Best diving resorts in the Maldives suitable for beginners?

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snorkelflip

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I am a newly qualified PADI diver (hence my username is no longer appropriate, strictly speaking!) and am hoping to visit the Maldives for the first time this year. I know I would go for a resort at this stage rather than a live-aboard, but don't especially care about the standard of accommodation. I do care about the quality of diving however, and safety. I would love to hear people's opinions on which resorts offer the best diving for beginners (in other words, plenty to see but no major currents, decent visibility, and reliable dive masters).

Many thanks !
 
I would say that in general, simply going to the Maldives is a great place for beginners no matter what resort you go to. Many of the dives are within atolls that are protected from currents and don't go very deep (the bottom itself at around 20 meters). Some of my favourite dives there are quite shallow. For example, going to favoured manta cleaning stations are often only 10 meters deep. Also, the water is relatively warm which just adds another element of ease and creduced stress. Finally, because the Maldives has become more of a luxury resort and honeymoon resorts first and diving destination second (years ago, diving was more pre-eminent), all of the resorts cater for beginners many of whom are giving it a go for the first time on their trip there.

I think the key to your success will be to simply be open with the dive centre about your capabilities, comforts and interests, and most good dive centers will craft the dives around that setting you up in the right group, going to the right dive spots, often buddied with an instructor or master. It is less the 'resorts' that will have varying degrees of currents visability, etc., and more the dive 'spots' that they choose to go to. All of the dive masters are great. Diving is a big deal there and they treat it very seriously.

All that said, I must say that the EuroDivers instructor Chris at Sheraton Full Moon had one of the best attitudes of any divemaster/instructor I had been with. I am relatively new to diving (30 dives, advanced certified), but am still apprehensive and have trouble equalising. He was so good in how he set up the dive and ran the dive to help me out. Really fun guy and very professional. I was also impressed with Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru. They have a lot of exceptional Maldivian dive staff so you often get your own personal dive master to guide you and take you at the pace and types of places that best suit you.

Bruce
 
Thank you for the tips - just out of interest, have you only been to those two spots or have you seen other sites as well, and if so how do they compare with each other?
 
I've been to Vilamendhoo twice. Truly excellent shore dives, plus they run two boats - one easy / one advanced. To get on the advanced boat you had to have AOW + 30 logged dives. They also made every diver take a (free) check-out dive.

I think the diving operator on Vilamendhoo changed a couple of years ago... so not sure if the standards there have changed also. The. current operator is Euro-Divers Vilamendhoo.

It was formerly run by Werner Lau, who have several dive schools on different islands. From what I remember, they had very high standards for their dive instructors... they needed over 500 student certifications and 1000+ dives to even apply for work with them.

Werner Lau currently have operations on the following islands...and I'd recommend them highly based on my previous experience with them:

Filitheyo
Medhufushi
Zitahli Kuda-Funafaru
Zitahli Dholhiyadhoo
 
Thank you for the tips - just out of interest, have you only been to those two spots or have you seen other sites as well, and if so how do they compare with each other?

If you go to my web site maldivescomplete . com and the 'About' section, there is a sentence which says 'details on all of his Maldives travels can be found here' and if you click on 'here', it shows the 17 resorts I have been too (sorry, I can't put the URL in the reply).

Bruce
 
If you go to my web site maldivescomplete . com and the 'About' section, there is a sentence which says 'details on all of his Maldives travels can be found here' and if you click on 'here', it shows the 17 resorts I have been too (sorry, I can't put the URL in the reply).

Bruce
Great thanks, your site is just what I was looking for !
 

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