Liveaboard Diving in the Maldives

The Maldives is well known amongst divers for its amazing waters and the sheer amount of big marine life that can be found here. Most more experienced divers head for the thilas or underwater pinnacles and channels near the atolls. These areas are caked in coral and home to huge shoals of fish like barracuda and snapper and black and white tipped reef sharks. Nurse sharks and marbled stingrays are also common sights on the reefs, the nurse sharks here can grow to be surprisingly large. The atolls also act as cleaning stations for the bigger fish with mantas frequently seen over the reef waiting for cleaner wrasse to come. Hammerheads and whale sharks are also found in the Maldives but these are more likely to be spotted just out from the atoll in deeper waters. There are smaller pelagics around as well, tuna and eagle rays can be seen on many of the reefs looking for food. Those who go even further afield can head out to the Kandus, passages between the open sea and the insides of the atolls. These are normally drift dives where deeper water and heavy currents bring even more big life for divers to see.