Hi I joined the scuba board just to respond
I’m going with my SO to Maldives in Sept and we swapped over to do a liveaboard from the resorts. We both love diving (she just got AOW, earlier in dive life with ~20 dives) and want to ensure we get maximize our experience mostly bc we’ve heard dive boats can’t make it out or get pushed to the same nearby sites. Because of our travel dates AND booking a liveaboard late, we were deciding between White Pearl (Hanifuru + Northern Atolls) and Ariyal (Best of Maldives)….after doing massive amounts of research, we are leanings towards the later. 1) The best of Maldives maximizes our chances of seeing the big stuff without betting fully on Hanifuru (we will do two nights in a resort up there instead); 2) this also simplifies our travel leaving from Male (vs other airport).
Btw, if you have any intel on the Ariyal, that’swould be appreciated - planning to put down a deposit this week.
Hope this helps a little bit! And wish us all luck in ‘good’ weather.
