Is it possible to visit some of the Maldives, best diving by doing land based and is it reasonably easy to achieve that ?
Hi!
Though it's been a while since our last Maldives trip, I've done a bit of land-based diving (from resorts) as not all family members are divers and a liveaboard inevitably means we don't get to spend any family time together during the holiday.
In my experience, most resort-based dive ops will offer one-tank dives three times a day, plus a night dive on some days. This means an early morning local dive, back to base for surface interval, a mid-morning local dive, back to base for lunch and early afternoon local dive. I would stay away from islands where this is the norm, as motoring distances mean you are constrained to much more local dive sites.
In contrast, some dive centres will offer two-tank morning dives, with a surface interval spent on the boat. A few will even offer all-day trips, departing early in the morning and back late in the afternoon. Needless to say, this allows for greater travel range and, therefore, you are able to dive more distant sites.
As with most diving destinations (Bonaire is an exception that springs to mind), liveaboard is the way to go in the Maldives, hands down. But if this is not an option you can consider, then choose an island in the area/atoll you are most interested in and make sure the dive centre doesn't do just one-tank dives.
I should probably add that large resort islands with a large number of rooms will typically mean greater numbers of divers, resulting in a better likelihood of "special" offerings: full-day trips, night dives, etc.
As a side note, you should remember that land-based diving in the Maldives means you are also more constrained by local weather conditions, whereas on a liveaboard the captain/cruise director will simply adjust the itinerary to avoid rough weather. I've personally found myself on a resort island in August being unable to dive because the sea was too rough for the dhoni to sail out.
I hope that makes sense.
