Diving at Maldives?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob,

Those rules were written and published like you said in 2003. Every resort/liveaboard/diveshop goes by their own rules according to their own needs. The Cayman Islands government has a list of rules that would make you cringe too if I remember right, but nobody ever sees them, just like nobody would ever see these silly ones if I had not put that link up.

You don't have to dive with a snorkel here. It probably had something to do with a PADI instructor helping write the rules back then.

You won't be turned away because you are NAUI.

If you are on a site where everyone is having a great time at a shallow depth and the dohni is right over you and you go past 60 minutes you won't get deported I am pretty sure.

Nobody mentions those rules (the government ones) because nobody gives them any thought here.

Like mentioned before, a lot of the diving does require that the boat capt has a good idea where the divers are going to be when they surface, and that can depend on the length of the dive.

If you want 5 dives a day here (or even four sometimes) you will sacrifice quality for quantity and end up diving on sites you will wish you hadn't dropped in on because of the timing.

If the operation is pushed into doing more dives in a day than they have planned (planned because they are trying to give you the best diving possible) then you will have dives you don't enjoy and will miss dives you would have thought were awesome. It's not this way every day, but on a lot of days and areas it will be.

You just have to come and dive here to understand. Come with an open mind and realize that once you get on your boat you are no longer really under any restrictions as far as the government goes. You can drink beer and eat pork (if they have the proper permits) and dive past 100' if it is appropriate and no state police will even know.

Come and have fun...it's really not such a bad place.

Thanks ... that's about what I was hoping to hear, but figured it'd be a good idea to ask.

I've been several places where rules are in place, but generally ignored, to provide a framework from which dive ops can implement common-sense measures based on site conditions, diver abilities, and other circumstances. This appears to be the case here as well. I have no issue at all with that ... as long as it's done in ways that make sense and enhance the diving experience for the majority.

After having a (mostly self-imposed) bad vacation once, I've learned to adopt two "rules" when I go on a diving vacation ...

1. I'm on vacation ... best way to have a good time is to go with the flow.
2. It's not "my" dive ... it's "our" dive ... "our" being all the people I'm sharing this vacation with.

I find that when I follow those rules, not only do I have a better time ... but so does everyone else around me ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[1thumper]

Hi NWGratefulDiver !

When we were there, the rules were tightly enforced by the dive operator. Where we stayed (Reethi Beach) they cared nothing about experience, it was strictly "these are the rules and thou must follow them". We even had a shore dive in their protected lagoon, max depth about 8M, where we were told maximum 60 minutes. Hopefully where you're going is a bit more flexible, but recommend that you contact your operator in advance so no unpleasant surprises. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Nishan]

generally resorts tend to be more strict, mainly for reasons for scheduling as someone mentioned earlier. they also tend to cater to the average "vacation diver". if you want the best Maldives diving get on a liveabaord. most tend to be quite flexible, and the newer ones even offer 4-5 dives now. but many of the best dives in the Maldives tend to be in current in open ocean and the 60 minute limit makes a lot of sense for such dives. even the depth limit of 30m makes sense when you consider you may be diving far away from medical facilities, and you have atoll walls that drop to hundreds of meters in open ocean with strong currents. i have never had anyone enforce a snorkel law on me and i have done dives longer than 60 mins on shallow thilas with no current. if you have questions just ask the operator. i dont care if my dive was 60 mins vs. 70 mins if i get to see heaps of mantas, reef sharks, huge schools of fish and maybe a whaleshark.

 

[Damselfish]

The Maldives are a huge place and you can't generalize too much about the diving - a single great or lousy experience isn't a good reason to decide you love or hate all the diving there. I've only been there once, on a liveaboard, and my sense is that a liveaboard is a better bet than land-based if your priority is the best/most diving with less possibility of restrictions that bug you, true many places but maybe even more here. It's certainly a place you really need to do your research. There's so many islands, so many resorts, and even for liveaboards, there are a lot of them with all sorts of styles, and will even vary because different boats market to different regions.

While most US divers wouldn't appreciate flying all that distance to do 2 dives a day (as I've heard some boats oriented towards the European market may lean to) I wouldn't get super hung up on always 4-5 a day either. It's mostly not a place where open dive decks or doing 5 a day at predefined hours really works given the tides, currents, and distances involved.

 

[LeeSG]

Trying to decide whether to include Maldives in our travel plans---

We're going to India on business this mid-December. We have the opportunity to add 4-5 days of diving in the Maldives if we want to, and after reading this and other Maldives threads I'm undecided about whether it's worth the time and money, which could be spent elsewhere.

We're two divers, one (me) around 500 dives and pretty experienced (Galapagos, etc) and the other a new diver, maybe 25 dives in Cozumel (drift diving).

We'd be resort based, mid-tier pricing. I'm interested in the opinions of others:

- Is it worth it, or should we either dive somewhere in India (we'll be mostly in the north), or just wait for another destination?
- For my sig. other with 25 easy dives under her belt, are the currents too much for her to take on right now?
- Weather/life in late December?
- Recommendation(s) for great land-based operation?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Nishan]

To answer your questions:
- If your so close its worth it. In short it has probably the best reef diving in that region. The diving off mainland India is poor to average at best from what I know. The best diving in India is in the Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman Islands, which are either expensive or harder to get to than the Maldives. Sri Lanka is easy to get to and has some excellent wreck diving but the reefs and pelagic action doesn't even compare to the Maldives.
- Some sites, especially the channels might be a challenge to an inexperienced diver but if your at a resort there should be plenty of easy sites as well. Some of the manta cleaning stations are easy shallow dives.
- December is a dry month but can have some strong winds towards the afternoon and strong currents in the exposed sites and channels. But a resort should dive a variety of sites and match them with experience.
- I dont know much about resorts. The only ones I have been to are Bandos Island and Paradise Island. Both close to the airport, but Bandos has a bigger dive operation and decent house reef you can shore dive or snorkel on. Ironically Paradise Island seems keen to reclaim land and destroy reefs!!!

Just keep in mind that resort diving can be quite expensive but if you are not diving a lot its probably the best option.

 

[gracero]

LeeSG,

I would echo Nishan's sentiments I think the Maldives are well worth visit both above and below. I normally go on liveaboard trip but last Oct/Nov spent a week on Makunudu Island Resort. We had excellent weather when we visited but I think there is always the possiblity of showers at this time of year. I think in common with many resorts the dive operation often offered several dive options each day to accomodate different levels of experience so I don't think having only 25 dives would be an issue. I can't really compare the island to other resorts but we really liked the island and thought the boat diving was good too, the house reef in my opinion wasn't great (except at night when there's a chance to dive with Nurse Sharks) but we had a look of fun snorkelling in the lagoon with the baby black tip sharks. Anyway if you would like to get a feel for the place you might want to check out some videos I have placed on youtube:

The Resort


Boat Diving


Richard

 

[gee13]

No ones mentioned one of the joys of the maldivian lob and resort experience is the spacious dhonis that you dive from.

 

[Maldives Adventure]

Dive in Maldives can be done either by liveaboard or by staying in a resort in Maldives . However with the recent development of the country of allowing to open local island hotels where you get more economical stays for a fraction of what you would spend in a resort or for a live-aboard, is now under many developments. As its booming with this very young new tourism of Maldives recent development of dive centers in the local island hotels is now providing opportunity for divers and travellers who would love to explore and dive in the Maldives . for example guriadhoo island in south male' hotel has only one legal registered hotel which is offering stay in a reasonable price and allowing to experience Maldives in the same level to one who stays in a resort. Now they have come up with there own dive center which will provide diving service for a more affordable price then any other near by resort or hotel. for information with this diving option you can look for Maldives Island cheap holiday vacation