Trip Report Fuvahmulah 1-5 March 2025

[Dan]

Since we can't read sharks' minds, all we can do is apply our most educated guesses, which is that the Maldives sharks aren't as curious with divers as the Bahamas Tigers because they're not being hand-fed

Having been to both places (Tiger Beach & Tiger Zoo), I can see the difference behavior of those Tiger Sharks in both places. That’s probably the reason why Nina’s hand got into Zesty’s mouth, it thought her hand was food.

 

[Dan]

@Dan when I went with Bahamas master to tiger beach, that was the same case. you were given a pole for if any sharks got too close, told to keep your head on a swivel so the sharks are always in front of you, and they enforced black wetsuits only covering the whole body along with boots/gloves/full hoods.

Hopefully people would learn from this accident to follow the rules and the operator to ban the rule violators from getting back into the water for not following the rules. May be that should be emphasized in the dive briefing, disobeying the rules, you are grounded, trip is over for you.

 

[billt4sf]

After liveaboard diving to Central Maldives, some of us continued to dive in Fuvahmulah for 5 days (15 dives) from 1st to 5th of March of 2025. Besides the usual suspects, we saw Tiger & Silvertip Sharks, Devil Ray, Striped Marlin. We stayed in Zero Degree Residence and dived with Fuvahmulah Dive School.

Diving trip itinerary is shown in Table 1, below.

View attachment 893027

Figure 1 shows dive sites around Fuvahmulah. Those sites marked with dive flag are the ones we dove in.

View attachment 893028
Figure1: Dive sites around Fuvahmulah, courtesy of Fuvahmulah Dive School.

Here’s the trip video.

Hey Dan.

We are just getting started on planning a trip to the Maldives, hopefully in Jan 2026. In the thread, most of the talk seems to be about Tiger Zoo and the comparison to a similar site in the Bahamas. I don;t think we're interested in shark feeding locations. Was wondering if Fuvahmulah was a good place for general reef and fish diving - we are not macro. In your graphic, it seems that the Tiger Zoo was visited far more than any other dive site!

Don;t know if you remember us but we went with your group on the Blue Manta in 2019 to the Banda Sea. You were kind enough to meet with us in the Space place in Houston when we went there. Sounds like you are still doing some awesome diving. We can no longer do LOBs.

Thanks,

Big Bill & Emily

 

[Dan]

Hey Dan.

We are just getting started on planning a trip to the Maldives, hopefully in Jan 2026. In the thread, most of the talk seems to be about Tiger Zoo and the comparison to a similar site in the Bahamas. I don;t think we're interested in shark feeding locations. Was wondering if Fuvahmulah was a good place for general reef and fish diving - we are not macro. In your graphic, it seems that the Tiger Zoo was visited far more than any other dive site!

Don;t know if you remember us but we went with your group on the Blue Manta in 2019 to the Banda Sea. You were kind enough to meet with us in the Space place in Houston when we went there. Sounds like you are still doing some awesome diving. We can no longer do LOBs.

Thanks,

Big Bill & Emily

Hi Bill & Emily,
Of course I remember you. It’s been awhile we didn’t see each other. Glad to hear that you’re back into diving again.

Fuvahmulah is mainly for those who would like to see Tiger Sharks in very close proximity like in Tiger Zoo. There are better places in Maldives to dive if you’re not into shark feeding dives.

I have been in Maldives 3 times, but all of them were on liveaboards. I have never been to any resorts in Maldives, so others who have been in Maldives resorts would give you better advice than I would.

However, I have dove in Kurumba house reef Maldives Resorts | Kurumba Maldives Official Site and the resort look nice. It Is only 10-minute speedboat away from Male airport. You may check it out.

It’s interesting to know that you pick January 2026 to be in Maldives. I’ll be in Philippines then, specifically in Dumaguete, Malapascua and on Infiniti liveaboard in North Visayas from 6 to 22 of January. So, we’ll miss each other again.

 

[Blackcrusader]

@Volleyball

We were supplied with a metal pole when diving in Tiger Zoo. Had Nina Erich been holding such pole on her hand, Zesty would not have a chance to chomp on her hand in that Tiger Beach accident

So, guys, make sure you carry and hold that pole when you are diving in Tiger Zoo. Hold it vertically and point it to the Tiger Shark when it gets too close to you.

Make sure to wear dark color gloves, fins & hood (especially those blond-hair divers). My dive buddy had a blond hair and I forgot to tell her about wearing hood. Luckily no Tiger getting too close to her head and there were several guides behind us watching our backs.

I wear a white T shirt and had no issues. So did some other people wear white or had white fins.

But yeah use the poles they are provided for a reason. Sometimes the Tigers make a beeline and do not turn at the last moment. I do seem to be missing a leg though. My dive buddy I am going with again next week.

 

[Volleyball]

Hey Dan.

We are just getting started on planning a trip to the Maldives, hopefully in Jan 2026. In the thread, most of the talk seems to be about Tiger Zoo and the comparison to a similar site in the Bahamas. I don;t think we're interested in shark feeding locations. Was wondering if Fuvahmulah was a good place for general reef and fish diving - we are not macro. In your graphic, it seems that the Tiger Zoo was visited far more than any other dive site!

Don;t know if you remember us but we went with your group on the Blue Manta in 2019 to the Banda Sea. You were kind enough to meet with us in the Space place in Houston when we went there. Sounds like you are still doing some awesome diving. We can no longer do LOBs.

Thanks,

Big Bill & Emily

The irony of Fuvahmulah lies in its deep diving, where you can occasionally spot seasonal mantas, whale sharks, mola mola, hammerheads, and threshers. Yet, Tiger Zoo is what attracts most of the visitors and is the complete opposite, a manufactured feeding dive that is open all year and located in a very shallow harbor. The only other large marine life we saw was a thresher; we were one hundred feet down, and I would guess it was another one hundred feet below us, so it looked like a tadpole

 

[Dan]

If you want to see Thresher Sharks, just go to Malapascua. I’m going back there is January 2026.

 

[Dan]

I wear a white T shirt and had no issues. So did some other people wear white or had white fins.

But yeah use the poles they are provided for a reason. Sometimes the Tigers make a beeline and do not turn at the last moment. I do seem to be missing a leg though. My dive buddy I am going with again next week.

View attachment 896694View attachment 896695View attachment 896696

Yeah, we discussed it here that since you don’t hand feed Tiger sharks in Tiger Zoo, they haven’t relate the white skin color to food, yet.

However, I don’t want to be the Guinea pig.

 

[Volleyball]

If you want to see Thresher Sharks, just go to Malapascua. I’m going back there is January 2026.

I posted my Malapascua TR from 6ish months ago here, the diving was great, but we're in no hurry to go back:

V

Trip Report Thread 'TR: Dauin/Apo to Malapascua/Gato with a stop in Oslob and Moalboal all in a week'

Oct 22, 2024

All the best diving footage in less than 90 seconds!
Disclaimers...YOLO, do what makes you happy which could mean you stay at the same dive location for 3 weeks

Day 1, The GF and I land in Manila, fly to Dumaguete, we check in at the resort 71% Dive Resort at $65/night USD all in, order grab food delivery, hit the pool/hot tub until the food comes, and go to bed early as we were jetlagged. The hotel was great, the room was mixed; the room was 600 square feet but there was only AC in the bedroom. We couldn't take the heat so spent very little time in the living...

• Volleyball
• Replies: 12
• Forum: Philippine Paradise Divers

• 

Just the threshers:

 

[Dan]

I posted my Malapascua TR from 6ish months ago here, the diving was great, but we're in no hurry to go back:

V

Trip Report Thread 'TR: Dauin/Apo to Malapascua/Gato with a stop in Oslob and Moalboal all in a week'

Oct 22, 2024

All the best diving footage in less than 90 seconds!
Disclaimers...YOLO, do what makes you happy which could mean you stay at the same dive location for 3 weeks

Day 1, The GF and I land in Manila, fly to Dumaguete, we check in at the resort 71% Dive Resort at $65/night USD all in, order grab food delivery, hit the pool/hot tub until the food comes, and go to bed early as we were jetlagged. The hotel was great, the room was mixed; the room was 600 square feet but there was only AC in the bedroom. We couldn't take the heat so spent very little time in the living...

• Volleyball
• Replies: 12
• Forum: Philippine Paradise Divers

• 

Just the threshers:

Thanks for sharing. Can’t view your video. The link is broken.