In December 2022 I was honored to be invited to the Maldives to dive the Central Atolls with the mighty Soleil 2 - one of the best liveaboards in the Maldives. It was an amazing experience - in just one week I saw more sharks, rays, and dolphins than I had in the previous three years of diving combined!
In this article, I'll tell you what to expect when you go diving in the Maldives - as well as what it's actually like to be on a liveaboard and provide helpful tips that I wish I'd had the first time I ever went on one! But before we dive in, check out the movie I made about diving the Maldives with Soleil 2:
Looks epic, right? That's because it totally was! But just exactly what and where is the Maldives!? Well, it's the smallest country in Asia; a 511 mile long chain of 1,190 islands grouped together into 26 atolls and located within the Indian Ocean, some 370 miles off the southwest tip of India's coast. Because the Indian Monsoon sweeps along this island chain, it is pummelled with rich nutrients which have resulted in a thriving marine ecosystem there.
The Maldives is an absolute haven for big marine animals; rays, sharks, dolphins, and turtles abound as well as large pelagic fish such as tuna, trevally, jacks, and giant barracuda. The underwater landscape is as dramatic as it is varied. There are many hundreds of dive sites around the Maldives comprising channels, reefs, lowlands (thilas & rock pinnacles), and manta cleaning stations. Colourful hard and soft coral hosts a myriad assortment of reef fish, nudibranchs, octopus, and crustaceans.
Many of the dive sites are prone to strong currents resulting in exciting drift dives that will thrill experienced divers and with year-round temperatures of 80-86 degrees Fahrenheit (26-30 Celcius), most divers only need a 3mm wetsuit.
Over 8 days and 7 nights, myself and twenty-seven other guests stayed aboard Soleil 2, a forty-five meter long yacht, with ensuite bathroom cabins, an indoor saloon & dining area, and a massive partially-shaded sundeck complete with hammocks, beanbags, sun-loungers, and a Jacuzzi! It was an incredibly glamorous place to call home for a week; the buffet-style food was delicious and the staff was extremely friendly, fun, and helpful. But best of all, the diving itinerary kicked ass!
We explored the Central Atolls, the most popular and famous region of the Maldives. Every day we'd be awoken at 7am to the cheerful bellow of "briiieeefiiinnngggg'!! over the ship's many intercoms...it was physically impossible to sleep through. This signified it was time to head to the indoor saloon where Shad, the owner of Soleil 2, would give a detailed dive briefing using the large plasma TV and whiteboards to show us the layout of each dive site and the kinds of species we could expect to see.
Shortly afterward, we'd find ourselves passing the many islets of the Maldives; with their neon green micro-jungles rippling back from white sand beach borders, as the Dhoni, a smaller boat, transported us to the first dive site of the day.
Throughout the week, we dived in groups of five or six guests to one guide; each group consisted of similarly experienced divers. After the first dive of the day; it was time for breakfast back on Soleil 2; which like all meals was served buffet style in the indoor saloon. Breakfast consisted of eggs, pancakes, and fruit whilst lunch and dinner were Maldivian or Indian cuisine. All food was included in the main price and tasted fantastic!
After the first dive we had a couple of hours downtime before the second dive which was followed by lunch and then another few hours before the third dive which preceded dinner. Most guests opted to lounge about on the sundeck or grab a quick nap between dives but extra activities were sometimes on offer including snorkelling, kayaking and power boarding. On some evenings, there was a night dive; on others people went fishing and on one the staff arranged a beach bbq where they performed traditional Maldivian drumming and dance (I still have no idea where those guys got all their energy from, they were amazing!).
Now let's talk about the actual dives and what we saw down there; starting with the stars of the show: manta rays! Mantas are the largest rays in the world - reef mantas can measure up to 3.5 meters (11.5 ft) wide whilst oceanic mantas can measure up to 8.8 meters (29 ft) across! With the largest brain to body ratio of any fish, manta rays are highly intelligent beings; they can recognise themselves in the mirror, have distinct personalities and are incredibly social.
Some dive sites are known as manta cleaning stations; this is where mantas gather to rid themselves of parasitic copepods by having them eaten off by wrasse. At such cleaning stations, it's not at all uncommon to see groups of mantas. That's exactly what happened on one memorable dive - we witnessed a group of four reef mantas for a good fifteen minutes; they came within mere feet of us divers, performing all manner of graceful and acrobatic spins and somersaults. It was insane! Check out the footage:
Manta rays are regularly sighted year-round in the Maldives - anyone on a liveaboard has a high chance of seeing them. During my week on Soleil 2, we saw individual mantas four times, a pair of mantas on a night dive and this group of four when we visited one of the well known manta cleaning stations. For me it was one of the best parts of the trip.
It's not just mantas for which the Maldives are famous! There are also countless sharks, including whale sharks as well as grey reef, whitetip reef, blacktip reef, hammerhead, spinner, thresher, leopard, bull and tiger sharks! During my trip I saw many grey reef, whitetip reef and nurse sharks as well as a bull shark and a tiger shark! Some people in my group saw a whale shark whilst snorkelling but I missed it due to a prior arrangement with a sandwich!
The species I saw the most of were grey reef sharks - measuring six to eight feet long, these highly sociable requiem sharks are fast moving and agile. Because they are generally laid back towards eachother, but quite aggressive towards other shark species, they dominate much of the Indo-Pacific Ocean, being one of the most common shark species found throughout it. Generally they are not aggressive to humans (unless cornered) and they often gather in groups, which sometimes number in the hundreds; especially when they visit their own cleaning stations.
As well as seeing groups of several grey reef sharks on virtually every other dive, we also had the incredible experience of witnessing a huge school of hundreds of grey reef sharks at cleaning stations on three separate dives! This was a truly mind boggling experience. Never before have I seen so much shark action in such a short space of time! Check out the footage below:
Yet another amazing experience we had (on two separate dives) were feeding frenzies! This is where staff take down tuna heads; leftovers from human meals, which is a great way of putting food energy back into the marine ecosystem after fishing from it and ensuring that nothing goes to waste.
This attracts countless stingrays as well as guitar sharks (technically a ray!) and thousands of fish; especially schooling bannerfish, unicorn fish and small blue triggerfish. It was truly exhilarating to be surrounded by so many stingrays and colourful fish; it felt like being in the midst of a living rainbow underwater:
Something else I really enjoyed was the night dives, which we did on two separate occasions. On the first, we saw a pair of feeding manta rays, which swooped gracefully through the water coming within mere inches of us divers.
The second was even more awesome; we found ourselves surrounded by dozens of nurse sharks. Growing up to eight foot long, nurse sharks are a species of carpet shark that have been dubbed "the laziest shark in the world". They rest on the seafloor by day and at night hunt crustaceans, fish and small stingrays; but even then they are rather sluggish in how they go about this. With small teeth and tiny mouths, they're not a threat to humans; unless you literally grab one, it's not going to bite you. This was a good thing to know, as they were so numerous and so close on the night dive that they often butted into and rubbed past us!
In addition to all I've so far described, I also saw dolphins on numerous occasions (leaping out of the water alongside the dhoni, in the distance on a dive and I even snorkelled with them at night) as well as vast stretches of coral hosting numerous reef fish, morays, octopus, nudibranch, pipefish and crustaceans plus vast schools of pelagic fish such as tuna, trevally, jack, dream fish and giant barracuda.
Myself and the other guests finished the week utterly exhausted but immensely satisfied with all that we had witnessed and incredibly grateful to the insanely talented and hard working crew of Soleil 2 who had coordinated every moment of our week with expert precision and professionalism. The service was excellent, the food delicious and as you've probably sussed by now, the diving was out of this world!
A liveaboard is without a doubt the best way to experience diving in the Maldives - it offers much better value for money than a resort and you get to visit remote dive sites that would be too far to reach from an island. Feel free to check out my main page and guide to Maldives Liveaboards.
So far, as well as the Maldives, I’ve also dived parts of the Red Sea, Southeast Asia, Central America and Europe - all have blown my mind with their unique beauty. It would be impossible to say any one place is better than the rest...but I’m still going to go ahead and tell you that the Maldives was the most mind blowing in terms of big marine animals - there were simply so many sharks, rays and dolphins; at a quantity I've never before witnessed anywhere else!
I'll close this article with a few handy tips for anyone considering going on a liveaboard, which I wish I'd known the first time I went on one:
Get Nitrox certified. It only takes a day! On all liveaboards I've been on, every guest uses Nitrox all week; it's safer than air because you're less likely to get decompression sickness using it. On some liveaboards (such as Soleil 2) you can get your Nitrox cert during the trip.
Take your own dive gear if you can! You'll be more familiar with it and won't have to pay the extra fee associated with rental equipment. I took my own bcd, regulator, fins, dive computer, wetsuits...and also my new Tidal Mask by ProShot - it was super handy thanks to the fact that it's virtually fog-proof!
The Maldives is an amazing place to photograph - both underwater and on the islands. If you have an iPhone, consider buying an underwater case - this will let you take it on dives. This is much cheaper than buying an underwater camera and will yield some incredible photos and videos thanks to the high quality of an iPhone's camera as well as the versatile range of photo and video apps with which it can be used. ProShot has an universal iPhone case that lets you do just this!
Take a reef hook; it's extremely handy for when you encounter those strong currents for which the Maldives is well known.
Get scuba diving insurance - this is so very important because regular travel insurance won't cover you for dive related injuries. Feel free to check out my page on the best dive insurance companies.
Have a surface marker buoy and know how to use it. Chances are you won't have to as you ascend with your group - but it's important that you know how just in case!
Rinse out your ears thoroughly between every dive! You'll be diving a helluva lot which can put quite an an intense strain on the ears. Many divers who've never before had ear problems do when they go on a liveaboard. The absolute best way to avoid this is simply by rinsing your ears with freshwater between every dive.
Factor into your budget a decent tip to give to the staff! They work their arses off and many are from poor parts of the world. They may work weeks on end without a day off and some have not seen their families (who they send most of their money back to) in years. There's usually around 15 staff on a liveaboard. So $150 means $10 for each of them for a whole weeks work. This should be a minimal amount. Hey, if you can afford to go on a liveaboard, you can afford to make a tip!
Be familiar with the dive season! The Maldives can be dived all year round but has a dry season from January to April when water visibility is far greater and skies are blue and sunny. Wet season is from May to November - this is when it rains a lot and water visibility is reduced by plankton build up - but that very same plankton build up can attracts more mantas and whale sharks. Of course, different parts of the world have different dive seasons!
Be present! If you take a camera with you, don't forget to stop using it every once in a while and observe your surroundings with your own two eyes and not always through a lens.
And there you have it! A full recounting of my magnificent Maldives liveaboard trip! Feel free to check out my blog's main page on scuba diving the Maldives for even more info. For now, peace out!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alex - Scuba fanatic, travel ecstatic and Grand Admiral of the Diving Squad
