Maldives in September (no liveaboard)?

[tommyblizzard]

Hello everyone, my name is Tommaso and I'm an alcoholic this is my first post. My wife and I are planning a scuba vacation for my 40th birthday, which is in mid-September. Maldives popped out, but I'm getting a bit of contradictory info on the web. Some say that you should avoid September as it's rainy season and visibility is bad, others say it's a great time to go as it's low season and you have a bigger chance to see big pelagics (which is what I crave).

Some more info:
- I've been diving for 10+ years and have about 90 dives on my logbook. My wife got her AOWD 2 years ago, about 20 dives, still doesn't feel 100% comfortable underwater. That's why we would opt for a resort rather than a liveaboard, so if one day we decide to chill instead of diving it's easier for us
- I've already been twice to the Maldives, once in mid-November 2013 (liveaboard with my scuba club, mostly central atolls) and once in early January 2023 (Makunudu resort, about 1 hr speedboat from MLE, late honeymoon with wifey). I enjoyed both times, even if I wasn't able to see any whale sharks (I know, it's rare sighting and stuff). Also, last time we barely missed mantas, which I already saw in my first trip, but my wife would really like to see them
- Since it's a special occasion, we've been saving up and we're not necessarily looking for budget solutions. We enjoyed Makunudu because it was small, eco-friendly (which also meant cockroaches in the room, but hey it's nature), with good dives and good food (and this comes from an Italian, biggest food whiners in the World - perhaps with Frenchies). We'd love something similar, but once we find a good area for diving we can find the resort ourselves.

All that said, would you recommend going to Maldives in September if you're a big pelagics fan, or would you postpone it to November/go somewhere else (Cozumel, Mexico is also on our radar)? I'm asking about November because on the SSI website you have this nice info box which takes data from MySSI logbooks to give you a likelihood of sightings. As a guy with a background in statistics, I can see potential bias in that, as if more people go to Maldives in, say, December, you'll have more reported sightings in December, but that won't necessary means it's the month with the most likely sightings. That said, September looks pretty poor from that box and that's what set me off.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Parlem]

Hi, Tommaso.

I've dived from a liveaboard and from resorts in the Maldives several times. In my experience, nothing beats a liveaboard unless, perhaps, you are after a very specific local experience (e.g. tiger sharks in Fuhvamulah, mantas in Baa reserve). If it weren't because half my family does not dive, I would never consider land-based diving in the Maldives, particularly outside the driest of seasons (Feb-March-April).

There are three main reasons for this:

1) If the weather is unfavourable and the sea is rough, the dive boat won't go out. Once on Fihalohi we were unable to dive for two consecutive days: it was unsafe to go out on the boat due to the very rough seas. A liveaboard with a decent skipper/cruise director will anticipate this problem and vary the route accordingly. Land-based, you are stuck.

2) while full-day (3-tank dives) and whole-morning (2-tank dives) trips are offered regularly by resort-based dive shops, only the bigger hotels (= greater numbers of divers) tend to attract sufficient interest for these to go through, particularly in low season. Most land-based divers on holiday in the Maldives are European males with a partner who sometimes doesn't dive, so being a dive widow all day is not something they look forward to during their holiday in paradise. As a result, typical land-based diving will be a one-tank dive after a short boat ride in the morning. perhaps followed by another dive in the afternoon on the house reef, or a nearby site. Because dive centres try to fit in 2 boat trips in the morning and 1 after lunch, they usually avoid sites that are too far away. This restricts their choices and you often dive "2nd rate" sites (which, granted, are still great a lot of the time).

3) since land-based diving is not as intensive as LOB's, dive shops aim to squeeze every penny per dive out of every diver: extra charge for boat ride, extra charge for nitrox, extra charge for guide (not optional if you are OWD) ... In contrast, LOBs typically offer a much more affordable price-per-dive.

I hope this is of some use to you. Greetings from Catalonia!

 

[tommyblizzard]

Hi, Tommaso.

I've dived from a liveaboard and from resorts in the Maldives several times. In my experience, nothing beats a liveaboard unless, perhaps, you are after a very specific local experience (e.g. tiger sharks in Fuhvamulah, mantas in Baa reserve). If it weren't because half my family does not dive, I would never consider land-based diving in the Maldives, particularly outside the driest of seasons (Feb-March-April).

There are three main reasons for this:

1) If the weather is unfavourable and the sea is rough, the dive boat won't go out. Once on Fihalohi we were unable to dive for two consecutive days: it was unsafe to go out on the boat due to the very rough seas. A liveaboard with a decent skipper/cruise director will anticipate this problem and vary the route accordingly. Land-based, you are stuck.

2) while full-day (3-tank dives) and whole-morning (2-tank dives) trips are offered regularly by resort-based dive shops, only the bigger hotels (= greater numbers of divers) tend to attract sufficient interest for these to go through, particularly in low season. Most land-based divers on holiday in the Maldives are European males with a partner who sometimes doesn't dive, so being a dive widow all day is not something they look forward to during their holiday in paradise. As a result, typical land-based diving will be a one-tank dive after a short boat ride in the morning. perhaps followed by another dive in the afternoon on the house reef, or a nearby site. Because dive centres try to fit in 2 boat trips in the morning and 1 after lunch, they usually avoid sites that are too far away. This restricts their choices and you often dive "2nd rate" sites (which, granted, are still great a lot of the time).

3) since land-based diving is not as intensive as LOB's, dive shops aim to squeeze every penny per dive out of every diver: extra charge for boat ride, extra charge for nitrox, extra charge for guide (not optional if you are OWD) ... In contrast, LOBs typically offer a much more affordable price-per-dive.

I hope this is of some use to you. Greetings from Catalonia!

Bon dia, Parlem, i gràcies per haver respost (I lived for 6 months in Barcelona about 15 years ago and that's pretty much all the Catalan I remember, ho sento).

I know what you mean. As I wrote in my post, I, too, had both experiences. But to tell you the truth, when we were in Makunudu (January 2023) we had wonderful weather (only half an afternoon of rain) and we had whole-morning 2-tank boat dives almost every day (plus a couple of night dives) by choice, as we used the afternoon to chill. That's actually the goal, we don't want a full-diving vacation but rather a more similar experience than we had in Makunudu. Also, maybe we were lucky, but the diving center there was pretty honest, both in prices and practices: Fabio was a great manager and Marco an excellent guide. Again, LOB is not an option because of my wife. The main goal of my post was to understand if, for a big pelagics fan like myself, Maldives in September are a good option and, if so, which atolls are the best.

 

[Parlem]

Bon dia, Parlem, i gràcies per haver respost (I lived for 6 months in Barcelona about 15 years ago and that's pretty much all the Catalan I remember, ho sento).

I know what you mean. As I wrote in my post, I, too, had both experiences. But to tell you the truth, when we were in Makunudu (January 2023) we had wonderful weather (only half an afternoon of rain) and we had whole-morning 2-tank boat dives almost every day (plus a couple of night dives) by choice, as we used the afternoon to chill. That's actually the goal, we don't want a full-diving vacation but rather a more similar experience than we had in Makunudu. Also, maybe we were lucky, but the diving center there was pretty honest, both in prices and practices: Fabio was a great manager and Marco an excellent guide. Again, LOB is not an option because of my wife. The main goal of my post was to understand if, for a big pelagics fan like myself, Maldives in September are a good option and, if so, which atolls are the best.

Hello and apologies if I missed the point of your original message.

I think if you want to dive with large animals but remain land-based, three options spring to mind:

1) South Ari atoll, around Dhigurah, where there is a resident population of whale sharks and I believe they can bee found year round. You'd have to be pretty unlucky not to see any at all if you stay for several days and persevere. You have a choice of local and resort islands in the area. Bear in mind that it's a popular spot and you should expect many boats of snorkellers so the experience might not be ideal depending on the day if you meet the whale sharks at the surface.

2) Fuvahmulah for tiger sharks, threshers, hammerheads, etc. Large animals can be spotted all year round, but certain species are seasonal, so you'd have to check what's "available" in September. Of course, Fuvahmulah involves an additional flight and I don't think there is a resort island nearby. You pretty much need to stay on the local island, I believe.

3) Rashdoo for hammerheads at Rashdoo Kandu. This is a very early morning dive in the blue off the small atoll island of Rashdoo, forther north from North Ari Atoll. It's luck of the draw, though, and there is no guarantee you'll see any. The nearest resort is Kuramathi, I think.

Ciao!