Nishan
Contributor
Hi Finn,
Disadvantages:
Limited amount of healthy hard coral and very limited amount of soft coral
Very minimal macro life
Relatively low fish biodiversity compared to SE Asia or even Red Sea
Didn't see a single shark
Very expensive compared to SE Asia diving
Stayed at Reethi Beach Resort. While it is nice for honeynooners, I definitely do not recommend this resort for experienced divers because while the staff are friendly and competent the management has some strange and very annoying rules:
1. All divers must have a snorkel when diving
2. No dive knives (which to me is important safety equipment especially since some of the reefs have fishing net fragments or fishing lines draped on them)
3. Second dive and follow-on dives of the day limited to 20-22 meters
the coral varies a lot. granted it has suffered a lot from coral bleaching but some dive sites have recovered well. agree about macro not being great. you could find the odd nudibranch, shrimp or frogfish but its a bit poor. overall biodiversity is lower than SE Asia but i think in terms of sheer numbers the Maldives is as good as most places. the sharks are around, you just need to dive the right sites, although admittedly, Baa Atoll where Reethi Resort is located is not great for sharks. the dive operator obviously did not take you to any manta stations. the Maldives has some excellent manta sightings that include large mantas.
as for prices, resorts are expensive but liveaboards vary a lot. i know of trips from $1000-1500 for 7 days, on good boats. thats a deal compared to most places. i think Maldives liveaboards are no more expensive than most other places.
all the rules mentioned are specific to that resort, not the Maldives. the only national rule that would affect you is a max depth limit of 30m and no deco diving. there are no time limits and no rules to exit with the group. you're only expected to have a buddy.
i think people need to realize that Maldives is a big place. nearly 1200 islands spread over several hundred KM from north to south. so obviously there are differences among atolls, just like how diving varies a lot across Indo and the Phils.