Difference in liveaboard routes

I was reading about liveaboard diving in Maldives and it appears that there are 4 - 5 itineraries. Ari Atoll, North Male, South Male, Far North and Far South. Can anyone familiar with all of them explain if there Is a lot of difference between these? Thanks.

I'll try to help with a short answer - if you need more, let me know & I'll try to help some more.

The core traditional route has been the 'Central Atolls'. This is effectively a square route covering north & south Male atolls in the east plus north & south Ari atolls in the west. Its a great trip. The lobs pick up & drop off at Male airport.

Over recent years new itineraries have been introduced. This seems to be to encourage repeat customers with different routes. Also the number of lobs has really increased in the last few years. So a major driver of the new routes has been to get away from the other boats on the central atolls routes.

The southern atolls routes often involve a one way flight to or from a southern atoll with a one-way lob to/from Male. But the closer southern atolls can be done from Male. Similarly there are routes to more northerly atolls that may involve a one-way flight.

Southern atolls are much less dived & are reputed to be good for shark sightings at many times of the year. Northern atolls are broadly similar to the central atolls but fewer liveaboards. I'm generalising a bit to be concise.

Hope this is a bit of helpful background

Thanks so much Manta John. Does this mean that if you are looking for shark and ray encounters then a particular route may be suited more than the others?

Southern route had serious shark action every single day, if not every dive! Central had good action and great manta dives. I'm trying north next.

There are essentially 3 types of dive in the Maldives. Reef dives, channel dives & cleaning stations.

Reef dives may be on a regular reef or on a submerged reef (a thila or a giri). These dives will have coral and generally a lot of fish life - but few Rays or Sharks. Scenic dives. Many lobs spend most of their time on these types of dive site.

Channel dives will be at sites where a gap in the reef allows water to enter or leave the atoll. If you catch a channel with strong incoming current then the chances of sharks are very good indeed. Weak current or outgoing current – pelagics are unlikely.

On the southern itineraries especially Deep South, there are a lot of channel dives, so I am not surprised by 'Chilly's' success rate. Which boat were you on?

In choosing a Maldives lob, I pay as much attention to the vessel as the route. There are channel dive opportunities all over the Maldives on all the itineraries - but not all the lobs seek them out. I've had some excellent experiences and some poor ones.

Factors that I look for are good guide to diver ratio. Good channel dives will often entail blue water, negative entries into a current. I went on one lob with just 2 guides and 24 guests. So the guide always sought out the easy/scenic not the high energy sites.

Another important factor is the presence of a cruise director with authority to amend the itinerary on the fly. The incoming/ outgoing currents are very unpredictable and variable. I went on one lob without a cruise director - they rigidly followed the plan from 'head office ' whether it made sense or not on the day. The same site can be wonderful or a wash out at different times on the same day. A guide with lots of local knowledge is crucial. I tend to avoid new boats from new companies or those just relocated from the Red Sea.

Another completely unpredictable variable is the other guests. If there are a number of divers uncomfortable in strong current then the guides will not select high energy dive sites. Some boats advertise some departures as shark or manta specials. These might be worth looking out for.

Turning to manta cleaning stations. Again it's down to the skill of the dive guides. Picking the right site, crucially at the right time of day. An established lob with long standing guides makes a big difference in this regard. My best Manta sightings have been on the standard/central itinerary.

Even if you go for the standard central atolls itinerary, you will see some wonderful dive sites. Maaya Thila, Fish Head and Rasdhoo Madivaru are all outstanding.

Apologies if I've rambled on. Hopefully some of the info is helpful.

As Mantajohn has said, it depends on so many different things. We did a 10 night 'best of the Maldives' which was supposed to go very far south…on Honors Legacy, in the end we didn't get to go far south as we had major mechanical issues which meant loss of dives, no compressor etc….on our lob also, there were absolutely beginners….some russians who literally had just done open water in a resort prior to joining our lob. this made some dives very difficult for them obviously and the dive master ended up holding their hands literally…which in turn meant that the other divers didn't have a dive master with them which was ok but not everybody is happy without a dive master even if you have 100 plus dives…everyone is different. so its a fantastic country to dive in as long as you are flexible and expect the unexpected!!!