Are you looking for sun, sand and sea, lagoons with different depths and infinite shades of blue and turquoise and a profuse marine life and underwater coral gardens? Seek no further. The Maldives offer you just that and a lot more. Amongst the 26 atolls found in the Maldives is Rasdhoo.
This small circular atoll with only 9,5 km in diameter consists of only 4 islands of which only Rasdhoo is still inhabited by locals. The distance to the next bigger atoll, the Ari-Atoll is only 7,5 km and therefore under its administrative influence. Despite the size, the two tourist islands Veligandu and Kuramathi bring a lot of life to this once lonely place. Additionally, Kuramathi is the biggest Island in the Maldives that has been opened for tourism.
Diving in Rasdhoo has one distinct advantage over some of the other atolls in the Maldives. Like the other atolls, Rasdhoo offers a huge variety of marine life but unlike some of the other atolls, due to the small size of Rasdhoo Atoll, the dive sites are all very close together. If you decide to dive Rasdhoo Atoll, one spot you definitively do not want to miss is
Hammerhead Point. This is one of the few places left in the world where you can still see these wonderful, magnificent creatures. This is a site for early birds as the best time to see these creatures is sunrise which means about 6.00 am! On your way down to 30 m (100ft) sparkling blue plankton lights your path and you might be accompanied by surgeonfish on your descent. If is an unbelievable sight to see these creatures (up to 4 m long) emerge from the depths as you are hovering close by.
A little bit further west of Hammerhead Point lies Madivaru Kandu, a beautiful channel dive with lots of underwater reefs. While on one side the reef drops almost vertically to 200 m (656 ft) the reef formations of Madivaru Kandu provide habitats to the almost the full spectrum of marine life. Hard and soft corals dominate the invertebrates and the fish life offers everything from barracudas, jacks and tunas as well as snappers, fusiliers and basslets or moray eels, lion fish, eagle rays and mantas. This is one site where you definitively do not want to leave your camera at home as this is truly a underwater-photographer’s paradise.
Just north of Kuramathi Island lies a 40 m long cargo vessel at a depth of 20 m (66 ft) beautifully covered with soft and hard corals. This is the only wreck in this atoll. Sunk years ago this wreck has developed into an artificial reef providing habitat to numerous species. One could call this wreck an underwater bed & breakfast as many fishes from the lagoon are sleeping here. While moray eels and shrimp have taken over the steering house, the masts offer shelter for countless puffer fish that are sleeping here. Be sure to have a look at the old 10-cylinder engine once you are there. Hunting for prey, barracudas swim the surrounding water while rays dwell on the sea bottom nearby.
South of Kuramathi Island are several sites to be explored, one of which is Tree Palms. A combination of walls and inner sandbanks, Tree Palms offers a selection of different landscapes combined into one dive. Huge coral structures have covered the inner sandbanks and provide safety for thousands of young fish against predators like groupers, snappers and oriental sweet lips. Several species of nudibranch snails have inhabited the outer wall. Among these snails is the Phyllidia varicose. Although this snail might look beautiful it is no snail you would want in your aquarium at home. The snail defends itself by spraying toxic chemicals into the water. This toxin is so strong that one nudibranch could kill the all inhabitants of a big aquarium.
If you are looking for turtles head for Boduga just west of Tree Palms. At the south-western corner of Kuramathi Island, the ancient reptiles can be observed from a near distance. But there is more to Boduga than just turtles. Beautiful corals, white-tip and grey reef sharks and eagle rays passing by. Boduga is also a good place to spot mantas. Appreciating the cover of the big rocks there are large schools of coloured sweet lips. Similar to moray eels and lion fishers these nocturnal predators spend the day in crevices and rock cracks where you can have a close look at them.