Baa, Lhaviyani or South Ari Atoll?

[YLY]

Hi all,

My husband and I are both PADI certified divers and we're looking at planning a trip to the Maldives in late Jan.
I'm having to decide between basing ourselves in a resort in one of the 3 above areas. Which area is best for diversity/variety of marine life, esp. big fish? Where would we find mantas and sharks? We are looking to spend 4 nights there..

We have also booked to stay in another resort in the South Male Atoll area..

Thanks in advance.

 

[mantajohn]

Hi

i'm not sure that i would recommend splitting your holiday between 2 resorts - especially if one is only for 4 days. There are very few direct transfers between resorts, so you will lose most of a day of holiday transferring via Male.

Most resorts tend to have a local manta point where they run a special trip once or twice a week.. Sharks like current. So i would suggest a resort large enough to have 2 boats going out each morning. That will increase your chances that one of them will go channel diving and looking for current.

Of the Atolls you mention, my favourite is Lhaviyani. We really enjoyed Komandoo resort - high quality, great variety of diving. I've had good quality diving experiences in South Male Atoll - from a liveaboard. i would choose a resort with a sea plane transfer. Many of those with a speedboat transfer are too close to Male. The flights in/out the airport tend to detract from the 'desert island' feel.

Baa atoll tends to get mixed reviews. Either 2 star or 5 star diving - not much inbetween.

John