Which local island for diving
On a resort island the dive centre is downstairs. On a local island it is a business on the main street, and which island you choose decides what you will actually see.
Photo · maldivian_abo / Google Alif Dhaal Atoll
Dhangethi
Dhangethi sits on the eastern rim of South Ari with a little over nine hundred residents. It is one of the older guesthouse…
Baa Atoll
Dharavandhoo
Dharavandhoo is the way into Hanifaru Bay. The bay sits within the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and in season the currents…
Photo · Hamdhoon Hameed / Google Alif Dhaal Atoll
Dhigurah
Dhigurah is long and thin — the name means "long island" — and that shape is the point. A single sand spit runs off the southern…
Photo · 黃逃逃 / Google Gnaviyani Atoll
Fuvahmulah
Fuvahmulah is a single island that is also an entire atoll — no lagoon, no ring of reef, just land dropping straight into deep…
Photo · Marc Perreault / Google Kaafu Atoll
Guraidhoo
Guraidhoo sits in southern Kaafu with around seventeen hundred residents, which makes it a proper island community rather than a…
Photo · Anil Travel Logs / Google Haa Dhaalu Atoll
Hanimaadhoo
Hanimaadhoo is the gateway to the far north. It has the regional airport, around two and a half thousand residents, and roughly…
Photo · Jadulla Hameed / Google Seenu Atoll
Hithadhoo
Hithadhoo is the largest island in Addu and, with nearly fourteen thousand residents, the second-largest population centre in the…
Photo · Angelo Greco / Google Vaavu Atoll
Keyodhoo
Keyodhoo has a little over six hundred residents and sits in Vaavu, the atoll with the fewest people in the country and some of…
Photo · Mohamed Naushad / Google Alif Dhaal Atoll
Mahibadhoo
Mahibadhoo is the administrative centre of Alif Dhaal and, with over two and a half thousand residents, by some distance the…
Photo · Mohamed Fazeel / Google Alif Dhaal Atoll
Omadhoo
Omadhoo lies in the eastern chain of South Ari with a little over nine hundred residents. It is less visited than Dhigurah or…
Photo · hassan kuleys / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Rasdhoo
Rasdhoo is a diving island first and everything else second. It sits on its own small atoll just north of Ari, and the drop-off…
Photo · Denis Ivko / Google Vaavu Atoll
Thinadhoo
Two hundred and fifty-eight people live on Thinadhoo. That makes it the smallest island covered here by a wide margin, and it is…
Photo · Salt Fish / Google Noonu Atoll
Velidhoo
Velidhoo has around eighteen hundred residents and sits in Noonu, an atoll better known to divers than to beach travellers. It is…
What to ask before you book
- Ask what the house reef is like and whether shore dives are possible — on some islands every dive is a boat dive, which adds cost and time.
- Channel dives with current are a different sport from lagoon diving. If you are newly certified, say so when booking rather than on the boat.
- Nitrox and equipment sizes are not a given on a small island. Confirm both if they matter to you.