Opinions of Maldives???

[Oceanic Dreams]

HI Gee13,

Sun Island in Ari atoll could be a good choice in term of the location and for the dive points around the area. However within one week of dive tour on liveaboard you would be able to cover Ari Atoll North / South . meaning that you would have dived the locations you can dive while in Sun Island.

If you would like to do another area which you would not be diving on liveaboard the best option I would suggest is Kuredhu. Kuredhu is famous for diving. One of the strong diving resort and is in more remote atoll where not many liveaboards would cruise unless they are doing 2 weeks tours. So this would be a good way to explore the maximum of Maldives.

If you would like to know regarding the resort service facilities what I can tell you is its one of the best occupancy resort in Maldives . The price is average and the service is good for the value of money. I used to work for Kuredhu some years back and have met lot of clients who are in love with the place and the great house reef, wrecks around and other dive points in lhaviyani atoll.

The best season for diving is from November to end of May. This year in May last week we had rough weather , as its the beginning of Monsoon. however June we had nice weather . but officially June / July is stated as the rainy season and rough weather . the diving can be good but most dive boats lay of this 2 months for dry docking and maintenance for several reasons.

I would suggest to do the dive holiday in Maldives at season between November to March. Or the second best time August to end of October . this period is also good for diving , however you can expect showers and choppy sea at times.

In regard to visibility and 15 - 40 meters. you can expect to see Hammerheads, grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, eagle rays, manta rays, turtles, frogfish, triggerfish, surgeonfish, jacks, trevallies, snappers, napoleon wrasse, barracudas... the list is almost endless!

In conclusion Maldives is an year round dive destination. You may choose the best time and I am sure you will be able to have maximum of Maldives adventure in Maldives with combine tour of liveaboard and resort holiday.

 

[Nick c]

Hi,
The best time for weather is Feb to May, i've visited in Jan and Feb, diving was fantastic both times, have booked again for end of Jan to beggining of Feb for next year too. We have stayed on Summer Island each time and although it's not the 5* luxury of some of the islands I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone (see trip advisor). The dive base there is a Naui operation run by a company called Diverland, the guys there are great fun, very knowledgeable and very relaxed. You dive from an old Dohni, normally no more than 10 divers, guided or unguided, many two tank dives in the mornings and a more relaxing less challenging dive of an afternoon. There's at least 20 quality dive sites to visit from the island, many with Mantas, sharks, various rays, turtles, napoleons etc. The boat crews are very helpful and very knowledgeable too, making sure all the novice divers are kitted up correctly and ready to dive, helping to get kit on and off, helping you on and off the boat & carting all your equipment to and from the boat They will do varied arrangements for dive packages, the more you book, the cheaper it gets, but all of the guys are very approachable, it's worth asking for a special discount before booking. Whatever you decide to book i'm sure you'll love it.

Nick

 

[gee13]

Thanks for the infos guys. I do need a little bit more...

Has anyone dived with the dive outfit/ operation on Sun Island? Is the dive centre based with the resort that has dive packages or is it separate?

I have also heard of Vakarufalhi Resort which is run by prodivers or Vilamendhoo run by Euro Divers.
Its also in South Ari.

What about diving Kuredu? I cant seem to locate as many dive sites on Kuredu as South Ari Atoll?

Im interested in mainly the medium to big stuff.
Also, when Im not diving I like to be able to relax by the a white sands beach, nice blue lagoon and not too crowded. I do prefer this to liveaboard as I tend not to sleep well on boats but could brave it if needed.

So I understand best times for diving and I might be planning during off peak season - Is Late March/ Early April off peak in general for tourists?

 

[Marcygail]

Which liveaboard are you looking into? We're looking at the Peter Hughes boat...what have you heard?