Scuba Diving Maldives

The Maldives is a divers paradise. This is my second time diving in South Ari Atoll and I really do enjoy the diving. Currents are typically strong and bringing a reef hook is a good idea. The good news is the currents bring big animals. Separate from big animals, there are lots of small fish and creatures to see hiding along the reef. 

First time diving Maldives

Above is a map of where we dove just so you can get a reference of South Ari Atoll. 

Best Dives Maldives

We did our diving with the company that goes out of Centara Grand Resort, where we were staying. They are called Best Dives Maldives. I have two very different opinions on this company so I will jump in now. 

The diving was very good and I know the diving in the area. We did run into quite a few diving issues. 

Great Dives 

I love diving and Best Dives took us on some great dives, no doubt. Some of the best dive spots are Rangali Madivaru and Kudarah Thila. My favorite animals that I saw were manta rays, peacock mantis shrimp, eagle rays, and silver tip sharks. I also made my 100th dive the same say my brother got certified! 
The house reef is also a nice dive and is used for a checkout dive. Another option is you can rent tanks and dive the house reef with a buddy.
​There is something for everyone with the diving. Each individual in my family likes to see different things and we were all very happy and relaxed with the experience most of the time. 
I dove alone with a larger group and with my family/dive buddy mother. Both experiences were fun and easy. Nothing was ever complicated or difficult which was great. 

Open Water Certification With Best Dives

My brother did his open water certification here. The shop is PADI certified. He completed the book work and class part at home and then brought a referral so he only had to complete four dives to obtain a certification. I highly recommend this because doing the hard part at home makes vacation feel more enjoyable! 

Awful Dives 

I like to keep it real on here which is why I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. We did run into a few issues that generally were handled well. 
1. Cost- The cost of the diving here is extremely high. We were even given the 10 dive package. The cost for our family of four to do a dive is $800. We also supplied all of our own gear and it was still $800. The cost for us to go on the Manta Ray dive is $1,000 because there is an extra $50 per person for a boat fee. 
2. Dive site rotation- They really only went to the same dive sites each time. The weather was quite good most of the time and they have a list of over 30 potential dive sites they go to and each time I found them exploring going to the same ones. I did not dive everyday and I still dove the same site twice and it is a very small site. 
3. One bad day- We had one bad day of diving. I think this was the last time I dove. First, the nitrox fills were wrong. Each tank had 25% O2 and my second tank had 24% O2. Regular air has 21% O2 so I’m basically diving on regular air. Nevertheless, we proceeded with the dive. We went out and jumped and completely missed the dive site. I spent a considerable amount of air underwater for 15 minutes in the blue ocean while our entire group couldn’t find the dive site. We had to surface after being down 70 feet and making a safety stop and jump again. Very frustrating. After jumping again, we could only explore one side of the site which had beautiful growth but the current was blowing horribly as soon as you swam out of protection. On the second dive, we circled around in the boat for 20 minutes before jumping. My mom had a bit of an ear issue on the second dive and couldn’t go down. After working through her issue, she was ready to go and by then we had completely missed the dive site due to current. After 18 minutes of working through her issue and searching for the dive site, we surfaced and decided to not jump again. We were not charged for this entire day of diving.

Whale Shark Dive 

Don’t waste your time or your money. The whale shark dive is not worth your time. It is a two tank dive and they do not spend any time really searching for the whale shark which is necessary if you want to see the fish… it usually doesn’t just happen to show up. I went on this dive and they just dropped us in a spot that wasn’t even on the outer reef and told us we were going to dive there. Then, they drove us in the opposite direction from where the whale sharks sometimes are and told us we were just going to dive there. I was confused. I would have rather done a 1 tank dive and spent time looking for the whale shark because you do have to pay extra for the whale shark dive. 
So, what is worth your time and your money if you want to see a whale shark? The whale shark snorkel… I would 100% recommend this adventure and it is much cheaper. I will do a link to my post in the button below so you can read about it. 

Coming soon: snorkeling with whale sharks

Swimming with Whale Shark and Manta Rays Maldives!

^^ same type of trip, different day, different experience, equally awesome

Manta Dive 

I would say this one is worth the time and money. There are repeatedly mantas at this spot and I have dove it multiple times over the course of years. The reef is the healthiest of all the dive sites and there is lots of life here. Outside of mantas, I spotted silver tip sharks, a turtle, and a bump head parrotfish. 
A bit of advice I have here is to not set your heart on going deep. This is a cleaning station for mantas and oftentimes they come in and like to hang out in around 20 feet of water. 
​During the surface interval you can also snorkel with mantas which is definitely an added bonus!

My mom and I got so lucky to spot these two mantas on our dive. The rest of the group did not see them. We also saw mantas when we were snorkeling: videos below. 

Covid

The dive shop is also COVID aware. Masks are required on the bottom deck of the boat which I actually found annoying but I respect their policy because their borders do remain open. They do still serve water in cups but there is no fruit or food or anything apparently due to COVID. For the price, I wish they would serve fruit. 
Gear rental is included in the price and is still available despite COVID. They are taking extra sanitary precautions especially with regulators where they take each one apart and clean the entire inside of it. 

Wrap Up 

I would recommend Best Dives Maldives. A majority of the dives were nice and very relaxing. We did run into issues but that is possible anywhere and these people handled it very well. The price is high but that is also expected when diving from a resort like Centara.