Giant sea fan, table corals, leather corals, hemprichs soft coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots
Video Good for video shots

 

Description

One of the most famous dive sites in the Maldives has everything to offer what a diver demands.
Pretty flowing inside currents can deliver a variety of pelagic, from white tip, grey reef, thresher and hammerhead sharks to schools of eagle rays, sailfish, large tunas, barracudas and wahoo’s.

During the West monsoon whale sharks stop by to feed upon the plankton and in the dry season from December until April hundreds of Dolphins are passing by regularly and can be seen underwater under supervision of our experienced divemasters and instructors.

Diving with the current flowing outside the Atoll gives the divers a chance to see large school of red snappers, jackfish and oriental sweetlips.

At one particular spot where the bottom of the channel makes a dip, large grey reef an white tip reef sharks hover around for easy breathing.

Overhangs at 20m depth with gorgonian fans, spiky and brittle soft corals lead to the corner where curious surgeon fishes play with the bubbles produced by the divers.

On the shallower reef, schools of orange spine unicorn fishes, together with parrot fishes feed primarily on the leafy brown algae’s while large shoals of fuseliers move in the fast lane in search for something edible.

11 – Olhuveli Out

 

Distance 30 min
Level Medium
Drift Light Current
Highlights Eagle rays, hawksbill turtles,marbled octopus, susan’s flatworm, bifurated flatworm, white spotted hermit crab, schools of blue striped snappers,giant moray eels, honeycomb moray. Giant sea fans, mushroom leather corals, hemprich’s soft coral.
Photo Good for wide angle shots

 

Description

Olhuveli Out is a dive site at the outside of the atoll. It is a typical wall dive in a depth range from 6 to 30m. In the holes of the reef you will find many species like different types of moray eels, cleaner shrimps, peacock mantis shrimps some turtles and quite often eagle rays are passing by. As there is only a very gentle current all levels of divers can enjoy exploring this reef.

Bodu Hura

Distance 25 min
Level Easy
Drift No Current
Highlights Garden eels, schools of blue striped snappers, powder blue surgeon fishes, unicorn fishes, masked bannerfishes, lined butterflyfish. Table corals, staghorn corals.
Photo Good for macro and wide angle shots

 

Description

Bodu Hura is a big sand bank with many small coral reefs which provides a great variety of marine life, especially juveniles. You find damselfishes, surgeon fishes, lion fishes, puffer fishes or large schools of blue striped snappers, turtles and handsome moray eels. There is always a lot to see in these dives. As there is no current or just a very gentle drift it is a dive for all levels of divers.

Aquarium

Distance 20 min
Level Easy
Drift Light Current
Highlights Dracula goby, garden eels, ember parrot fish, hawkfishes, sometimes manta passing by from may to october. Halimeda algue, staghorn corals, table corals.
Photo Good for macro and wide angle shots

 

Description

The Aquarium is found one kilometer inside Lhosfushi Kandu and is an excellent, easy dive site for beginners. White sandy bottom with many small coral blocks and all kind of reef fish as well as shrimps, snake eels, some moray eels and turtles can be seen. Sometimes it is also possible to find the rare Dracula goby here. During the monsoon season mantas are also known to frequent this place as a cleaner station.

Manta Point / Banana Reef

Distance 20 min
Level Easy
Drift Light Current
Highlights Manta, golden moray eel, white banded cleaner shrimp, splendid garden eel, durban dancing shrimps, Clark’s anemonefish. Table corals, bubble corals.
Video Good for video shots

 

Description

Famous as a manta cleaning station. Between may and august the mantas come in from the deep water and hover over the coral blocks while the small cleaning fishes do their work. When you have enough of observing the Mantas, continue the dive and find oriental sweet lips and napoleon wrasses, turtles and various types of moray eels. Sometimes even the very rare golden morey.

13 – Villivaru Giri

 

Distance 20 min
Level Easy
Drift No Current
Highlights Ghost pipe fish, stone fishes,scorpion fishes, red spotted coral crab, blue legged boxer shrimp, clark’s anemonefish, fire goby, blackblotch lizardfish, collar blenny. Staghorn corals, table corals, mushroom corals, bubble coral.
Photo Good for macro shots

 

Description

Villi Varu Giri is a small round reef near the Island Villi Varu. It is a nice and quite dive for divers at all levels as there is usually no current. This place has a great quantity stone fishes, lion fishes, scorpion fishes, octopus, anemone fishes, pipe fishes, ghost pipe fishes, nudibranches, flatworms etc. On the sandy bottom around the reef are many garden eels resident. Villi Varu Giri is also very famous for night dives.

14 – Triton Giri

 

Distance 25 min
Level Easy
Drift Light Current
Highlights Frog fish, nudibranches, wing oyster, fimbriated moray eel, giant moray eel, cornet fishhumpback snapper. Black corals, knotted sea fan, ridge coral, hemprich’s soft coral.
Photo Good for macro shots

 

Description

Triton Giri is a small round reef inside the atoll and offers a nice and relaxed dive. On one section of the giri there is a small cave with lots of glassfish inside it. It is a beautiful place for the diver that is enthusiastic about finding small things as nudibranches, flatworms or many different types of shrimps. The lucky diver even may find a rare frogfish. But also plenty of fusiliers, a lot of trevallys, sometimes tuna and turtles can be seen.

15 – Hogura Hura

Distance 25 min
Level Easy
Drift No Current
Highlights Peacock mantis shrimp, ribbon eel, scorpion fishes, iota slug, yellow spot flatworm, varicose wart slug, halimeda ghost pipe fish, blackfooted anemone fish. Sponges, hydro corals, hemprichs softcoral, alderslade’s carrot coral.
Photo Good for macro shots

 

Description

This is a place for macro photographs. Hogura Hura is a beautiful, relaxing dive site without currents for all levels of divers. The reef is covered mainly with hard corals, ascidians, algae and soft corals. Plenty of colorful nudibranches and flatworms, many different moray eels are found here as well as a dense lionfish population, stonefishes and many rare crustaceans and hidden juveniles. Sometimes you can even find a ghost pipe fish.