Maldives - Land -based diving advice

[gee13]

Alright All you Maldives experts, since the last thread 'Opinions of Maldives' stalled a little originally posted by ff404 and having some added questions by myself. I didnt intend to hijack the thread just expand a little on the original question.

So I am hoping I can get some good advice regarding my quest to dive Maldives for the first time. I have done a fair amount of research since and have narrowed down my diving to Ari Atoll. Apart from getting into too much discussion about the 'best' dive sites in Maldives as I understand different types of dives appeal to different divers; I narrowed down to Ari as it has a combination of drift/ channel/ wall/ cavern dives and large pelagics. I would like to see whale shark, mantas and other tropical fish.

I understand most of you will throw the liveaboard suggestion in and there seems to be a few liveaboard operators on this board - where are the land based ones??
In short I haven't written this option off. I do like the idea of liveaboard and also dropping in on a few uninhabited islands. However my idea of being land based is due to a variety of factors. 1) I dont sleep that well on boats (feeling claustrophobic sometimes) 2) I like the idea of relaxing by a shallow lagoon or quite beach during SIT 3) The risks are inherently less (from my perspective)

I have narrowed down to diving Ari and predominantly Maaya Thila. My schedule is going to be sometime between 20-30 March, but I havent booked yet so may be flexible. Is this good season for spotting whale sharks/ manta season?

Im on a medium budget so I have narrowed down my base to Villamendhoo or Maayafushi. I am inclined toward Maayafushi as it is much closer to Mayaa Thila. My main question is it likely to spot Whale Sharks and Mantas there?

Can anyone shed light on Maayafushi resort, diving Mayaa Thila and the surrounding Ari Atoll region?

Thanks very much for your valued opinions. The decision is very important for me as I dont live close to the Maldives and wont get many opportunities so in order to spend my hard earned to get there I would like the best value I can get.

 

[gee13]

Anyone at all willing to share their land based expreiences?? :headscratch: Or has everyone else on this board just gone on liveaboards

 

[alchemist117]

Hi, we've been to Vilamendhoo the last two years. Very nice. They see quite a few large pelagics on a regular basis. We were lucky enough to see 2 whalesharks last year, as well as mantas (at a distance). Eurodivers (both years) were very good.

 

[@sea]

If you are looking for whale-shark Vilamendhoo could be a good choice...Also the dive sites close to Vilamendhoo has some really nice formations of reef. Mostly its small round reefs of 50 - 120 M.. There is one place to see whale-shark right next to vilamendhoo called VILAMENDHOO Thila and the next place is a boat ride of about 1 hour from Vilamendhoo. The outside reef of Maamigili island, Holiday Island and Sun Island. So the best things would be to check from Vilamendhoo dive school how often they do these places.

Around Maayafushi there are some good places for sharks. Maaya thila can be an excellent place for a night dive as white-tips come to feed on the reef at night. So loads of sharks. But not big in size. average 1m. To see a whale-shark you have to be very luck in that area.....

If you are looking for good selection of fish the best thing would be to choose a liveaboard. This way you will be diving both the areas most of the time.

 

[kkfok]

Hi, I have been to both Maayafushi(2008) and Vilamendhoo(2009). Diving around Maayafushi was really good, especially the Maaya Thila with
many grey reef sharks and turtles. Night dive in Maaya thila was even better, we saw marble stingrays, many whitetip sharks and a really big
Great Barracuda. In Maayafushi you can dive also the famous Fishhead and Maaga Thila.

In Vilamendhoo we dove the famous Kudarah Thila which was really amazing, with shoals of blue stripe snappers, jacks, turtle and tuna.
We also find a guitar shark in the deep. In Vilamendhoo there are whaleshark excursions to area around Sun Island to search for whale shark.
We found 3 of them in a trip and the experience was really amazing.

For whale shark and Manta I think Vilamendhoo is better, however I think shark population around Maaya thila seems to be much better than in
the south. We never seen any adult shark (except Whale Shark) during my 10 dives with the dive shop of Vilamendhoo.