Diving in the Maldives - UNWTO

With clear blue water, white sand beaches, and great visibility, the Maldives is an idyllic scuba diving paradise. During a diving trip to the Maldives, you may see manta rays, whale sharks, reef sharks, soft & hard corals and much more. The Maldives offers blue water early in the year - perfect for wide-angle photography. While is there is some macro life here, I would think of Maldives as mainly a "wide-angle" place to see coral, whale sharks, mantas, eagle rays, and schools of fish. There has been some coral bleaching in the shallow reefs. While the reefs and channels provide a great diversity of marine life, Hanifaru Bay, while allows snorkeling only, is the go-to place for mantas and whale sharks. We're talking dozens and dozens of huge manta rays feeding - up to 200 mantas at a time. You’re also likely to encounter whale sharks, opening their huge mouths and gulping in food. Still, underwater photography cannot properly capture the beauty of the marine life here; you need to use underwater video. Many dive sites have napoleon wrasse, barracuda, reef sharks including gray reef, whitetip and blacktip, spotted eagle rays, large marbled rays, trevally and tuna. The current will help bring out more of these larger animals. Some atolls can also produce hammerhead sharks, although this is only at very specific dive sites.