Fuvahmulah

[KrisR]

Yeah there is some feeding done, it’s not like what I have heard of elsewhere where sharks are hand fed. They dump the carcass of the fisherman’s daily catch . ( this is why they say there are so many tigers there as this has been going on for many many years). I know it’s a controversial topic which splits the community- so it depends how you feel on the matter.
You will get the best encounters with the tigers when they are near the harbour.
We did however have many great encounters during the open water dives. If you are swithering- I would say go for it as you will have some incredible dives.

 

[Topper1972]

I just booked a place on the Emperor Leo liveaboard (Male - Gan) January 8-22 2022 (2 week liveaboard).
I have 4½ weeks holiday, so I I am thinking about either booking a extra week with Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo) or maybe popping over to Fuvahmullah for 8-10 days of shore based diving.
Price wise a week on Fuvahmulah is the same cost as an extra week on Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo).
If Fuvamulah this would be my first time doing shore based diving in the Maldives.
Is the Fuvamulah shore based diving worth it? There is a good chance for pelagics?
I've got previous experience with big pelagics/sharks from South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt and the Bahamas.
If Fuvahmulah which dive centre should I pick - has anyone got experience?
The 2 options seem to be either Fuvahmulah Dive School or Pelagic Divers Fuvahmulah, correct?

 

[Dan]

I was on Carpe Vita in early March, Carpe Vita Real Time Review: March 7-18, 2021 Trip to Maldives Deep South | ScubaBoard. We had a day in Fuvahmulah and I saw the Tiger Shark fed on fish carcass, as shown below. The dive operator dropped fish carcass in a pit for their customers to watch Tiger Shark feeding. You can see the customers kneeling on the background silhouette. We, from Carpe Vita, were dropped in the blue and swimming towards the pit. I was the closest one to the pit from the blue. Our DM, Ali, thought I was crazy (he point his index finger to his head and tried to wave me away). I have seen Tiger Sharks in Cocos and they are not as bad as people thought. Those who were kneeling on the sand were probably glad that I kept the Tiger Shark to hang around over the pit, not swimming away into the blue and probably had a great picture (with sunlight behind them) of the Tiger Shark with fish bone in its mouth.

 

[Dan]

Yeah there is some feeding done, it’s not like what I have heard of elsewhere where sharks are hand fed. They dump the carcass of the fisherman’s daily catch . ( this is why they say there are so many tigers there as this has been going on for many many years). I know it’s a controversial topic which splits the community- so it depends how you feel on the matter.
You will get the best encounters with the tigers when they are near the harbour.
We did however have many great encounters during the open water dives. If you are swithering- I would say go for it as you will have some incredible dives.

If you want to see Tiger Sharks in their natural environment (no fish carcass pit feeding like in Fuvahmulah or hand feeding like in Tiger Beach), go to Cocos.

 

[Dan]

That Tiger Shark of Fuvahmulah swam with us for a while and took off into the blue. You can see everyone stayed in vertical position to look big to the Tiger Shark.

It's a small (but fat) one as you can still see the dark stripes in its body clearly. When it gets to 12 ft (4m), the stripes would fade away.

 

[m_BK]

I just booked a place on the Emperor Leo liveaboard (Male - Gan) January 8-22 2022 (2 week liveaboard).
I have 4½ weeks holiday, so I I am thinking about either booking a extra week with Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo) or maybe popping over to Fuvahmullah for 8-10 days of shore based diving.
Price wise a week on Fuvahmulah is the same cost as an extra week on Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo).
If Fuvamulah this would be my first time doing shore based diving in the Maldives.
Is the Fuvamulah shore based diving worth it? There is a good chance for pelagics?
I've got previous experience with big pelagics/sharks from South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt and the Bahamas.
If Fuvahmulah which dive centre should I pick - has anyone got experience?
The 2 options seem to be either Fuvahmulah Dive School or Pelagic Divers Fuvahmulah, correct?

hello,

in the meantime i had a second trip to FVM during a stay on a liveaboard. The dives we`re totally unspectacular - except the "standard" tiger zoo. I learned FVM is very depending on the conditions you have to be there when it's possible to dive the south plato. best times should be April/May.

As it's getting more and more hyped i would not go there via liveaboard! There can only be like 2 or 3 boats in the harbor, the other boats have to stay in addu and go back to FVM by day (3-4 hours one way). if you then have no special conditions you will not see anything spectacular.

Therefore I would prefer to stay there a week with the locals. FDS or PDF. PDF is maybe more family style ...

 

[chillyinCanada]

At FDS, if I'm understanding your abbreviation correctly, one gets to dive with Panda and that's always fun.

 

[scubaozy]

I just booked a place on the Emperor Leo liveaboard (Male - Gan) January 8-22 2022 (2 week liveaboard).
I have 4½ weeks holiday, so I I am thinking about either booking a extra week with Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo) or maybe popping over to Fuvahmullah for 8-10 days of shore based diving.
Price wise a week on Fuvahmulah is the same cost as an extra week on Emperor Leo (Gan - Koodoo).
If Fuvamulah this would be my first time doing shore based diving in the Maldives.
Is the Fuvamulah shore based diving worth it? There is a good chance for pelagics?
I've got previous experience with big pelagics/sharks from South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt and the Bahamas.
If Fuvahmulah which dive centre should I pick - has anyone got experience?
The 2 options seem to be either Fuvahmulah Dive School or Pelagic Divers Fuvahmulah, correct?

I have a colleague who dove with Pelagic Divers couple of months ago and he did not report anything negative. Except for tiger shark dives, he was underwhelmed. Apparently morning dives were for chasing big stuff into the blue and not that often resulting success for everyone. He said that 5-6 days in Fuva is enough so it would make sense to split the holiday if you can and do another island or liveaboard.

 

[m_BK]

At FDS, if I'm understanding your abbreviation correctly, one gets to dive with Panda and that's always fun.

i‘m not sure if he still is working ... i heard some storys.

but anyhow as i dived with FDS we always were a big group - splitting when action came.

 

[m_BK]

I have a colleague who dove with Pelagic Divers couple of months ago and he did not report anything negative. Except for tiger shark dives, he was underwhelmed. Apparently morning dives were for chasing big stuff into the blue and not that often resulting success for everyone. He said that 5-6 days in Fuva is enough so it would make sense to split the holiday if you can and do another island or liveaboard.

the into the blue dives can be crazy - we had big hammerhead schools 5 days in a row every morning.

but they also can be a waist of time.