General information about the underwater world: The Maldives, thanks to the strong currents in the channels and the protection of the islands from commercial fishing, still offer good chances for big fish like various species of sharks, whale sharks, mantas and large schools of fish. There is also a nice variety of macro life, although not comparable to Indonesia or the Philippines. Unfortunately, the so-called coral bleaching, caused by the irregular El Niños has left the corals in many parts of the Maldives considerably faded. During the southwest monsoon from the end of May to November/December, poorer visibility is to be expected due to the plancton in the water. On the other hand, there is a greater chance of encountering large plankton eaters such as manta rays or whale sharks. Storms and heavy rainfalls also occur frequently during this period. During the northeast monsoon from November/December to April the weather becomes drier, the sea calms down and visibility improves significantly. However, the date of the change of monsoon is not exactly predictable and can be delayed by up to two months.
Diving safety/Diving operations: Many dive sites in the Maldives have a strong current, and the reefsstart often quite far below the water surface. Therefore a safety or deco stop in the protection of the reef is often impossible and many ascents take place in open water. When diving on the outer reefs, the channel current, which is created between the islands, usually meets the ocean current, which makes it very difficult to predict the postition of the surfaceing. A reliable safety marker buoy (smb) is therefore mandatory for every diver. Due to the topography of most dive sites (especially while channel diving) you will often dive rather sharp dive profiles without much safety margin. Extended bottom times at depths around 30 meters, fast ascents and repetitive dives increase the risk of decompression sickness. Therefore you should, whenever possible, use Nitrox and rather conservative settings on your dive computer. The Maldives stretch from north to south over more than 870 km, India in the north is several hundred kilometers away, in the south there is no mainland at all up to the Antarctic apart from the Chagos Archipelago which is more than 700 kilometers away. On this archipelago is only is a military base and it is 60 square kilometers small. Africa in the west and Indonesia in the east are several thousand kilometres away. Because of the strong north-south or south-north currents which often occur on the outer reefs, caused by the north-east and south-west monsoon, a drift off into the blue water can happen very quickly. Therefore, I strongly recommend carrying an emergency call system for divers. Only a few guides are equipped with it and the chance to be separated from the guide is quite high, especially during drift dives.
As shown on the map, the islands are separated by channels mostly from east to west and the sea depth increases rapidly on the outer sides towards the Indian Ocean.
