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It is your own charter. You should throw the questions to the captain. The captain should know the best suitable places in May weather permitted.
What would you like to see? Most divers come to Maldives are to see pelagic.
I do remember ripping current in some of the sites. Main issue of diving in atoll. But if you want to see action then you have to dive outside of the atoll. The hard of soft corals were nothing when compared with Indonesia and Philippines.

Enjoy your trip.

I'm gathering information, of course the captain has final say, and certainly we will follow their lead. But they did put it out to me, and since I think there are a lot experienced and well-traveled divers here, I wanted to hear what other had to say too.

'Someone' told me the charter boats are required to set an itinerary with the Maldivian government and they cannot deviate from it. So I am not so sure if the captain will have an exact say in the general area as I am not dealing with him right now, and once we get on the boat I suppose it will be too late. But yes, since the boat agent asked what areas we wanted I am going to assume they do not feel there is a real weather difference between the two for May. But if someone reading my comment here disagrees I want to know, so I can then be more firm/knowledgeable in my discussions with the agent as to what would be best for us prior to our travels.
 
I'm gathering information, of course the captain has final say, and certainly we will follow their lead. But they did put it out to me, and since I think there are a lot experienced and well-traveled divers here, I wanted to hear what other had to say too.

'Someone' told me the charter boats are required to set an itinerary with the Maldivian government and they cannot deviate from it. So I am not so sure if the captain will have an exact say in the general area as I am not dealing with him right now, and once we get on the boat I suppose it will be too late. But yes, since the boat agent asked what areas we wanted I am going to assume they do not feel there is a real weather difference between the two for May. But if someone reading my comment here disagrees I want to know, so I can then be more firm/knowledgeable in my discussions with the agent as to what would be best for us prior to our travels.
I have been to Maldives around Feb couple of times on LoB. Sea was calm but did not see much pelagic except hammerhead and manta.
But I do remember June was the beginning of monsoon in India. So you should probably fine in May with the weather.

Ask the agent where is the BEST area for various pelagic in May. Diving in blue water looking out for them is quite boring if there is NO sighting. Of course there is no guarantee for that.

They used 'dhonis' to transport divers to dive site not straight from the LoB. Those vessels are slow so do not expect your LoB to cover a large area. It won't be able to catch up.
The LoB moored inside the lagoon and I have never done any night dive at all. All sandy bottom.

Good luck.

Best time to dive Palau is Nov to Apr.
 
I've done 4 itineraries in Maldives, one was far south down to Gan and another was to the north. I did find more color in the north but still left disappointed with the corals. We did dive around an island where the island resort had been making a concerted effort to re-populate the coral and that was the prettiest that we encountered on the entire trip.

As for the Maldives in general, there are some dives with reasonably pretty table corals but sadly, the Maldives just didn't deliver for me with regard to coral gardens.

But Maldives completely makes up for that shortfall with the abundance of fish and some adrenaline rush experiences, either with sharks or current or both.

I was hooked in first position for the shark show, and i watched as my buddies each hooked in one by one in the row beside me on my left.

When I turned back, I was startled to see a small shark to my right, just a bit more than arm's length from me. It seemed still in the water, almost as if it was hooked in place too.

We eyed each other for a bit, finally deciding that neither of us had anything to fear from the other.

I looked out to watch the show in front of me as dozens of sharks passed by our group to and fro. My buddies cameras were flashing as they took shot after shot, other bright lights catching video action.

I turned again to my right to check out my little shark shadow, to find that its position had been usurped by a much larger shark. My heart leapt into my throat.
 
I turned again to my right to check out my little shark shadow, to find that its position had been usurped by a much larger shark. My heart leapt into my throat.

Fun story! I can totally visualize it!

When I was hooked in at the Blue Corner in Palau, the local Napoleon wrasse decided to get amorous with me. It was pretty funny! I have some good pics and video of him, lol!

Thanks everyone for all the input and thoughts, appreciate it!
 
Ok, thanks for this info! Have you also dove the north/far north? I'm just wondering if you have a comparison?
I haven't so I can't offer my own comparison. The highly experienced dive guides on my LOB did say that they always looked very much forward to the deep south trips each year though as it offered something quite special above what they normally encountered on the regular central/north/far north/south trips.
 
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