LF Resort Recommendations for Diving/Snorkeling in February

[Bazal]

Heya,

So - my mother and I plan on spending 7 nights in the Maldives roughly in February. Our budget is $4000 US (I'll cover the flights on the side - not the seaplane though).

I should state - while I LOVE diving - I'm not a hardcore diver. I would love to at least do 10 dives in the AM - possibly more... but I also enjoying doing other things on vacation... like boat tours, being lazy and relaxing on a beach/swimming and maybe even doing an off shore snorkeling.

The thing is... there's so many islands and I heard coral bleaching is becoming a huge deal - not sure what that means in terms of marine life. I can't tell from "pictures" if the short has a good house reef or not

Eitherway, I'm looking for a resort that combines both snorkeling off shore/boat (for my mother) and good diving for myself. The thing is I only have 49 dives under my belt - so I'm no expert... but I do have the AOW. Would love to see sharks

Any thoughts/advice?

Too bad I can't find any travel agency here in the US to help out.....


PS. Feel free to privately message me.

 

[travelem]

The Maldives forum of tripadvisor can help you out:
Maldives Forum, Travel Discussion for Maldives - TripAdvisor

 

[Christian]

US$ 4000 for two including seaplane transfer might be difficult if you have a classic Maldivian resort in mind. A seaplane transfer costs US $400-500 p/p alone. That would leave you a little more than US$100/night and I don't think even the cheapest resorts come that low even in off season. I have seen US$140-150/night. And then diving, food and drinks are not included and are very expensive on the tourist islands.
Perhaps a local island with boat transfer will fit within your budget. A more culturally infused holiday differing from the classic "paradise island" experience. Some like it better. I guess it depends on what you're looking for.
Coral has had a few blows in the Maldives. Worst hit in 1998 El Nino. Then a small bleaching in 2010 and then some areas recovered pretty well until had another bleaching during the period 2015-2016. I dived in North Ari Atoll in December 2015 and we were able to find several very nice reefs with alive and healthy coral, so I believe that the worst hit in that bleaching event was in the beginning of 2016.
Marine ie fish etc. life not really affected, at least not in the short term. Lots of fish. Nort part of Ari is good for sharks (grey reefs, white tips, nurse sharks) and Mantas in that period. Whalesharks more frequent in the South of Ari. Healthy coral on house reefs seems to be very rare now. We stayed on Ellaidhoo and the coral on the house reef was nice in some parts, but lots of it was dead. But snorkeling was still really good just outside the beach. Diving okeyish.

 

[Bazal]

Sorry I should mentioned - it's $4000/person US (so budget is x2 that).

 

[Bazal]

Bumping this topic. I am at tripadvisor and I'm getting great suggestions for snorkeling... but not diving. I almost settled on Six Sense Laamu - but diving is $135/dive... I CANNOT justify that cost. Considering I want to do at least 2 boat dives - dives range from 30-60 min depending on site and who else is diving.

So help again?

 

[Christian]

Ari atoll has some of the best diving, a few resorts there to chose from that have house reefs that are nice for snorkeling. There are a few ”signature dives” in the north/north east part of the atoll and then whalesharks in the south.
Lavyiahni (spelling?) atoll also good for diving with a few resorts, like Kuredo and Komandoo. Not sure about house reefs on those specific islands. You’d have to research what’s available there.
They will rob you on the islands for diving. Maldives is very expensive. Don’t be surprised if your credit card bill when you leave comes to about the same amount as you paid for the flight and bungalow. Liveaboards more cost efficient, but missing out on the paradise island experience.

 

[PugHugger]

Komandoo is $164 USD (inclusive of tax) for a double tank boat dive. Prices reduce a little (only a few dollars each dive) the more dives you do. It is in the Lhaviyani Atoll and the house reef is pretty good for a snorkel, not particularly deep for a dive.

Nearby sites were pretty nice, I forget the name of the site but it was a 30+m wall covered in life, we had over 50m visibility that dive.