Which local island for snorkelling
The reef is the reason most people come, and you do not need a certification to see the best of it. What varies enormously is how far the reef is from the beach.
Photo · Ilija Jevtic / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Bodufolhudhoo
Bodufolhudhoo has just over seven hundred residents, which puts it among the smaller guesthouse islands in Alif Alif. That size…
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 · Aleksandra Jopek / Google Kaafu Atoll
Dhiffushi
Dhiffushi sits at the eastern edge of Kaafu, at the end of the chain rather than in the middle of it, with a little under…
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 · AROUND THE WORLD / Google Baa Atoll
Fulhadhoo
Three hundred and forty-one people live on Fulhadhoo, on a long sandbank at the southern edge of Baa. It is one of three small…
Photo · Eduard P / Google Vaavu Atoll
Fulidhoo
Four hundred people live on Fulidhoo. That number explains most of what the island is: a few sand streets, a handful of…
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 · Rune Tollefsen / Google Kaafu Atoll
Huraa
Huraa lies in northern Kaafu with around sixteen hundred residents, close enough to Malé that the transfer is short and far…
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 · Bilal Afzal Khan / Google Kaafu Atoll
Maafushi
Maafushi sits about 26 km south of Malé in Kaafu Atoll, and it is where local-island tourism in the Maldives first took hold at…
Photo · Richard Newman / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Mathiveri
Mathiveri sits at the northern end of Alif Alif with fewer than nine hundred residents — small enough to walk end to end, large…
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 · Jenzy Ben / Google Kaafu Atoll
Thulusdhoo
Thulusdhoo is the surf island of Kaafu Atoll, and it wears that identity plainly. Two of the best-known breaks in the country sit…
Photo · Carlos Alberto do Amaral / Google Alif Alif Atoll
Ukulhas
Ukulhas made its name doing something unglamorous: it sorts and manages its waste. On an archipelago where rubbish disposal is a…
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
- A house reef within swimming distance changes a trip — you go in whenever you feel like it instead of booking a boat.
- Ask about the current on the ocean side. On several islands the safe snorkelling is on one side only.
- Bring your own mask if you can. Rental gear on a small island is often tired.