Red Sea BDE or Maldives Central September?

[nyclondondives]

Hello! I have 1-2 weeks for a liveaboard in mid-September. Looking to stay closer to North America / Europe. Currently considering BDE or Best of Maldives. I love beautiful reefs but also would love to see some bigger pelagics. Which would you recommend? I've heard mixed things about BDE but also that Maldives is best in the South. Advice greatly appreciated or even other ideas of where to venture. Greatly appreciate your help!

 

[LeggoDiveyDivey]

You should consider posting this to the Maldives forum too. I've been to both on liveaboards, though not in Sept. They are somewhat similar. It would be helpful to know what you look out for or maybe what you want to see.

Mantas: Maldives clear winner. Its manta season and there are cleaning stations.
Hammerheads: BDE clear winner.
Sharks: Mixed. Maldives has baited shark dives in the south with a chance of tigers, BDE gives you a chance of the oceanic white tip.
Reef life: Slight BDE winner. Loved the big schools in the Maldives, but the healthier reefs in BDE has interesting and curious life like napoleon wrasses.
Corals: BDE clear winner
Crowds: Draw (Both are popular destinations)
Currents: Maldives. BDE often has drift dives, but Maldives has the stronger of the two.
Visibility: Draw (Depends on rain in the Maldives and wind and current in BDE)

Non diving related:
Culture: Maldives. They are generally friendlier and well intentioned. Egypt offers a higher chance of being catcalled and made fun of.
Price: BDE. Egypt is cheap and offers great value for money.

 

[Christian]

Note though that you're going in September. Red Sea is very seasonal; every year is a slightly different -- "seasons" lasts longer / start later... But normally September is too late for hammerheads and too early for OWT. With some unluck it is a very bad month for shark sightings. Hammerheads June-July and OWT October to December. I don't have any personal experience from the Maldives in September, which is regarded as off/low season. December to April is high season with calmer weather, bluer skies and clearer water. With that said you can most certainly have great diving and see mantas, reef sharks and perhaps whale sharks there in September. Re coral, the Egyptian Red Sea has been one of the best, spared from bleaching due to its Northern location and relative cool waters. That changed in summer of 2024 when some of the reefs in Southern Egypt apparently were affected. Have not been after, so can't give a personal account of the severeness and if coral recovered or died. Maldives corals have been in a so-so state since 1998 when El Niño hit them hard and big parts of reef coral died. Parts have recovered and then been hit again by smaller bleaching episodes. Haven't been since 2018 (going in March 2026) so only info I've gathered, but then we could find healthy thriving reefs near channels that were swept regularly with colder deep sea water. Fish life great. Would recommend a central atoll live aboard as a first timer.
Good luck

 

[Tippytoes12]

Note though that you're going in September. Red Sea is very seasonal; every year is a slightly different -- "seasons" lasts longer / start later... But normally September is too late for hammerheads and too early for OWT. With some unluck it is a very bad month for shark sightings. Hammerheads June-July and OWT October to December. I don't have any personal experience from the Maldives in September, which is regarded as off/low season. December to April is high season with calmer weather, bluer skies and clearer water. With that said you can most certainly have great diving and see mantas, reef sharks and perhaps whale sharks there in September. Re coral, the Egyptian Red Sea has been one of the best, spared from bleaching due to its Northern location and relative cool waters. That changed in summer of 2024 when some of the reefs in Southern Egypt apparently were affected. Have not been after, so can't give a personal account of the severeness and if coral recovered or died. Maldives corals have been in a so-so state since 1998 when El Niño hit them hard and big parts of reef coral died. Parts have recovered and then been hit again by smaller bleaching episodes. Haven't been since 2018 (going in March 2026) so only info I've gathered, but then we could find healthy thriving reefs near channels that were swept regularly with colder deep sea water. Fish life great. Would recommend a central atoll live aboard as a first timer.
Good luck

The southern Red Sea corals have been extremely badly affected by bleaching due to very high water temperatures in Summer 2024, in an October 2024 LOB many of the beautiful sites like Abu Dabab and Elphinstone were 90% dead. But having said that we had OWTs on every dive at Daedalus. But IMVHO the Maldives is now way way better than Egypt.

 

[Christian]

I was in Shagra in October/November 2024 and did a couple of dives on Elphinstone. The coral was not 90% dead, looked pretty good tbh. But there were way too many divers all over the reef and very little fish. As I understand bleaching was more severe further south. As I said, don't know if coral died off or recovered.

Nov 2024

But did not look too much on coral tbh.

 

[David Novo]

Mixed. Maldives has baited shark dives in the south with a chance of tigers, BDE gives you a chance of the oceanic white tip.

Maldives in the south have a lot of sharks, no need for baited dives even for tigers.

 

[Christian]

Maldives in the south have a lot of sharks, no need for baited dives even for tigers.

If you're talking about Favamulla, they are attracted by discarded fish scraps from fishing operations. Same thing in Humhumale Fish Tank. So perhaps not baited or fed by an operator, but attracted. That's why encounters are so reliable and close. Would be very slim chance to see Tigers otherwise. OWT in the Red Sea the only shark I know that will come close w/o any arrangements.

 

[David Novo]

There were no shark species in Fish Factory that I did not see in other dive sites during the Deep South Liveaboard.
With the tigers, I get your point. I was not diving the Fuvahmulah harbor (where there is bait), but not that far from it.

 

[Christian]

Haven’t done Fish Tank, but tigers regularly and bull sharks and spinners. Have never seen any of them on regular dives in the maldives.

 

[David Novo]

I saw no bull sharks in the Maldives.
Tigers in Fuvahmulah.
Spinners in multiple dives in Fish Factory and Vilingili Kandu.