Best budget areas for land-based diving in October

[Ashantiashanti]

Heya Guys,

Might be heading to Maldives for a month in October and would like to get some tips on where to go to do some land-based diving. However, we are on a budget (which is why LOB is not an option.)

From my research it seems that the best land-based diving is from all-inclusive luxury resorts, like Mirihi. Are there cheaper options? Any Dive OPs based in a town that do day trips?

EDIT:
It seems like Maafushi island is what we are looking for? But how is the diving?

Thanks!
Ashanti

 

[matador]

any luck with your research? I just booked a liveaboard but I decided to arrive there a week before to do some shore diving as well.
I also identified Maafushi as one of the options .... not much info on the diving though :-(

 

[WAI SHING LUNG]

any luck with your research? I just booked a liveaboard but I decided to arrive there a week before to do some shore diving as well.
I also identified Maafushi as one of the options .... not much info on the diving though :-(

I have just come back from Maafushi. There are 3 dive shops in the island. The cheapest one only cost USD 30 per dive (include equipment and dive computer if join them for a 10 dive package. )

 

[WAI SHING LUNG]

Heya Guys,

Might be heading to Maldives for a month in October and would like to get some tips on where to go to do some land-based diving. However, we are on a budget (which is why LOB is not an option.)

From my research it seems that the best land-based diving is from all-inclusive luxury resorts, like Mirihi. Are there cheaper options? Any Dive OPs based in a town that do day trips?

EDIT:
It seems like Maafushi island is what we are looking for? But how is the diving?

Thanks!
Ashanti

The dive site is quite good. About 10 dive spot there. Can see Manta, ship wreck, eagle ray and black tip reef shark. Current is quite strong in some dive site and almost 80% of dive site is deep dive

 

[Ashantiashanti]

any luck with your research? I just booked a liveaboard but I decided to arrive there a week before to do some shore diving as well.
I also identified Maafushi as one of the options .... not much info on the diving though :-(

Hey there! Sorry for the late reply, I hope my message will help you in time. We ended up not going as we rather go on some smaller trips here in Europe this fall, then go to Central America after Xmas. However, from my research these are the islands with small towns and local dive OPs + hotels:

Dhangethi, Rasdhoo, Maafushi and Thulusdhoo.

Someone also posted some trip-reports with lots of pictures for 3 local islands, here on the boards. Should have been within this year or last year, should not be hard to search for. Perhaps it was Wai Shing Lun?

 

[travelem]

I like to stay and dive in local islands.

I had stayed and dived in Maafushi, Dhangethi and Rasdhoo.

My Dhangethi island dive photos:
Diving around local island Dhangethi photos (with whaleshark & manta)

My Rasdhoo island dive photos:
Diving Around Local Island Rasdhoo Photos

My Maafushi island dive photos:
Just dived & stayed in Maafushi local island

 

[matador]

In the end I ended up going to Dharavandhoo and also Maafushi.
Diving around Dharavandhoo was great and you also have the added bonus of having Hanifaru bay just opposite (famous manta feeding spot). I only had a couple of days in Maafushi and didnt do any diving so cant really comment in that.

Knowing what I know now I would avoid visiting Maafushi (tiny bikini beach, not appealing at all and too many people) but I would certainly visit Dharavandhoo again. Not during October though as the weather was pretty cr@p ....

For pictures from my recent trip click on the link below.

 

[travelem]

Thanks for the above photos.
I also plan to go to Dharavandhoo next year.

 

[Divebooker.com]

If you are still flexible in dates we will recommend to visit Maldives later. October seems to be not the best month for such trip because of the weather but the prices should be lower.

Maldives are considered to be more appropriate for liveaboard diving. There are many special offers and sometimes you can find liveaboard trip which will be cheaper than daily diving + accommodations. For example, this year Fun Azul Liveaboard offered discounts up to -50% on the selected trips in November. And it can be more advantageous for you to look for liveaboard special offers because you will visit more dive sites.

But if it won't work than just try to visit few different islands during the trip. It should be more interesting in regards to diving spots then just one island

 

[travelem]

Just went to Maafushi for the second time:
Just dived & stayed in Maafushi again