Dive Sites
Spectacular dive sites and Ocean-Pros professional dive team make diving holidays on Veligandu an unforgettable experience. The multilingual dive staff has many years of experience and looks forward to showing our guests the fascinating underwater world of the Maldives.
The absolute highlight is the early morning dive at the "Big Blue". It is the unique chance to dive with hammerhead sharks at a very special dive site. Even without their presence, this dive is exhilaratingly different to any other dive. At sunrise, we descend into the blue Indian Ocean and wait for the sharks to arrive. On our way back to the main reef, we observe how activities pick up dramatically when the day shift begins.
On full day excursions, we visit the world famous dive spots of the Ari Atoll: "Maaya Thila" almost guarantees grey reef sharks and at "Uhkulas Thila" is a good chance to encounter mantas from December until May.
In the Rasdhoo Atoll itself, there is no specific season for manta rays, therefore you are able to see them on various dive sites the whole year round. However, the best chances are between December and March. White tip sharks can be seen on almost every dive, and the sighting of grown blacktip sharks is common. Grey reef sharks can be seen at "Madivaru Corner" and "Kuramathi Thila".
Due the relatively small size of the Rasdhoo Atoll we dive comfortably the whole of it, from North to South and from East to West. With only one other resort in the atoll, Ocean-Pro divers have generally the luxury of being the only divers on site!
The variety of our about 25 dive sites includes "giris", the thrilling "thilas", outside reefs and exiting channel dives.
"Thilas" and "giris" are underwater coral mountains. They start at the sandy bottom and grow towards the surface. Many of them are not more than 50 metres across at the top and can be easily circum dived in less than an hour. "Thilas" start between 5 to 15 metres underneath the surface, "giris" at 3 to 5 metres. Thilas in particular offer an enormous number of fish concentrated on the current side of the reef. The nutrition and food arrives there with the currents, sometimes thousands of small fish feed on it, and their bigger predators will patrol in between.
Experienced divers can dive the west side of the house reef independently in buddy teams, guided dives are available on request.
There is rarely any
current there and therefore it is nice for an easy going night dive,
during which you are able to find honeycomb moray eels, some lobsters and almost present is a big school of barracudas. Because of the lack of current it is also a great site for beginners, wishing to dive independently and it is perfect for the first open water dive experience for our students.
The south and east side of the island is
unfortunately not accessible for divers but there are various entry
points to the house reef for snorkellers. The east part of the reef is actually an outside reef and there is a good chance to see all type of fish even some bigger ones: Big napoleon, eagle Rays, white tip reef sharks, stingrays, octopuses and all kind of young and adult reef fishes.
This list reflects a small selection of our dive sites, just to enough to wet your appetite:
Madivaru Corner is one of the highlights in Rasdhoo Atoll for many reasons. This reef, located at the entrance of Madivaru Channel has some superb overhangs between 26 and 30m, before a breathtaking drop-off. There is something for every taste: from macro photographers to shark fans.
Kuramathi Thila consists actually of many small thilas in the channel near Kuramathi. The top reef of the outside thilas is at about 20m and is nicely covered with corals. On the sandy areas between the thilas, look for stingrays or white tip reef sharks. More inside the channel, the top reef of the thilas is at about 12m, therefore you must make your safety stop in open water. An exciting dive, but we can only dive it with current going inside the atoll.
"The Big Blue" is the absolute highlight of the Rasdhoo Atoll: An early morning dive to dive with hammerhead sharks. A blue water dive with no reef or bottom where the blue plankton let you think you are flying among the stars. Even without sharks an unforgettable experience.
North Channel is the only channel in the northern part of Rasdhoo atoll where five reef hills are laying towards the outside reef. Each of them provides home to many fishes and of course, as we are in a channel the possibility of bigger fish is high. Eagle rays, sharks, turtles, but also big tunas could almost let you forget to visit our two leaf fishes living there.
Caves we reach this wonderful wall after 45 minutes. Many overhangs can be found there. Twice it is even possible to dive from one overhang to the other through a small tunnel. The whole reef is covered with nice corals.
Madivaru Beyru, located on the outside reef near Madivaru Island, this wall is just perfect for a nice and easy drift dive. Beginners find a very good opportunity to experience medium to strong current. Do not forget to turn your head toward the blue open water, where are always surprises waiting for you.
Maaya Thila is the shark spot in Ari Atoll. White tip reef sharks are constant inhabitants and grey reef sharks frequent visitors. Big schools of fish and nice black corals complete the perfect picture.