Hi,
I can only comment on Komandoo, have been there twice (November 2002 and November 2003) and loved it both times. As at most resorts in the Maldives, dive-op goes out twice a day. First time around 10am and second time around 2pm. Every now and then there is an early morning dive and most weeks a night dive. Early morning/night dives depend on number of divers around/interested. Most weeks they do a double tank dive to sites that are a bit further away from the Island. As Komandoo is small (I think just under 40 bungalows, but I understand they added a number of waterbungalows) only one boat is going out most times as there are never too many divers around.
Dives are done by Dhoni, travel time to dive sites between 10 minutes and 45 minutes. Plenty of space on Dhonis, either in the sun on the front deck or in the shade at the back. If you're lucky you will see whale sharks, mantas, dolphins, turtles or sail fish during the trip. Most dives are done with around 6 divers.
Dive sites are plenty, walls, thillas (bommies), channel dives. You can do 2 weeks of diving without getting bored. Fish life is varied, reef sharks (black tip, white tip, grey reef), leopard sharks, Napoleons, eagle rays, morays, turtles and much more. There are also mantas, although I have only seen them on 1 dive (off course, the dive I skipped had 7 of them :sad:
), one of their sites is indeed a cleaning station. I haven't seen whale sharks, but they are around.
Coral is ok. Quite a bit of bleaching, but comparing 2003 to 2002 it had improved a lot, so I would expect that it only got better since. I thought soft corals were ok untill I went to Naigani in Fiji three months ago.
I liked dive op a lot. Run by 4 people when we were there, 2 couples (Swiss and German/UK) plus local staff for cleaning etc. A lot of space to store gear (although no possibility to lock stuff away) and seperate rinsing tank for photo gear. Hire gear is ok, replaced annualy I think. You gather your stuff when you go for breakfast, which is brought to the Dhoni by staff, who most times help setting it up as well. As number of divers is fairly small, you are most times diving with the same people and get to know each other pretty quickly.
Komandoo has house reef which is good for diving (you can do that whenever you want) and snorkeling.
Island itself is fairly small (150m x 40 m). Bungolows verry nice and restaurant good (buffet). Nice sandy beach everywhere around the island, directly in front of the bungalows.
This link
http://www.malediven.net/haupts.htm is useful if you understand German (which I expect you do considering your location). Lot's of info on most resorts.
I haven't been on the other two islands you mention, but defenitely would like to go back to Komandoo.
Regards,
Deur
