Budget non resort and non liveaboard diving?

[Ashantiashanti]

Hey there,
I might be considering a trip with my gf to the Maldives for some diving from around mid December.
However, I cannot find any non-resort and non-liveaboard dive operators via. google.

Can it be that it's only these expensive (quite expensive for us uni students!) operators in the region
or perhaps my searching skills are not good enough? (If so, please do help.)

I've never been to such small and remote islands for diving, only big areas where one can walk down the
beach and find small dive operators here and there, but that's probably not to be expected from such places
as the Maldives?

Thanks a lot in advanced,
cheers.

 

[Damselfish]

Liveaboards and resorts is pretty much how the place works because of the geography and the culture. AFAIK the resorts are all one self-contained resort per island, so there is no walking down the beach to someplace else. And there's lots of liveaboards because they make a lot of sense there. Some resorts and liveaboards will be less expensive than others, but I think things lean towards an upscale market in general.

I don't know every corner of the Maldives to swear there's no such thing as what you're looking for, but I'd guess your best bet is to look for something in the capital of Male. You won't be strolling down the beach though.

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Thanks for that Damselfish!

Maldives will have to wait then.

Liveaboards and resorts is pretty much how the place works because of the geography and the culture. AFAIK the resorts are all one self-contained resort per island, so there is no walking down the beach to someplace else. And there's lots of liveaboards because they make a lot of sense there. Some resorts and liveaboards will be less expensive than others, but I think things lean towards an upscale market in general.

I don't know every corner of the Maldives to swear there's no such thing as what you're looking for, but I'd guess your best bet is to look for something in the capital of Male. You won't be strolling down the beach though.

 

[Quero]

Maldives appears to be opening up to non-resort dive operators. There's an SB frequent poster who runs one such shop, so you might contact him for information: supergaijin.

However, and I understand that this is very important to you, ashanti2, Maldives is never cheap.

 

[Nishan]

There are reasonable deals if you are willing to stay and dive land based from Male. I have dived with Ocean Dive Desk in Male and found them to be decent. I think there are some other operators as well. But Male is not really the ideal place to go on holiday. If you are looking for cheap backpacker type accommodation and dive options the Maldives is not the place. You may be able to find deals at some of the smaller resorts and liveaboards but not in mid December which is peak season.